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Cuba Denies Cutting Off Power to U.S. Mission in Havana

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 June 2006, 21:00 CDT

HAVANA _ Cuban authorities Tuesday denied U.S. charges that they had deliberately cut off water and power to the American diplomatic mission in Havana, saying bad weather and technical problems were to blame.

Electricity was restored Tuesday, a day after U.S. officials had complained that the service problems were part of a campaign of harassment by island authorities.

In a front-page statement published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma, the Cuban government said the recent electrical outages at the U.S. Interests Section were the result of a damaged neighborhood grid caused by inclement weather. The Cubans said spotty water service in recent months was caused by drought and the general difficulty of supplying water throughout the city.

The statement said Cuban authorities responded quickly to fix the problems and charged that complaints by U.S. officials were an effort to undermine already limited diplomatic ties between the two nations.

"Our revolution would never attack or violate a diplomatic office," read the statement. "It never has and it never will."

The statement came in response to a declaration on Monday by Drew Blakeney, an Interests Section spokesperson, and at the U.S. State Department accusing Cuba of cutting electrical service to the mission's main building last week and sharply curtailing water service in recent months.

The Interests Section, which serves as the U.S. diplomatic mission in Cuba absent formal relations, had been operating on generator power until electricity was restored.

Blakeney also accused Cuban authorities of withholding visas for American diplomats newly assigned to the island, preventing U.S. authorities from hiring Cuban workers, and intruding into diplomats' homes.

"The regime's increasing resort to bullying tactics in dealing with the (Interests Section) and the Cuban people comes as no surprise: It has long sought to isolate and harass the Interests Section," he said.

The dispute is the latest tit-for-tat between two countries at odds for more than 40 years.

Absent a substantive dialogue to resolve their differences, the U.S. and Cuba resort mostly to symbolic gestures to score political points, diplomats and experts say.

"Neither side cares much about the relationship," said Daniel Erikson, director of Caribbean programs at the Inter American Dialogue. "There is a total lack of trust."

In January, the U.S. Interests Section began running an electronic ticker on its facade to beam news and other information to Cubans. Cuba responded by hoisting dozens of huge black flags in front of the ticker to block it.

While experts say it's a given that America and Cuba spy on each other, the issue of diplomatic harassment is a more contentious matter.

U.S. and other foreign diplomats here complain they've had their car tires punctured after meeting with opposition figures.

American diplomats suspect Cuban authorities have sneaked into their homes and tried to unsettle them by rearranging wall hangings, leaving smashed light bulbs on the floor, planting cockroaches and other pests and even changing the screen saver on a computer.

___

(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.

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Source: Chicago Tribune

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