CUBA COMMITMENT

CUBA COMMITMENT

Mexican President Vicente Fox and the foreign ministers of Cuba and Mexico announced Thursday, only hours after Cuban President Fidel Castro angrily said he wouldn't attend a European-Latin American summit in Mexico. "There is more talking to do" before the two nations' ambassadors will head back to their jobs. A Cuban ambassador stated, "We agreed that our primary objective is the normalization of our relationship." No comment was offered by the Mexican government. Mexico recalled its ambassador from Cuba last month and ordered the Cuban ambassador in Mexico City to go home after Cuba charged that Mexico was taking orders from the United States. It was the most serious breach between the two countries in decades. In a statement delivered early Thursday, Castro cited Mexico’s expulsion of the Cuban ambassador. The summit brings together representatives of 58 nations from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Castro also criticized the "shameful compliance and treason against Cuba of various governments of Latin America” for their support of the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Cuba , which include restrictions on the $1.2 billion in remittances sent to Cuba each year. In a "Message to the Mexican people" sent from Havana , Castro blamed the European Union for economic policies that cause "underdevelopment and misery" in Latin America . He also condemned the EU for its refusal to say "not even one word" to condemn the continued U.S. presence at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the United States maintains a prison camp for suspected terrorists. He called the summit "purely ceremonial" with no room for "free debate" and no tolerance for dissident views. "I don't even dream that the European Union will accept the denunciations of the assassinations, mistreatments and humiliations that have been committed against countless Mexicans, Latin Americans in general and Caribbean people who try to escape the underdevelopment and misery imposed on them by the international economic order, plundering and genocide that today reigns in the world, which also benefits (the EU)," the statement said.

Castro clearly was still angered by a 2002 incident in which Fox asked him to leave a U.N. summit in Monterrey, Mexico, before President Bush arrived. In his statement, he referred to his "bitter experience" in Monterrey as proof that "conditions do not exist for a visit by me ... to result in anything constructive."

I have been told that Castro may just let go a little and open a more popular free market for Cubans and America, even though we have sanctions against them. As you can tell, Castro is still very hard in his stand against America and all of our policies. It is also noteworthy that the band on Cuba’s remittances is 1.2 billion dollars each year. This is another slap to the already failing economy. God is at work; HE is opening doors and shutting out old friends of this communist country. We have asked that God put the “squeeze” on Cuba so that doors open for materials. HE is doing just that!

Look at the news, read the headlines, our all powerful God is at work for us and the Cubans still waiting.

You can review previous e-mails on our website - www.metrobc.org/cuba

In HIS Service,

Travis A. Jones

travis@metrobc.org

cuba@metrobc.org

Metropolitan Baptist Church

6051 Azle Ave.

Ft Worth, TX 76135