Cuba says US posts woes fault of nature

Cuba says U.S. post's woes fault of nature
By Gary Marx
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published June 14, 2006

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 neighborhood grid damaged 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," the
statement said. "It never has and it never will."

The statement came in response to a declaration on Monday by Drew
Blakeney, an Interests Section representative, 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 is 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 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,
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 information to Cubans. Cuba responded by
hoisting dozens of huge black flags in front of the ticker to block it.

gmarx@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0606140159jun14,1,2899643.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed