``We are in the presence of such a flagrant and massive case of violations as no other in the history of the American continent,'' said a prepared text from Luis Zuniga, a member of the anti-Castro Cuban American National Foundation.
But his words were drowned out by furious protests from the Cuban delegation, which slammed Zuniga as a ``mercenary'' used by the Nicaraguan government and the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Cuban delegates, backed by other members of the 53-nation human rights commission, successfully argued that Zuniga had no right to speak on behalf of Nicaragua.
As a result, his statement was read out by Enrique Paguaga Fernandez, Nicaragua's ambassador to the United Nations.
``None of the dictatorships in Latin America went as far as to suppress the independence of the judicial power, confiscate the media or intervene with labor unions as has been done in Cuba,'' the statement said.
It was Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman who invited the Cuban American National Foundation, based in Miami, to seat a member in his country's delegation in Geneva.
Aleman, the second democratically elected president of Nicaragua, was a political prisoner when the leftist Sandinistas were in power. He also received large amounts of money for his campaign from Cuban and Nicaraguan exiles in Miami.
Cuban authorities arrested Zuniga in 1974 on charges of ``committing acts against the security of the state.'' He was sentenced to 25 years in jail but released in 1988 on what Cuba described as ``humanitarian grounds.''
``This sinister individual regularly shows up in the corridors of international fora as a spokesperson for the criminal, anti-Cuba right-wing circles in Miami, actively supporting the policies of the U.S. government against Cuba,'' the Cuban delegation said in a statement circulated throughout the human rights chamber.
``He's a confessed terrorist,'' added Cuban representative Juan Antonio Fernandez.
Fernandez recalled how - under the Sandinistas - the two countries had worked together in solidarity. He accused the current Nicaraguan government of being a CIA pawn.
As a result of U.S. pressure, Cuba has been subject to special scrutiny at the U.N. commission under a procedure reserved for the worst human rights offenders. These include Iran, Iraq, Burma and Sudan.
A resolution criticizing the Castro government will be put to a vote when the U.N. body wraps up its six-week meeting next week.
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