Rights group urges Cuban changes at summit

WASHINGTON, April 17 (UPI) -- The activist group Human Rights Watch says North and South American leaders should use the Summit of the Americas to bring about change in communist Cuba.

The non-governmental rights organization said in a news release Friday that by creating a unified approach to Cuba, summit attendees could help implement major change in the Caribbean island nation's repressive policies.

Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, said any unified approach to Cuba created during the summit in Trinidad and Tobago should focus on human rights.

"Any discussion of engagement with Cuba needs to take into account that Cuba is the last country in the hemisphere that represses nearly every form of political dissent," Vivanco said. "Those who lament Cuba's absence from the summit should remember that the Cuban government systematically denies its people even the most basic freedoms."

Vivanco said the summit, which began Friday and runs until Sunday, should result in a change from the U.S. policy of isolation toward Cuba, as well as the Latin American policy of uncritical engagement.

"The pursuit of these contradictory strategies has undermined the effectiveness of both, and the only beneficiary has been the Castro government," the group's official said.