• United States expels 14 Cuban diplomats in an "irrational act of revenge"

                   ON May 12, the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York sent a
                   communication to our mission to that agency informing that seven Cuban
                   diplomats had been engaging in activities beyond their official capacity and
                   considered injurious to the United States.

                   The note states that unless Cuba can offer information to justify such conduct,
                   it will ask the mission to make the necessary arrangements for the seven
                   officials and their families to leave the country within 48 hours. This is
                   obviously the first phase in an operation to expel our diplomats in New York
                   for no reason whatsoever.

                   Subsequently, on May 13, the U.S. State Department informed the Cuban
                   Interests Section in Washington of its decision to declare seven diplomats
                   "personae non grata," giving them 10 days to leave the country.

                   The Minister of Foreign Affairs rejects this new escalation of U.S. government
                   aggression towards our country and our diplomatic representatives in
                   Washington and New York.

                   With these acts, the U.S. Government is once again demonstrating that it has
                   openly adopted a provocative and meddling course against Cuba.

                   As our government has repeatedly charged, this arbitrary decision is yet
                   further evidence of a plan against Cuba aimed at sabotaging the migratory
                   agreements, creating a crisis and propitiating a confrontation between the two
                   countries. The expulsion of the Cuban diplomats pursues the objective of
                   provoking an escalation culminating in the closure of both countries’ Interests
                   Sections, as has been historically demanded by the anti-Cuban mafia in
                   Miami.

                   The U.S. government is trying to adversely affect the prestige of Cuban
                   diplomacy, while demonstrating its frustration at the recent defeats it suffered
                   at the Human Rights Commission in Geneva and at the UN Economic and
                   Social Council, when Cuba was newly elected by acclamation as a member of
                   that commission.

                   Expelling 14 diplomats is an irrational act of revenge on Cuba by the U.S.
                   government. It is a sign of the growing desperation of extremist sectors
                   demanding a hardening of the blockade and fresh aggressions on a people they
                   have been unable to sway after more than 44 years of heroic resistance.

                   Cuba will not be intimidated by this or any other provocation. Cuba will not
                   renounce the struggle for its independence and sovereignty. Cuba knows that
                   it has right on its side and can count on the unity and determination to fight of
                   its entire people.

                   Cuba will take the time it needs to respond to this new provocation from the
                   U.S. government.

                   Ministry of Foreign Affairs

                   May 13, 2003