By Anthony Boadle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Jesse Helms, an arch-critic of Fidel Castro's Communist regime, came under fire from an unexpected quarter Wednesday: a Cuban exile leader who spent 30 years behind bars for opposing Castro.
The Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee stopped Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo in his tracks when his testimony turned on legislation Helms authored to tighten the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
``You are preaching now,'' the North Carolina senator said as he silenced the Cuban exile.
At a hearing on the recent crackdown on dissidents in Cuba, Gutierrez Menoyo said the 1996 Helms-Burton Law, which seeks to deter investment from other countries in Cuba, had helped Castro by creating anti-American sentiment on the island.
``The law is an insult to the Cuban people,'' he said, adding that Helms' legislation violated the ``most elemental standards'' of international law.
Gutierrez Menoyo, who fought for Castro's rebels but fell out with him after the 1959 Cuban revolution, now heads a moderate exile group that favors dialogue with Cuba.
Helms said the latest crackdown in Cuba was proof that ''coddling'' Castro, like Canada and European nations with investments in Cuba have done, had failed to bring change.
``The Canadians' policy of engagement has served to prop-up the Castro regime but has done nothing to advance human rights or democracy,'' Helms told the hearing.
Helms said Castro had given a ``bloody thumbs-down'' to Pope John Paul's pleas for a political opening in Cuba during his visit to the island a year ago.
Helms said the latest trials and detentions showed that Castro was ``feeling the heat'' from Washington's policy of reaching out to Cubans and funding dissidents, as established in his law.
``Castro is trying to crush peaceful dissidents and independent journalists who are daring to tell the truth about his bankrupt regime'', the senator said.
Havana Monday introduced a tough new law aimed at curbing opposition. The measure provides for up to 20 years in jail for Cubans who collaborate with the U.S. economic embargo or the Helms-Burton law intended to back internal opposition.
The law has been widely interpreted as expanding the Cuban government's legal weaponry against internal opposition, particularly several dozen dissident journalists.
Cuban-American representatives, led by Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, proposed a resolution condemning Cuba for violating human rights.
The resolution calls on President Clinton to name a special international envoy to advocate the establishment of the rule of law in Cuba.
It also calls for the reinstatement of the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Cuba.
20:22 03-10-99
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