Cubans irked

In an article that cannot be blamed, as was the case in the past, on foreign news agencies, The Jakarta Post published in the Sunday (April 24) supplement of the Asian-African Summit an article clearly biased against Cuba, with no reason whatsoever and completely out of context.

In the article called Non-aligned spirit searching for relevance in changing world, the writer singled out Cuba (just Cuba) as "one of the most obvious transgressors" for its so- called alignment with the USSR.

This discourse is the typical of the ideological campaigns of very conservative and right-wing United States think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute.

Suffice it to say that it is very difficult to find another developing country with a more independent foreign policy than Cuba, which has been recognized internationally by the overwhelming majority of the Third World, and is one of the strongest supporters of the developing countries against the unilateralism and aggression of the United States. No wonder Cuba was the Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1979 and has been chosen again to lead the Non-aligned Movement (NAM), taking over from Malaysia in 2006. Only Yugoslavia, and now Cuba have ever been chosen to chair the NAM movement twice.

Does this article represent an "early bird" of a U.S. campaign against the leadership of Cuba in the NAM movement? I believe that the Post will not allow itself to play that role, although different recent articles appearing in this newspaper make me question if there is a Cuban agenda in the Post.

MIGUEL RAMIREZ Cuban Ambassador Jakarta