Norway Tells Cuba to Stop Attacking Human Rights Defender; Foreign Ministry Reprimands Cuban Ambassador

Norway Tells Cuba to Stop Attacking Human Rights Defender; Foreign
Ministry Reprimands Cuban Ambassador

OSLO, Norway (July 30, 2009) -- Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten
reported on July 16 that Cuba's ambassador to Norway, Rogerio Santana,
was to be reprimanded by Norway's Foreign Minister for the third time
for attacking a Norwegian government official. Ambassador Santana
referred to Jan Tore Sanner, a member of Norway's parliament, as an
"insect" and as a "banana republic politician" with links to
"terrorists." Sanner had written to the Cuban Embassy expressing concern
about the conditions of political prisoners and imprisoned journalists.

"We congratulate the government of Norway for informing Ambassador
Santana that his behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,"
said Thor Halvorssen, President of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF).
"Ambassador Santana has a long history of defaming, harassing, and
threatening human rights defenders who express concern about the
appalling human rights violations in Cuba," he added.

In April and May of this year, HRF became a target of Ambassador
Santana's vitriol in Norway when the Oslo Freedom Forum, a gathering of
human rights defenders, took place. After physically accosting an HRF
staff member in Oslo's City Hall in April this year, Ambassador Santana
sent numerous communiqués to other embassies and to the Norwegian media,
repeating accusations similar to those levelled against Mr. Sanner.
Cuba's ambassador described HRF and its staff as "terrorists," "CIA
agent[s]," and "subversives."

These absurd and baseless allegations were intended to disrupt and
besmirch a conference where, among other dictatorships, the crimes of
the Cuban regime were exposed and condemned in the strongest terms by
celebrated advocates for human rights, including Amnesty International
Norway's Secretary General John Peder Egenæs. Despite Ambassador
Santana's spurious accusations about HRF and conference participant
Armando Valladares, Mr. Egenæs recently referred to the latter as "a
man, who to me, embodies the term that I believed was invented by
Amnesty International's founder Peter Benenson: a prisoner of
conscience. Mr. Armando Valladares was arrested and sentenced to 30
years in prison, not for something he did but for something he refused
to do, and that was to become part of Fidel Castro's propaganda machine."

"Throughout history, authoritarian governments have described human
rights defenders as subversive elements—dictators and their henchmen are
afraid of the power of truth and thus resort to personal attacks in
order to disqualify those who expose their crimes," said Halvorssen.

Cuba's strategy of dehumanizing critics by making false and
unsubstantiated allegations speaks volumes about its utter disregard for
human rights in Cuba. As Mr. Sanner expressed to the Norwegian media,
Ambassador Santana "represents a regime that unconcealed tries to scare
me into silence. That's well known behavior among representatives from
authoritarian regimes."

HRF has sent copies of the letters exchanged between Mr. Sanner and
Ambassador Santana, materials from this case, and translations of the
news stories from Norway to Cuban embassies around the world. "Perhaps
this will make diplomatic personnel think twice before harassing human
rights defenders," said Halvorssen.

HRF has also been subjected to relentless harassment campaigns by the
governments of Bolivia, where human rights defenders have been falsely
accused of having links to a separatist group; the Dominican Republic,
where HRF's campaign to expose modern-day slavery plantations owned by
the Fanjul and Vicini families has resulted in an embarrassing bribery
scandal where Dominican diplomats paid journalists to attack HRF;
Ecuador, where the Ministry of Justice repeatedly refused the rights of
Ecuadorian citizens to undertake human rights work; and Venezuela, where
an HRF researcher was shot in a politically-motivated assault. The
governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela have also waged a
campaign against HRF inside the Organization of American States and the
United Nations. "We consider these attacks a demonstration that our work
is having an effect and that these bullies are afraid of being exposed,"
said Halvorssen.

HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending
human rights in the Americas. It centers its work on the twin concepts
of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals
include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak
freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter
their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal
treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to
participate in the governments of their countries; HRF's ideals likewise
find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right
to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and
coercion in matters of conscience. HRF does not support nor condone
violence. HRF's International Council includes former prisoners of
conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie
Wiesel, and Harry Wu.

Contact: Thor Halvorssen, Human Rights Foundation, (+212)246.8486,
info@thehrf.org

Ambassador Rogerio Santana, Norwegian Ambassador of Cuba,
p:(+47)23.08.32.60, f:(+47)23.08.32.61, enoruega@online.no

To read the original Aftenposten article in Norwegian, please click here.
http://www.humanrightsfoundation.org/rogeriosantana/aftenposten-cubas-ambassador-inn-pa-tep.pdf
To read the original Klassekampen article in Norwegian, please click here.
http://www.humanrightsfoundation.org/rogeriosantana/klassekampen-kubanerne-advarer.pdf

Norway Tells Cuba to Stop Attacking Human Rights Defender; Foreign
Ministry Reprimands Cuban Ambassador (1 August 2009)
http://www.humanrightsfoundation.org/media/073009.html