• Affirms Cuban ambassador in Geneva • Responds to US representative with photos of the torture in Abu Ghraib

GENEVA, March 24.—Cuba affirmed on Thursday that the UN Human Rights Commission (HRC) is discredited each time that the United States imposes an anti-Cuba resolution on it, as it is trying to do in this 61st session.

Ambassador Iván Mora Godoy addressed the HRC today to condemn the shameless selectivity, political manipulation and lack of objectivity in the treatment of Cuba over more than 10 years, based on Washington’s impositions.

"The United States has taken this commission hostage to justify its policy of aggression toward Cuba," the diplomat affirmed in the plenary session in Room 17, where the commission is meeting until the end of April.

CUBA RESPONDS TO THE U.S.

Senator Rudy Boschwitz, head of the US delegation, boasted of being a personal friend of President Bush and lauded the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, describing the military occupation of those nations as "democratic advances."

However, Juan Antonio Fernández, head of the island’s delegation, made use of the right to reply, during which he displayed to the plenary the well-known images of torture committed by Pentagon troops.

"How do they dare to come here to speak on human rights, democracy and freedom? These photos say it all," he exclaimed while holding the photos aloft for the auditorium to see.

"We at least expected silence from the United States. This is Guantánamo, this is Fallujah, we know what we are talking about," concluded the diplomat.