U.S. officials had campaigned intensely against Cuba’s inclusion on the commission. They argued that the Cuban government is a repressive regime that it did not deserve to serve on that body.

When the vote was taken, the U.S. delegation demonstratively walked out of the meeting. "It was an outrage for us because we view Cuba as the worst violator of human rights in this hemisphere," U.S. representative Sichan Siv huffed.

The latest moves at the UN commission are part of an escalation ovter the past year of the U.S. government’s 44-year-long drive to undermine and overthrow the Cuban Revolution.

Washington has sought to portray the recent prosecution of 75 opponents of the revolution in Cuba, as well as the trials and executions of three armed hijackers, as a crackdown on ideas. It has used this pretext to threaten new sanctions against Cuba, including a ban on remittances by Cuban-Americans to relatives on the island and the suspension of charter flights from the United States.

The election to the commission, despite Washington’s efforts, "constitutes a new victory for the Cuban Revolution in the face of the empire’s hostile policy," said the Cuban government in a statement released the same day.

In mid-April, the US. government unsuccessfully tried to push through an amended resolution at the UN commission that voiced "deep concern" about the "recent detention, summary prosecution, and harsh sentencing of numerous members of the political opposition" and called for their release. Instead, a weaker resolution was passed, asking Havana to allow a UN "monitor"--a French judge--to visit the island and report on human rights conditions. The Cuban government, maintaining a stance it has consistently taken, said it would not allow such a visit by a foreign "monitor."

Washington has also intervened in the UN Human Rights Commission to selectively target other governments that have not gone along with the U.S. rulers’ prerogatives, such as Libya. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the UN commission "cannot expect to have Libya be its chair, to re-elect Cuba, and not have people wonder if they really do stand for human rights or not."

The U.S. government has had problems of its own in the UN Human Rights Commission. In 2001 Washington, which had served on the commission for the past 50 years, lost its seat on that body. It won it back last year.  
 
 
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