Washington, February 4 (RHC) -- During a hearing Tuesday morning in Washington, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio –- who has described U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to move towards the normalization of relations with Cuba “disgraceful” -- showed his the real face about the most recent statements by the island on the US funding of internal subversion.
Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants, asked Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson about what he called the condition put forth by Cuba to allow the free movement of U.S. diplomats in Cuba if an embassy is opened in Havana.
Quoted by The New York Times, Rubio asked Jacobson if "the Cuban government would, as a condition of reopening an embassy in Havana, bar American diplomats from meeting with democracy activists there," referring to the Washington-paid groups that carry out or support subversive activity on the island against the Cuban government.
“Can you categorically say we will never accept that condition?” he asked and Ms. Jacobson protested by saying “It’s not a real condition,” The New York Times reported. But, Rubio was pushy in asking the question again “Yes or no, will we agree to that?” Then Jacobson replied “I can’t imagine, that we would go to the next stage of our diplomatic relationship with an agreement not to see democracy activists.”
In a televised interview, the General Director of the United States Office at the Cuban Foreign Ministry Josefina Vidal, who headed the island's delegation to the first talks on the re-establishment of diplomatic relations January 22nd, said that the government of the United States has claimed that in order to open embassies the freedom of movement of U.S. diplomats is important.
Vidal said that Cuba is willing to discuss the issue, but in that regards it is also important that U.S. diplomats in Havana change their behavior, particularly their encouraging, organizing, training, supporting and financing individuals inside the country who act against the interest of the Cuban state, the government and the people.
The diplomat backed her statement on the Vienna Convention as the basis for the operations of the two embassies and which clearly states the respect for the laws of the state where the foreign embassy is established.
Vidal said they wanted to put this very clear because Cuban diplomats in Washington maintain an impeccable behavior as they would never carry out any action that could be taken by the government of the U.S. as interference with that country´s internal affairs.
In her interview on Cuban television, Josefina Vidal cited Jacobson as saying that the United States has not modified its strategic objectives toward Cuba, it is only the tactics and forms that have changed.
Washington allocates millions of taxpayer dollars each year to finance internal subversion in Cuba through so-called “dissidents,” illegal TV and radio transmissions and telecommunications and covert programs. All these actions have been documented and denounced by Cuban media over the years.
