US Wants Embassy Thugs "Treated Well" Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [Since hijacking a bus and crashing into a foreign country's diplo real estate might be considered a *terrorist* act in SOME places... maybe the Cuban Govt. should build their own Camp XRay and follow the sterling example of "humanitarian treatment" the US has so helpfully provided. How do you say chutzpah in espanol?] source - JosePertierra@aol.com U.S. urges Cuba to treat embassy detainees well WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - The United States urged its long-time enemy Cuba to be fair to 21 men it whisked out of the Mexican Embassy to an unknown destination on Friday after they stormed the Havana compound in a bid to flee the impoverished communist island. "We believe they must be treated justly, transparently, without reprisals and in accordance with international humanitarian standards," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a news briefing. He promised close monitoring by the United States, Mexico and the international community of the men, assumed to be in detention after a 30-hour standoff that began when some of the men crashed through the embassy gate with a hijacked bus. Cuba said the men, aged 17 to 38, responded to an "invitation to assault the embassy" by a U.S. government-funded radio station, Radio Marti. Dissidents blamed the incident on harsh economic conditions, strict emigration restrictions and an authoritarian one-party political system under President Fidel Castro. The United States observes a four-decade-old embargo against the Caribbean island and has no diplomatic relations with its government, which it has long listed as a "state sponsor of terrorism." Cuban authorities say Radio Marti maliciously broadcast an over-literal version of comments by Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda saying the embassy was "open" to all Cubans. Boucher disagreed. "Radio Marti is a professional media outlet. They reported the story accurately, the way other media outlets in Miami did," he said, referring to the Florida headquarters of the station, named after a 19th century Cuban independence hero. Boucher welcomed a Mexican foreign ministry statement repeating Castaneda's remark the embassy was open to all Cubans and urged all embassies to expand ties with dissidents. "The problem is not that embassies are willing to talk to Cubans," he said. "The problem is the Cuban government is not willing to let Cubans talk to embassies." 17:51 03-01-02 ================================================================= 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 ================================================================= nytcamer-03.02.02-06:37:07-10222