HAVANA, Mar 14 (IPS) - The Cuban government refused permission Friday for a visit by a special United Nations
               representative, Christine Chanet, named to monitor the human rights situation in this socialist Caribbean island nation.

               Cuba "will not allow (Chanet) to carry out her mandate," Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque said Friday.

               He clarified, however, that the refusal to authorize the visit should not be understood as anything personal against the special
               representative herself or against UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello, who appointed her.

               Pérez Roque underlined that his country viewed the designation of a special human rights representative to visit Cuba as invalid,
               as it forms part of a UN Commission on Human Rights resolution that it deems illegitimate.

              The decision to name a special representative was part of a resolution condemning Cuba, approved in April 2002 in the
              Commission by a vote of 23 to 21, with nine abstentions. The initiative was presented by Peru and Uruguay and backed by
              several other Latin American nations as well as Canada.

              The text urged Havana to guarantee civil and political rights, and endorsed the designation of a special representative by the UN
              High Commissioner for Human Rights, to visit Cuba.

              The Commission has passed resolutions condemning the human rights situation in Cuba every year since 1990, with the exception
              of 1998. Last year's resolution was the first to be introduced by Latin American countries.

               The condemnation of Cuba's human rights situation triggered a diplomatic row between Cuba and Uruguay, which ended with the
               rupture of relations between the two countries.

               The Cuban government complains that the resolutions are "fabricated by the United States with the basic objective of justifying its
               (four-decade) blockade and aggression against the Cuban people," said Pérez Roque.

               "Cuba has rejected, and will continue to reject, that anti-Cuban exercise," for which it holds the U.S. government and the "Cuban
               mafia in Miami"--an allusion to the vociferously anti-Castro Cuban exile community in that U.S. city--responsible, the foreign
               minister said in a news briefing.

               Pérez Roque plans to travel next week to Geneva to attend the annual session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, which
               convenes Monday.

               The official said he would tirelessly fight any new attempt to condemn Cuba's human rights record.

               The socialist government of Fidel Castro insists that it respects human rights to a greater extent than othercountries, by guaranteeing
               broad coverage of social services like free health care and education. It argues that countries that fail to take care of their poor are
               in no position to criticize.

               "Our work in favor of political, social, economic, and cultural rights is increasingly recognized around the world," said Pérez
               Roque.

               The minister said he hoped that on this occasion the governments of Latin America would not yield "to pressure and blackmail" in
               Geneva, and that "sovereignty and regional solidarity" would prevail. According to Pérez Roque, the United States has already
               begun campaigning in Latin America to drum up support for a new resolution against Cuba in the Commission's meetings, which
               will run through April 25.

               But in Geneva, no government has so far expressed interest in sponsoring a motion against Cuba, in the current climate which is
               so heavily affected by the crisis over Iraq in the Security Council.

               The decision not to authorize the visit by Chanet, a French jurist, was described as a "serious error" by dissident groups in Cuba,
               which are illegal but tolerated by the government.

               Cuba is negotiating admission to the Cotonou Accord, through which the European Union offers trade advantages and economic
               assistance to 77 former African, Caribbean and Pacific island colonies.

               "Europe has wanted Cuba to join Cotonou, but these signals that the government is sending out are not positive," Héctor
               Palacios, director of the Social Studies Center and the head of the opposition coalition Todos Unidos (Everyone United), told IPS.

               In his opinion, Cuba's decision not to grant the UN human rights representative permission to visit "will only help isolate the
               government."

               Cuba's human rights record remains a cause of discrepancy between the Castro government and the EU, which has voted as a
               bloc on resolutions against Cuba submitted to the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, and has conditioned admission to
               the Cotonou Accord on improvements in that area.

               Pérez Roque's announcement coincided with the visit of European Commissioner on Development and Humanitarian Aid, Poul
               Nielson, to Havana.

               Nielson said he welcomed Cuba's application to join the Cotonou Accord. But several of the 15 EU member countries continue to
               insist that Cuba must show that it is moving towards greater respect for basic freedoms before it can be accepted as part of the
               preferential trade agreement.

               A document that Cuba will distribute in Geneva points out that in 1994, the island nation welcomed a visit by then-UN high
               commissioner for human rights, José Ayala Lasso.

               However, at the same time it refused to authorize a visit by a special rapporteur on Cuba, Carl Johan Groth, whose designation it
               viewed as invalid.

               Ayala Lasso, who met with Castro and several opposition leaders, described his visit to the country at that time as "positive"
               because it helped open up dialogue with the Cuban government.