Pompeo condemns Cuban accusations against top U.S. diplomat in Havana
Send a link to a friend
[November 23, 2019]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday condemned accusations by Cuba's
government against Washington's top diplomat in Havana, which he said
were made to distract attention from its "abysmal treatment of the Cuban
people."
Communist-run Cuba accused the U.S. embassy in Havana on Wednesday of
having fomented the "counterrevolutionary" activity of leading dissident
Jose Daniel Ferrer, whom it arrested nearly two months ago.
The U.S. embassy last week posted on Twitter a video of Charge
d'Affaires Mara Tekach with Nelva Ismarays Ortega, partner of Ferrer,
leader of Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), the country's most active
opposition organization. Together they pleaded for his release.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Nov/23/images/ads/current/burtonview_coop_sda_daily_FFARM_2016.png)
The U.S. government "strongly condemns" the accusations against Tekach,
Pompeo said in a statement.
"The regime has launched these baseless allegations against her in an
attempt to distract the international community from its abysmal
treatment of the Cuban people, especially the ongoing arbitrary
detention of dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer," Pompeo said.
The Trump administration, which has tightened the decades-old U.S. trade
embargo on Cuba in a renewed attempt to force the one party system to
reform, has been campaigning vociferously for Ferrer's release.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/112319pics/news_s35.jpg)
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo holds a news conference at the
Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium November 20, 2019.
REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
In the video posted on Twitter, Ortega said Ferrer had been beaten
and left without medicine after his arrest.
In an editorial this week, Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma
said allegations that Ferrer had been mistreated were lies cooked up
by the U.S. embassy.
"The United States has, and will continue to, openly and
transparently express our grave concerns about the treatment and
condition of human rights defenders in Cuba," Pompeo said.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Writing by Mohammad Zargham; Editing
by Daniel Wallis)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Nov/23/images/ads/current/richardson_sda_FFARM_2019.png) |