APRIL 26, 1999
Joel-Denis Bellavance, National Post,
Canada
Saturday, April 24, 1999
Ordered weeks ago: PM wanted trade relations reassessed after political dissidents jailed
OTTAWA - Members of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs committee took the unusual step this week of ordering Lloyd Axworthy, the Foreign Affairs Minister, to appear before them to explain why the federal government has taken no action on its review of Canada's bilateral relations with Cuba.
Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, ordered the review more than a month ago, after the Castro regime sent four of the island's most prominent political dissidents to jail. It was a much-publicized move, reversing a decades-old policy of engagement.
But so far, Foreign Affairs officials have held no meetings on the review, and a department official told the National Post that Canada does not contemplate any trade sanctions against Cuba.
In fact, he said, the department intends to continue its "engagement of dialogue" with the Communist island.
"We don't have anything to announce yet. But the intention is still to continue our policy of constructive dialogue," said the official.
Thus far, the Liberal government has decided only to cut back on ministerial trips between the two countries.
Opposition MPs say they suspect Mr. Chretien's ordering the review is a "smokescreen," and that the government's real intention is to continue its soft policy toward Cuba.
"The prime minister probably hopes that this issue will go away
. . . I think it's time that we do get an answer. Cuba is a dictatorship. This guy practises all kinds of human-rights abuses and, yet, we are silent on that issue," said Bob Mills, the Reform Foreign Affairs critic.
"We understand that the government is fairly busy because of the Kosovo crisis, but we still want to know how the Liberals intend to deal with Cuba. We want to have an answer as soon as possible, at least before the end of June," said a Bloc Quebecois source who asked not to be identified.
When Mr. Chretien ordered the review, Mr. Axworthy indicated at the time that Canada would rethink its push to have Cuba included in the Organization of American States. However, nothing has been announced yet.
Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962, three years after Mr. Castro took power. The Cuban dictator was counting on its friendly relations with Canada to earn his country an official invitation to the next summit, which Canada is hosting.
In an exclusive interview with the National Post this week, Brian Mulroney, the former Conservative prime minister, also blasted the Liberal government for not taking a tougher stand against the Castro regime.
Mr. Mulroney stated that the policy of soft diplomacy pursued by the Liberals is a failure.
Mr. Mulroney also criticized Mr. Chretien's visit to Cuba last April, when he stood by while the Cuban dictator lashed out at Washington. He noted that Mr. Castro did not even heed Mr. Chretien's pleadings to release human-rights activists from Cuban prisons.
"Soft diplomacy appears to be to stand by silently while you are standing next to Fidel Castro, while he unloads massive attacks against the United States. You say nothing. You sit quietly by and then you go home and find out that he has just thrown a bunch of dissenters in the slammer. So much for soft diplomacy," Mr. Mulroney declared.
Canada's continued relationship with Cuba has also been a constant source of irritation to the U.S., which has maintained an economic blockade against the country for the past 38 years.
But Canada has consistently argued that engagement is more likely than isolation to bring democracy and more human rights to Cuba.
Mr. Axworthy went as far as to say last year that he accomplished more in five hours of talks with Mr. Castro than the Americans "have accomplished in the last 30 years" by isolating Cuba.
Canada and Cuba signed a 14-point declaration during a visit to Cuba by Mr. Axworthy in 1997 that outlined areas of co-operation, and for the first time committed the Castro regime to work with a Western country on human rights.
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