BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS
The European Union (EU) has let the deadline for pursuing its year-long legal challenge before the World Trade Organization (WTO) to Washington's "Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act" lapse.

EU officials filed the WTO complaint last year, charging that the Helms-Burton Act, signed into law by the Clinton administration in March 1996, violated international trade rules. Washington vehemently objected and refused to attend the hearings of a WTO panel on the matter.

The legislation and its aggressive use by Washington since its passage has substantially escalated the U.S. rulers' economic war on the Cuban people, slowing down foreign investment and credits to the Caribbean island. It has also registered an intensifying trade offensive by the U.S. rulers against their imperialist allies, who are also competitors, especially in Europe and Canada.

Title III of the law allows Cuban-American and other U.S. businessmen whose property was expropriated by workers and peasants after the 1959 revolution in Cuba to sue in U.S. courts anyone investing in those properties. EU officials have charged that this and other provisions show an "extraterritorial reach" of the U.S. legislation and are an infringement by Washington on the rights of these capitalist powers to trade with whomever they choose.

EU and U.S. officials, who have been negotiating on the matter since last spring, indicated the dispute is not over. U.S. undersecretary of state for economic and business affairs Stuart Eizenstat was the more upbeat, welcoming the EU decision to back down. But he added, "We are a long way from being home."

EU officials, on the other hand, emphasized that the decision didn't foreclose resuming the challenge. By not forcing the legal issue, said EU envoy to the United States Hugo Paeman, negotiations can continue. "I want to stress, stress, stress that we can go back [to the WTO] whenever we want," said Ella Krucoff, an EU spokeswoman in Washington.

While the law has been in effect for two years, no company has yet been sued. The Clinton administration has repeatedly waived Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, using it as a bludgeon against Washington's competing powers in Europe and Canada. At the same time, the White House has used another provision to suspend travel visas to the U.S. of about a dozen business executives working for companies targeted under the legislation. They include top officers of the Canadian Sheritt International Corp., which has investments in nickel mines in Cuba, and of Mexican and Italian firms with stakes in Cuba's telephone company.

U.S. fails on `human rights' smear
In a related development, Washington suffered a blow in its eight-year-long attempt to use the United Nations Human Rights Commission to smear the Cuban government with alleged human rights violations. At a meeting of the 53-member body in Geneva April 21, the commission voted down the U.S.- sponsored resolution this year. The panel had approved similar resolutions the last seven years.

The U.S. government motion was defeated by a vote of 19 against, 16 in favor, and 18 abstentions. In addition to the Cuban representatives, those of China and Russia rejected the resolution. The governments of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, were among those who joined Washington in voting yes. Most of the governments in Latin America - with the exceptions of Argentina and El Salvador - abstained, including Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, and Uruguay.

"We all know this exercise is a mockery and manipulation by the United States against Cuba," said Miguel Alfonso Martínez, a Cuban delegate at the meeting. The economic warfare by Washington against the Cuban people is the "only mass, flagrant violation of human rights."  
 
 
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