Caribbean Report 19-04-2002 - Hayes, Rosie (anchor); Valles, Guillermo (interviewee); Acosta, Marie Claire (speaker); Williams, Carl (interviewee); Shoman, Assad (interviewee); Smith, Colin (correspondent); King, Michael (speaker); Exell, Matthew (correspondent) (The British Broadcasting Corporation, 2002)
1. The UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva recognises Cuban authority’s efforts to give effective social rights to its population but a UN resolution urging Cuba to strengthen its human rights is being sponsored and supported by many of Cuba’s former allies in Latin America, with only Venezuela siding with Cuba. The United States is unable to vote having lost its seat on the Commission (00:00-00:46)
2. Uruguay leads the Latin American sponsored UN Human Rights Resolution in Geneva targeting Cuba and in an interview, Head of the Mission, Guillermo Valles, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, says the resolution is not a criticism of Cuba but an attempt to encourage Havana to re-examine its human rights policies. He states clearly that the US has not influenced this resolution (00:47-03:20)
3. Mexico is on a list of Latin American countries that support the human rights vote against Cuba. In previous years it has abstained from taking part as a sign of support for the Cuban government, however Marie Claire Acosta, Deputy Minister for Human Rights, Mexican Foreign Ministry, denies that the United States influenced them in the vote (03:21-04:30)
4. Police in Jamaica step up their campaign to track down drug dealers and their couriers as the number of drug mules attempting to fly to either Britain, Europe or America increase. Part of the crackdown is Operation Swallow. Carl Williams, Senior Superintendent of the Jamaican Police, characterises the operation as a resounding success (04:30-07:32)
Keywords: Human rights -- Cuba; United Nations -- Resolutions; United Nations. Commission on Human Rights; Venezuela -- Relations -- Cuba; Cuba -- Relations -- Venezuela; United States -- Relations -- Cuba; Cuba -- Relations -- United States; Uruguay -- Relations -- Cuba; Cuba -- Relations -- Uruguay; Mexico -- Relations -- Cuba; Cuba -- Relations -- Mexico; Police crackdowns -- Jamaica; Drug traffic -- Jamaica; Drug couriers -- Jamaica; Airlines -- Netherlands; KLM (Airline; Curacao -- Relations -- Holland; Drug traffic -- Curacao; Drug couriers -- Curacao; Boundary disputes; Guatemala -- Boundaries -- Belize; Belize -- Boundaries -- Guatemala; Guatemala -- Boundaries -- Honduras; Honduras -- Boundaries -- Guatemala; Organization of American States; Referendum -- Belize; Referendum -- Guatemala; Treaties; Jagdeo, Bharrat, 1964-; Hoyte, Hugh Desmond; People’s National Congress; Crime -- Guyana; Political parties -- Guyana; Political science -- Guyana; Chávez Frías, Hugo; Organization of American States; United Nations. Commission on Human Rights. Session (58th : 2002 : Geneva, Switzerland); Venezuela -- History -- Attempted coup, 2002