Uruguay Cuts Diplomatic Ties to Cuba

Uruguay’s president announced Tuesday that his country was severing diplomatic ties with Cuba, days after Uruguay sponsored a U.N. human rights vote targeting Fidel Castro’s government.

The surprise announcement by President Jorge Batlle came as the Uruguayan leader charged Cuba with a series of insults against this South American nation.

Cuban President Fidel Castro, who was speaking live on a government television program in Havana when the announcement was made, characterized Batlle as “a lackey.”

Uruguay sponsored a resolution targeting Cuba that was passed Friday by the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva. The vote was 23 to 21, with nine abstentions.

The resolution invited the Communist country to provide its people with greater civil and political rights. It also exhorted Cuba to allow a U.N. representative to visit--an idea Havana rejected. Almost all Latin American nations on the 53-member commission approved the measure.

Castro seemed unconcerned as he read the story about Uruguay aloud on air. He said that while Uruguay was breaking ties with Cuba, plans were underway to vaccinate 300,000 Uruguayan children with meningitis vaccines donated by Cuba.

On Monday, Castro had referred to Batlle as that “hung-over, abject Judas who presides over Uruguay.”