Push democracy!

THE United States, which has been monitoring the Eastern Caribbean’s relationship with Cuba, wants Barbados and other states to encourage Havana to move towards democracy and improve human rights.
Evidence on the activity emerged from several diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks representing correspondence between officials at the United States Embassy here and colleagues in Washington DC.
Contacted yesterday about the embassy’s monitoring the relationship, Rebecca Ross, counsellor for public affairs, stated: “We would encourage Caribbean nations, through their bilateral and multilateral relations with Cuba, to encourage the Castro administration to move towards democracy and to respect all of the fundamental human rights of all of its citizens.”
Each year, the embassy not only pays close attention to the observation of the 1976 Cubana Airlines crash held here around this time and attended by several Cuban officials, but also to every other contact made between this country and Cuba, which is still viewed as an enemy of the US.
Read the full story in today’s DAILY NATION.