José Luís Ponce (Director of the International Press Centre): Here is Felipe Pérez Roque, who will make an initial statement and then answer your questions. There are 61 journalists present, representing 20 countries and 53 organs of the international and Cuban press.

Felipe Pérez: We thank you for accepting our invitation . We have asked you here to pass on some last-minute information. The Bush administration has finally - following a frantic search and after applying intense pressures - found a government willing to assume the ignoble task of submitting a resolution against Cuba to the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

The government that has decided, finally, to follow Washington's lead, is that of President Ricardo Maduro, of Honduras. They will be announcing it tomorrow, I am sure. Cuba regards this shameful decision as an ignominious act that casts the Honduras government in the role of accomplice in the aggression and embargo against Cuba by the United States. President Maduro's decision to accede to the US's request to submit the text drafted in Washington is a contribution to the United States' policy of aggression against our people. It helps to keep the "Cuba issue" on the agenda of the Human Rights Commission and contributes to fabrication of the pretext Washington needs to justify its hostile policy towards Cuba.

The real story of what happened here is no secret to us. Washington has tried from the outset to get the text submitted in Geneva as if it came from Central America. It has worked hard on this and has even sought the aid if the Czech government. Representatives of the Czech administration travelled to Central America to attempt to persuade and pressurize governments there. America took this action because of the failure of its anti-Cuba campaign, the bad name acquired by this manoeuvre and the fact that countries that obliged in the past were unwilling to submit the anti-Cuba text again this year. All that was left was the Central American region, a region with major economic problems, major weaknesses and major dependence on outside help.

On 5th March at a summit of the Central American heads of state in Madrid, Spanish premier José María Aznar requested the Central American presidents to support this initiative and, in particular, asked President Maduro as a special gesture by the Honduras government. President Bush had said that he regarded the matter as a very personal one, an issue of great importance at the personal level. So the Spanish premier asked President Maduro to do it, asked the Central Americans to support him, tried to create the impression that the text was Central American, and since there was a need for a country to submit it, that country would be Honduras.

On 9th March, President Maduro, who had travelled directly to Washington from Madrid at the invitation of US Secretary of State Colin Powell, received the same request from his new host. Colin Powell told him that the United States would regard it as a gesture of great importance if the President of Honduras would submit the text against Cuba on behalf the Central American nations. From that moment until just minutes ago, intense pressures have been exerted, until the Honduras government made up its mind. Finally, we have a decision.

Last Wednesday, 24th March, the Under-Secretary for Political Affairs at the State Department, Marc Grossman, called the meeting we told the press about, and announced that there would be a resolution; he distributed this document, in English. At the meeting Under-Secretary Grossman asked the Honduran Ambassador, who was there, to explain and support what he was saying. Grossman told him he would have a role and that Honduras would certainly be the country to submit the text. Some of those who were at the meeting say that the Ambassador was visibly nervous, embarrassed, and explained almost inaudibly that Honduras was considering the matter. Secretary of State Powell had offered President Maduro the inclusion of Honduras in an initiative called "the Millenium Challenge Account" - a fund set up by Washington involving the planned distribution of 3.5 billion dollars among a group of over 60 poor countries. Powell promised President Maduro that he would consider including Honduras. On his return home, President Maduro announced that the United States was to look favourably on including Honduras in the distribution, but said nothing at all about having been asked in return to submit the anti-Cuba text at Geneva.

Another example is the fact that the Honduras Ambassador in Geneva - presumably the person who will be submitting the text and needs to be on top of this issue - told the press today that he did not know what the text said, had had no instructions, and even asked the Cuban delegation for a copy of the English text that was distributed in Washington.

In other words, we can have no doubt that this a decision taken by the United States rather than Honduras, that this is a US resolution and not a resolution of the government of Honduras, that this is about US policies and interests - not the interests of Honduras.

We know that in Honduras there is a great deal of goodwill and affection and gratitude for Cuba's friendly and disinterested cooperation with this sister nation since the onslaught of Hurricane Mitch. The Honduras people have not forgotten that Cuban doctors were the first to arrive in the wake of the hurricane and have stayed on; also, there are hundreds of young Hondurans, from poor families, studying in Cuba.

In Honduras there is a great deal of goodwill and affection towards Cuba and our people know that this decision is no reflection of the feelings of the Honduran people. It should also be remembered that Honduras did not become a member of the Human Rights Commission until January of this year. In other words, it is one of newest of the Commission's 53 member nations. Honduras has not submitted, and certainly will not be submitting, a proposal on any other issue. That is, it is a country that has kept quite a low profile; we know that the decision to put forward the text on Cuba is less than sovereign, does not reflect the nation's foreign policy interests. It is rather the result of pressure on its government by the US administration.

We also know that Honduras will not be putting forward any texts on other matters which are of real interest, because they are violations of human rights affecting Honduran nationals. The Honduran delegation will be submitting nothing on the subject of how Honduran immigrants are handled - mistreated and murdered on the border - in the United States. We know they are not going to put forward any proposals on other issues of interest that have been under discussion in Geneva, such as the massive, flagrant, systematic violations, the inhuman and degrading treatment suffered by the detainees at the Guantánamo Naval Base.

In other words, we are dealing with a clear case of hypocrisy, of double standards, of capitulation under the pressures exerted by Washington in its efforts to get some nation to submit its anti-Cuba text.

The Honduran press today confirms what I have been saying. According to the La Prensa newspaper, "Powell asks Honduras to denounce Cuba".

Cuba does not blame the Honduran people. Cuba knows that Hondurans have only feelings of friendliness and solidarity towards us. Cuba holds President Maduro's government responsible for its decision to bow to Washington and serve its interests in acting against a small country, which is also a neighbour and sister nation of Honduras.

They have said nothing yet; the announcement will be made tomorrow. They will represent it as a sovereign decision and a matter of genuine concern to Honduras, but no-one will believe that story. Everybody will know that the decision is simply a favour to Washington and an example of acting at its behest.

Any questions?

Journalist: Minister, two questions. First, since Mexico is a member of the Human Rights Commission, as in previous years I would like to know whether the Cuban government has any prediction, any view on how Mexico sees the case of Cuba at the Commission.

Felipe Pérez: No, we have no information on what the Mexican government has decided; we don't know what they will do. We do know that the Mexican government has no reason at all to vote against Cuba at the Human Rights Commission and we also know that there is widespread support in Mexico for a view that the government should stay out of a manoeuvre aimed at stepping up the pressures, aggression and embargo against Cuba.

Journalist: The second question: the Cuban government and you yourself have said on various occasions that the Mexican vote in Geneva is decisive for the course of bilateral relations. In this context, my question concerns the current state of bilateral relations, namely the situation of the businessman Carlos Ahumada. All we have learned so far from official Cuban sources is that he has been arrested somewhere in Cuba. Can you give us any more details?

Felipe Pérez: I can tell you that we became aware of the possible presence of Carlos Ahumada Kurtz, and of the charges against him, through the international police organization Interpol. It was Interpol that sent us a message asking whether our records included details of this individual's trips to Cuba, on the basis of statements against him received by them in Mexico, concerning illicit funds (according to the document, which also mentioned money laundering) in connection with which he was wanted in Mexico. That was how we were made aware of the case, a couple of weeks ago.

Yesterday 30th March, after making enquiries, we told Interpol that Carlos Ahumada had been arrested by the Cuban authorities and was being investigated in connection with the offences he had been charged with and for other possible crimes; we mentioned in the latter case that he may have undertaken activities against the Cuban national interest which are punishable under our laws. So yesterday we advised Interpol that following enquiries into the case, our authorities had arrested this individual.

Journalist: Can you tell us anything about when he was arrested and where he is now?

Felipe Pérez: He was arrested yesterday during the morning. He is being held in an appropriate detention centre, where he is being interviewed, of course; where he is being asked questions and where the necessary investigation is getting underway.

Journalist: Does that mean we don't yet know whether Cuba will be bringing criminal proceedings against him?

Felipe Pérez: No. That depends on the results of the investigation, which is starting right now.

Any other questions about this?

Journalist: Good afternoon, Minister.
Yesterday, the Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John Bolton, submitted a written statement to Congress saying that Cuba was continuing to threaten the United States, that Cuba represented a terrorist threat to America and that there may be biological weapons here in Cuba. Can you give me your version of this issue?

Felipe Pérez: Either Mr Bolton is suffering from schizophrenia - a permanent obsession about Cuba - or he is utterly shameless. American public opinion, like international public opinion, knows that we have repeatedly rejected the accusation that we are producing biological weapons or that we are looking at a biological weapons programme; that we have said that all that is untrue.

President Carter at one time declared in Cuba that all those allegations were false. Mr Bolton is merely trying to create pretexts to justify an act of military aggression against our country.

Journalist: Minister, the election of Zapatero, Spanish President Elect, could affect the European unified position, specifically Spain, in matters such as human rights and other issues.

Felipe Pérez: We do not believe the new Spanish government shares the anti-Cuba obsession reflected in the policies of José María Aznar - we hope not. Our feelings towards the Spanish people are of friendship and respect; it was not Cuba's fault that relations deteriorated - that was due to the Aznar administration - and we hope that situation (among other things) will be remedied under the new government.

Journalist: Good evening.
Does the Cuban government agree with this idea that has been considered in Geneva of replacing declarations censuring governments with offers of collaboration aimed at increased effectiveness in observing human rights? I believe that has been - and still is - under discussion.

Felipe Pérez: Yes, the Cuban government opposes keeping the so-called "Item 9, Country Situations" on the Human Rights Commission's agenda. That is because it is under this item that allegations are levelled, always against Third World countries, always against underdeveloped countries. These are always the accused; no accusations are ever brought under this agenda item of violation of human rights by any developed country. It has become an inquisition, an unjust, politicized, discriminatory court where our countries alone are put in the dock. Cuba is an example, along with other countries in Africa and Asia.

Cuba favours a complete rationalization of the work of the Human Rights Commission. It seems to us that an atmosphere of transparency, even-handedness, a non-selective, non-politicized approach would be beneficial to establishing genuine international cooperation on matters of human rights. Cuba would be happy to cooperate in this way; Cuba has no reservations about conforming to Human Rights Commission mechanisms of collaboration and interchange which are the same for everyone, which are not discriminatory, which do not single out any nation in particular.

In fact, Cuba has invited the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit us, has invited a delegation drawn from several of the Commission's member nations in the past, has invited rapporteurs from the Commission, has sent an invitation to a new rapporteur of the Human Rights Commission. Our country promptly provides the information required by the various mechanisms based on conventions to which Cuba is a party.

Cuba is among the countries that have signed the largest number of judicial instruments on protection of human rights. That is why it is fundamentally opposed to this approach, to making Cuba an agenda item - something not done with any other country in Latin America, nor with the United States nor with any of the developed nations.

Journalist: Two questions, Minister. I understand that Honduras' First Lady visited Cuba recently, I don't know if she has left yet. The Cuban authorities received no message, no hint, nothing via the visit of this lady regarding the position their government would take? That's the first question.

Felipe Pérez: The First Lady of Honduras is in Cuba. She has been here for some days on a programme of work and exchange of views with the Cuban Women's Federation, and is also assessing our activity in the field of social work, work with children. I met with her yesterday; she was impressed by the tremendous progress Cuba has made, which she described as inconceivable, as regards children's and women's rights, in other Latin American countries. We had a wideranging, friendly and respectful meeting that focused on her experiences and exchanges of views here in Cuba.

She visited schools, reviewed Cuba's treatment of the disabled, the teaching system, crime prevention, treatment of young people. I believe she's going back to Honduras tomorrow.

Journalist: In other words, she brought no message from the Honduran government about this question.

Felipe Pérez: No, she didn't bring any message. Her role there is to do with social issues; she carried no message for us about the other question.

Journalist: The second question. Do you have information as to when Carlos Ahumada entered Cuba?

Felipe Pérez: No, I don't, because the subject is under investigation as we speak. He probably entered using the mechanisms normally used by tourists. As you know, getting a tourist visa, which lets you in easily, is no problem. We had 1,900,000 visitors last year, so you can imagine how difficult it is to check every passenger individually.

Journalist: Minister, if the Mexican government can make a technically strong enough case in its investigation of Carlos Ahumada to justify his extradition, would the Cuban government agree to his being extradited to Mexico?

Felipe Pérez: there has been an extradition treaty between our two countries since 1930. The treaty has been applied eleven times since then in relation to Mexican citizens, extradited by Cuba at the request of the Mexican authorities; and thirteen times in relation to Cubans sent back here from Mexico.

Despite the deep crisis of recent years in relations between the two governments, the treaty has not been cancelled and is consequently still in force.

Journalist: In other words, if Mexico can make the case and Cuba has no other charges of its own against Señor Ahumada, it may agree to extradite him.

Felipe Pérez: Well, there is a current treaty, which has been applied in the past. Cuba has not received any request so far; it is making its own investigation and will come to a decision in due course. All I can say now is that the treaty is in force and is recognized by Cuba, as it is by Mexico.

Journalist: Thank you, Minister.
May I ask you about Latin America? First, do you feel this submission by Honduras of the resolution on human rights could affect cooperation between Cuba and Honduras, given that the Honduran President's wife - according the Honduran press - also came to seek cooperation in the field of mistreated children?

And second, can you comment on the fact that in recent years the issue of voting has been the focus in Latin America and, according to Cuba's statements, the United States is always behind the motion put forward by Latin American countries? I would like your comments on that.

Felipe Pérez: On the first question, for us the most important factor is the Honduran people, whom we do not blame for the shameful act its government has agreed to perform. I have to say, frankly, that this decision will have an effect on bilateral relations; but we realize that Cuban cooperation is really aimed at benefiting the humblest sectors of the Honduran population.

Our doctors practise among the rural population there, which has never, in the history of Honduras, had doctors, has never exercised its right to medical care. The 700 Honduran young people studying without charge in our universities have been able to exercise their right to education only in Cuba. Cuba does not blame the Honduran people for the decisions of its government.

At the bilateral level, there is bound to be an effect on relations. The Honduran government decides to act in an unfriendly way towards Cuba in a highly sensitive context for Cuba and Latin America, and Honduras is a country that has not had, up to now, any problem with our country: we have full diplomatic relations, we have no history of differences or disagreements. Regrettably, President Maduro's decision put us on a path of confrontation.

I should answer the second question by saying that, effectively, the United States has indeed managed things so that certain Latin American countries put forward the text. This reflects the hard fact that Latin America is now a very weak region, disunited, under the threat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. In each case, Washington has been able to home in on one or other government prepared, against the will of its people, to lend itself to the anti-Cuba campaign. But that does not detract from our affection, our solidarity, towards the peoples of Latin America, who have never been mistaken about the case of Cuba.

Journalist: Minister, I would like to ask, going back to the case of Carlos Ahumada, where was he arrested and what were the circumstances that led up to his detention?

Felipe Pérez: An investigation was carried out based on information supplied by Interpol, and his identity was finally corroborated by that investigation as the person Interpol had advised us about, and he was arrested. I'm afraid I don't know where the arrest took place.

Journalist: One more thing, Minister. Has the Cuban President received an invitation to attend the next European-Latin American summit, and if so, has he decided whether to accept?

Felipe Pérez: Yes, an official invitation has been received from the President of Mexico. He has not yet decided whether to attend.

Journalist: Minister, today here in Geneva the Chinese government announced its intention to invite the Commission to send someone on a two-week visit to China, to inspect the prisons there and interview convicts all over China.

Just over 15 years ago, Cuba also invited the Commission to send a delegation here on a basically similar mission. I would like to know if Cuba is considering making another invitation of this kind in the future, and if not, why not?

Felipe Pérez: Not while the question of human rights is being manipulated to attack Cuba in Geneva. Not while the issue of alleged violations of human rights in Cuba is being used by Washington to justify its policy of embargo and hostility towards our country.

We have learned that our willingness to cooperate in the past has no effect in discouraging the United States from manipulating, pressuring and imposing its interests, using tremendous pressure, threats and blackmail against member nations of the Commission. That is why Cuba does not recognize the mandate, which it regards as spurious, granted to a personal emissary of the High Commissioner.

Cuba's argument is this: how come Cuba is requested, by resolution, to receive a representative of the High Commissioner, when it has already received the High Commissioner in person, who has never visited other Latin American countries and has never been invited by the United States? Why a resolution asking Cuba to receive him a second time?

I reject the argument that the text put forward is procedural, conciliatory and cooperation-seeking. That is false! The text drafted by Washington does not seek Cuba's cooperation, it is designed to keep the Cuba issue on the agenda and ensure that next year the United States has a basis for seeking out another country to submit the resolution again. That is the real situation.

Why single out Cuba? Why not other Latin American countries? Why is there no resolution at Geneva on the violations of human rights at the Guantánamo Naval Base. Why doesn't Honduras submit a resolution about the death penalty for children, women and the mentally ill in the United States? Oh no! Because America cannot be impugned, because no-one is allowed to submit texts about that country.

Why can't Israel be censured there with the support of the United States? Oh no! Washington opposes, vetoes a Security Council resolution if it concerns the selective, extrajudicial killing, from a helicopter, of an old disabled man in a wheelchair. Did the Human Rights Commission receive any appeals from the United States about that? No. That is the reality. So, the Cuba issue is politicized and Cuba is not going to play that game by inviting another delegation.

It has nevertheless made the gesture of again inviting a rapporteur, the Commission's Special Rapporteur on Food, and in the past has received other rapporteurs, on discrimination against women, on the use of mercenaries; it received the High Commissioner in person, it received a delegation of NGOs headed by Danielle Miterrand in the mid 1990s, which visited prisons, interviewed prisoners and prison authorities. But it's never enough, because Washington is not interested in collaboration, what it wants is to keep the issue alive so as to justify the embargo.

Journalist: A few clarifications about Carlos Ahumada. Did he enter Cuba under his real name and will he be allowed consular aid if this is requested by the Mexican government.

Felipe Pérez: Yes, he entered under his real name. We have received no request for consular access, but will consider it when we do. The Vienna conventions on diplomatic and consular relations are clear on this issue, on the duty of countries to provide consular access to detained foreign nationals.

Journalist: Well, Minister, sorry to bother you. I wanted to ask you about human rights. From your point of view, what would be the result of the vote at Geneva if the anti-Cuba resolution were submitted?

Felipe Pérez: You mean, what would the voting be?

Journalist: In your opinion.

Felipe Pérez: You're asking a lot, Serguei.

Journalist: OK. How could the present US administration fix it, in the run up to the elections there?

Felipe Pérez: It will be a closed vote, because the exercise is discredited, because Washington - despite its massive pressures - cannot impose that text by a substantial majority.

It will immediately say that the Human Rights Commission has condemned Cuba, despite the fact that now, when it pressurizes countries to put forward motions and vote in favour, it says 'no', that this is to help Cuba, that the text does not seek to condemn - which is indicative of the weakness of their position. Despite their power, they cannot resist the moral argument, Cuba's straightforward defence of the truth; that is why they have to resort to subterfuge of this sort.

Journalist: If you'll allow me the opportunity, this is the last question. A little off the subject. Have you any comment - since none from Cuba has ever emerged - about the recent appointment by the new Russian administration, specifically of Mr Lavrov, the Foreign Minister? How, in this context do you see relations between the two countries developing?

Felipe Pérez: We were pleased with the news of the appointment of Minister Lavrov, who was Russian Ambassador to the UN, a seasoned diplomat who we know very well and with whom we've had friendly and respectful relations for some years. We hope to maintain with him the personal relationship of cooperation and respect that we had with his predecessor, Minister Ivanov.

We feel that relations between Cuba and Russia have been developing towards a search for bases of cooperation and mutual understanding, and that we share significantly similar views at international level on the need for a multi-polar world, for preserving multilateralism, for maintaining and strengthening the role of the UN in combating unilateral warmongering, preemptive wars and all the theories now made fashionable by those seeking to justify their imperialist ambitions.

Many thanks.