World

Odd Couple May Attend WTO

November 25, 1999 / 10:32 AM EST / AP

If Cuban President Fidel Castro attends the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle next week, he won't be the only head of government there, but he won't have much company either.

President Clinton will attend, but no other head of state.

The 134-nation conference, expected to be dominated by foreign trade ministers, is designed to launch another round of talks to further open global markets.

Last week, Clinton asked some allied presidents and prime ministers to join him in Seattle, but the invitations were sent out belatedly and all declined.

Castro reportedly has made arrangements to attend the Nov. 30-Dec. 4 conference and also to make at least three evening appearances before private groups in Seattle. But, as of Friday, he had not requested a U.S. visa.

The conference would provide a congenial setting for Castro.

With few exceptions, the nations represented in Seattle share Castro's view that the U.S. embargo against Cuba, now almost four decades old, should be lifted.

Castro has described the embargo as an act of genocide against the Cuban people, and he is likely to use the WTO forum to staunchly attack the continuing trade restrictions. The Clinton administration maintains that it is merely a tool to encourage Castro to protect human rights and to enact democratic reforms.

Since he seized power 40 years ago, Castro has visited the United Nations several times but has been in the U.S. outside New York only once, a trip to Washington just three months after he took over.

It was during his most recent U.N. visit in 1995 that Castro offered this ringing criticism of the embargo when he spoke at a Harlem church:

"We lay claim to a world without ruthless blockades that cause the death of men, women, and children, youth and elders, like noiseless atom bombs. We lay claim to a world of peace, justice, and dignity where everyone without exception has the right to well-being and life."

Opposing a new visit, Rep. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., urged Attorney General Janet Reno on Wednesday to seriously consider indicting Castro for the murder of three American citizens who were shot down by Cuban jet fighters while they were flying in an unarmed plane north of Cuba on Feb. 24, 1996. All told, four people were killed, including three Cuban-American U.S. citizens and one who had not been naturalized.

Failure to take action "will allow Fidel Castro to literally get away with murder," Menendez said. In addition, Rep. Lincoln Diaz Balart, R-Fla., has contacted more than 3,000 state and federal prosecutors asking that they indict Castro for the 1996 attack.