By
The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - An organization dedicated to freedom of expression said yesterday it was concerned by Mexico's plans to abstain from a U.N. vote criticizing Cuba's human rights record.
The declaration indicated that the debate over relations with the communist island under Mexico's new President Vicente Fox is continuing even after the government announced last week that it would probably avoid the issue before the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
"What greatly worries us is the lack of moral definition by the Mexican government on Cuba," said Homero Aridjis, the Mexican poet who is president of Pen Club International, which promotes freedom of expression.
The organization's Mexican chapter issued a letter to Fox yesterday urging the government to support a Czech resolution criticizing Cuba at the U.N. agency in Geneva this week.
Several of the 17 writers who signed the letter were among nearly 100 intellectuals and human rights activists who had signed a similar, broader letter released last week. They include Laura Esquivel, Gabriel Zaid, Carlos Monsivais, Jean Meyer and Salvador Elizondo.
The Cuban government and its foes have lobbied actively for Mexican support on the issue, partly in hopes it will signal the direction of Mexico's government on other Cuba-related issues under Fox, who Dec. 1 inauguration ended 71 years of single party rule in Mexico.
Mexico historically has been Cuba's closest friend in Latin America and for many years Mexican academics were overwhelmingly friendly to the Cuban government.
Aridjis accepted the government's argument that other countries around the world also violate human rights, but said Mexico should still take a stand on the issue because the island is so close.
While the Mexican Pen Club was issuing its letter, the Mexican Movement of Solidarity with Cuba released a letter signed by 57 writers and artists favoring the Cuban government, though the organizers appeared to be less prominent than those criticizing the government.
