GENEVA, March 22, 2007.- Delegates and rapporteurs criticized the United States at the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday, including an appeal to probe US training of mercenaries to fight Cuba. The criticism came from reports by special rapporteurs and direct accusations by the Cuban delegation. Cuban delegate Yuri Gala quoted the annual report of the Working Group on Abductions, and condemned those actions and flagrant human rights violations. Other reports dealt with Washington s neoliberal policy, the unacceptable level of the poor countries foreign debt and the damage caused by mass privatizations in those nations. The report presented by the rapporteur investigating mercenaries led to an interactive debate on the issue, at which participants spoke about armies run by private companies at the service of the United States and other countries, especially in Iraq, where nearly 50,000 mercenaries support the occupying coalition. On that issue, Cuban delegate Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez recalled that mercenaries are recruited on US territory to carry out what he described as death missions against the Cuban people. On behalf of his country, Reyes proposed that the commission on mercenaries visit the United States, especially the state of Florida, to verify Cuba´s accusations. (Cubaminrex-PL).
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