Uruguay, Insulted, Breaks Relations with Cuba Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - JosePertierra@aol.com Uruguay Breaks Ties With Cuba by Raul Garces MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, April 23 (AP) - Uruguay's president announced Tuesday that his country was breaking diplomatic ties with Cuba, days after Uruguay sponsored a U.N. human rights vote targeting Fidel Castro's government. The surprise announcement by President Jorge Batlle came as the Uruguayan leader charged Cuba with a series of insults against this South American nation. Cuban President Fidel Castro, who was speaking live on a government television program in Havana when the announcement was made, characterized Batlle as "a lackey." Uruguay sponsored a resolution targeting Cuba that was passed Friday by the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva. The vote was a tight 23-21 with nine abstentions. The resolution invited the communist-run country to provide its people with greater civil and political rights. It also exhorted Cuba to allow a U.N. representative to visit the island - an idea Havana rejected. Almost all Latin American nations on the 53-member commission approved the human rights measure, prompting Cuba to term them all "Judases." Castro seemed unconcerned as he read the story about Uruguay aloud on air. He said that that while Uruguay was breaking relations with Cuba, plans were under way to vaccinate 300,000 Uruguayan children with meningitis vaccines donated by Cuba to the South American country. On Monday night, Castro had referred to Batlle as that "hung-over, abject Judas who presides over Uruguay." Leading up to the U.N. vote in Geneva, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque accused Uruguay of "genuflecting" and of "being servile" to the United States by sponsoring the resolution. At a news conference late Tuesday, Batlle bluntly complained that insults by Cuban leaders "continued to escalate in tone" to the point that Uruguay was forced to act. "The rupture will remain until it is clear that the Cuban people have peace and liberty," Batlle bristled at the news conference in this South American capital. Batlle said he instructed Foreign Minister Didier Opertti to carry out the necessary steps to formalize the break. He did not elaborate. But Guillermo Valles, an undersecretary to Opertti, later told The Associated Press that Cuba's ambassador would be ordered to leave the country within 72 hours. The Cuban ambassador to Uruguay, Jose J. Vazquez Portela, had no immediate comment. And there was no immediate word if Cuba would take any similar steps toward Uruguay. Diplomatic relations between Uruguay and Cuba were restored in 1986, a year after the end of 12 years of right-wing military-dictatorship in Uruguay that had interrupted ties. But relations fell on rocky times in the weeks leading up to the Geneva vote. Uruguay's government went so far as to recall its ambassador, Enrique Estrazulas, to show its displeasure. 04/23/02 21:25 EDT (c) The Associated Press ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcari-04.24.02-15:45:24-25230