DECLARATION BY THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA

                   • ON March 8, the government of Cuba denounced "new and brutal
                   U.S. pressures" to impose a new resolution against the island in the
                   upcoming session of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

                   The Cuban Foreign Ministry announced in a communiqué that the
                   United States had circulated an "aide-mémoire" in several Latin
                   American capital cities, urging the adoption of a new resolution
                   condemning Cuba at the 58th session of that Commission, which
                   begins on March 18.

                   The following is the full text of the declaration by the Ministry of
                   Foreign Affairs:

                   As our people were informed when the Argentine foreign minister
                   visited Washington and his spokesperson made unfortunate and
                   insulting statements, new maneuvers against Cuba are being
                   perpetrated within the Human Rights Commission (HRC), which will
                   begin sessions on March 18 in Geneva.

                   On this occasion, given the way that the Czech government has been
                   weakened and discredited after presenting the resolution against
                   Cuba for the last three years, the United States is trying to find a
                   new "sponsor" for the anti-Cuba monstrosity, concentrating on some
                   Latin American governments.

                   But to date, the State Department has had little success. The
                   president of Mexico, Vicente Fox, has made it clear that his country
                   will not sponsor any measure of that kind; the president of Chile,
                   Ricardo Lagos, stated unflinchingly in 2000, and recently reiterated,
                   that his country would not involve itself with a new condemnation of
                   Cuba; similarly, the governments of Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador
                   have not supported and still do not support the unjust maneuver
                   being planned once again for Geneva.

                   The methods used by the United States to achieve this objective are
                   the same as ever: pressure, blackmail, and the imposition of political
                   and economic conditions.

                   In support of its efforts, the United States has "circulated" an
                   aide-mémoire in various Latin American capitals, with every
                   precaution to keep Cuba from knowing about it. The aide-mémoire
                   calls for the adoption of a new resolution condemning Cuba at the
                   58th HRC. But we have learned that this text states that the absence
                   of any action of this nature could be interpreted as "acceptance by
                   the international community of Cuba’s human rights policies," which
                   could lead the "small dissident community" on the island to feel
                   abandoned. The latter is a clear reference to the miniscule
                   counterrevolutionary groups created and sustained by the United
                   States itself, and totally discredited.

                   This aide-mémoire urges the Latin American countries to present a
                   resolution condemning Cuba at the next HRC session, stating that
                   the Commission should "request a visit to the island to investigate
                   the human rights situation in Cuba." Thus, it is evident that the
                   United States persists in its intentions to reinstate a mechanism for
                   monitoring Cuba, since the terms of the special rapporteur on the
                   human rights situation in Cuba ended with the defeat of the
                   anti-Cuba resolution in 1998. The subsequent versions, forcibly
                   imposed by the United States in Geneva, have not managed to
                   include that aspect.

                   U.S. efforts to condemn Cuba in Geneva have involved important
                   officials in the current Republican administration. There have been
                   conversations in New York and Geneva, letters and phone calls, and
                   the subject has been handled crudely in every contact in Washington
                   and certain Latin American capitals.

                   Everyone agrees that the pressure from the North has accelerated.
                   As part of these maneuvers, it has been announced that on March 23
                   and 24, President George W. Bush will visit El Salvador and Peru.
                   There is information that he plans to utilize those visits, during which
                   he will have the opportunity to meet with several Latin American
                   dignitaries, to try to commit them to voting against Cuba, and to
                   distance them from the spirit of cooperation and sisterhood that
                   should unite the Latin American peoples at this time. Cuba is keeping
                   tabs, with special interest, on the preparations and possible results
                   of those meetings.

                   This campaign is taking place at a time when the Latin American
                   countries are more vulnerable to the United States; when the Free
                   Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is being negotiated; when the
                   Andean countries are hoping to extend the preferential tariff
                   agreement they enjoy with the United States; when there are Latin
                   American countries anxious to establish bilateral economic
                   agreements with the United States; when critical situations,
                   aggravated by the international crisis, exist in our region, like the one
                   in Argentina, which require massive assistance from the international
                   financial institutions totally controlled by the United States.

                   Meanwhile, the government of the Czech Republic, reaffirming its
                   willingness to sell out and subordinate itself, has sent a delegation to
                   several Latin American countries, imploring them to promise to
                   liberate the Czechs from the burden of sponsoring the anti-Cuba
                   measure imposed by the United States.

                   Pavel Vosalik, deputy foreign minister for multilateral affairs; Peter
                   Burianek, an official in the Czech president’s office; and Pavel
                   Fischer, head of the Cuba Department at the Czech embassy, make
                   up the delegation that has visited Mexico, Peru and Chile.

                   We have also learned that if the United States fails in its efforts to
                   find a new country or group of countries willing to sponsor the
                   resolution, the Czech Republic would agree to present the resolution
                   once again.

                   This year, for the first time in that organization’s history, the United
                   States is not a member of the Human Rights Commission, given that
                   it was not elected to that body in 2001, as a direct consequence of
                   the international community’s discontent with U.S. positions and
                   actions in the sphere of human rights, particularly in regard to Cuba,
                   and in other international forums.

                   Cuba feels that there is no legitimate motive for selectively including
                   this question on the HRC agenda. Any resolution or initiative, even if
                   its text is "sweetened up," as some have requested, unjustly singles
                   out Cuba in the Commission’s work and can only be interpreted as a
                   response to the United States’ urgent need to find some
                   "justification" for its policy of hostility and blockade against Cuba.

                   There should not be the slightest doubt that the Cuban people are
                   preparing for this battle, in which they are backed by the force of
                   reason and the experience gained from more than four decades of
                   struggle.

                   We know that we can count on the Latin American peoples’ solidarity,
                   generated by Cuba’s determination to defend its identity and
                   independence, the equality for which we struggle daily, and the full
                   and true enjoyment of all human rights – which today, thanks to the
                   Revolution, have become achievements that all our people are
                   committed to defending.

                   The document Cuba wasn’t supposed to know about, the contacts
                   made on the highest levels in Washington with Latin American
                   governments, and the Czech delegation’s visits to Latin America
                   clearly reveal the growing desperation, like that of previous years,
                   perceived in the State Department corridors.

                   As it is obviously impossible for the organizers of these maneuvers
                   to keep their plans secret, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will
                   continue to inform our people on the various episodes of this
                   melodrama, in which its promoters and actors play sad and pitiful
                   roles.

                   Havana, March 8, 2002