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UNITED NATIONS - Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has hit back at US President George W Bush, saying he was a reckless global cop who has put the world's security at risk.
A day after he stormed out of the UN General Assembly hall when Bush referred to ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro as a "cruel dictator" whose rule was coming to an end, Cuba's envoy said the US president had no right to demand "regime change" in sovereign countries through war and sanctions.
"It was an embarrassing show, the delirium tremens of the world's policeman, the intoxication of imperial power, sprinkled with mediocrity and cynicism," he said of Bush's speech on Monday.
Bush scolded Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Myanmar and other states for trampling on their people's rights.
He said the United Nations must insist on free speech and elections in Cuba as the Communist-run country enters a period of transition after Castro handed power to his brother Raul on July 31, 2006.
Perez Roque said Bush had no right to talk about democracy because "he came to office through fraud and deceit" in the controversial 2000 elections.
"We would have been spared his presence yesterday and would have listened to President Al Gore talking about climate change and the risks to our species," the Cuban minister said.
Perez Roque blamed Bush for the death of 600,000 civilian in the Iraq war and said the US president had no moral grounds to speak about human rights in other nations after authorizing the use of torture against prisoners in the Guantanamo naval base and Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail.
"He has been the most selfish and reckless politician we have ever seen," he said of Bush. "He should be held accountable to the world for his crimes."
Perez Roque began his statement speaking in the name of the 116 developing nations of the Non-Aligned Movement, which Cuba currently heads.
He said the greatest threat to world peace today was "the use of pretexts such as the war on terror" or the "much-trumpeted promotion of democracy" to attack countries labelled "rogue states" by a handful of developed countries.
- REUTERS
