US-Cuba row over mission blackout

US-Cuba row over mission blackout

US diplomats have accused the Cuban government of using bullying
tactics, including cutting off the electricity to their mission in Havana.

The former embassy has been relying on generators for the past week and
receives only intermittent mains water.

Many observers say relations between the two long-time ideological foes
are as bad as they have been for decades.

The power cuts came as a Cuban minister announced an end to the
country's longstanding electricity shortages.

"In less than eight months conditions have been created that guarantee
that there will be no blackouts in our country due to a lack of
generating capacity
Yadira Garcia,
basic industry minister"

Correspondents say blackouts have wreaked havoc on the country's economy
since the collapse of its main benefactor, the Soviet Union, in 1991.

Basic Industry Minister Yadira Garcia told parliament on Saturday that
hundreds of small power plants had been linked in to the electricity
grid, making more power available for the summer peak period.

"In less than eight months conditions have been created that guarantee
that there will be no blackouts in our country due to a lack of
generating capacity," she said, quoted by Reuters news agency.

However, the minister did not rule out some continuing supply problems
for other reasons.

'Full of spies'

The US diplomats say the power to their main building was cut off in the
middle of the night on 5 June.

They say repeated calls to the Cuban authorities, asking them to restore
the electricity, have gone unanswered.

A press statement issued by the Interests Section describes the
electrical cut off as part of Cuba's "bullying tactics", which it says
includes preventing diplomats from importing cars, and "intrusions" into
their homes.

The Cuban authorities have made no comment.

In the past, President Fidel Castro has said that the US mission, which
hands out over 20,000 immigration visas a year to Cubans, is full of spies.

It is housed in the same building which was the US embassy, before
diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken in the early
1960s.

Interests Sections were established to handle consular and other
activities in the late 1970s.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/5074818.stm

Published: 2006/06/13 15:28:38 GMT