This reversal of roles became apparent in recent weeks, as a record number of mostly leftist intellectuals in Mexico signed a letter condemning Cuba's human rights abuses, just as the top leaders of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest federation of U.S. businesses, was announcing plans to make its first official trip to Cuba. The U.S. Chamber is increasingly vocal in its opposition to U.S. trade sanctions on the island. Mexico earlier this year departed from its earlier abstentions in United Nations human rights votes on Cuba, and cast its vote in support of the Cuban regime. Cuba lost the U.N. vote by 21 to 20. Novelist Carlos Fuentes was not asked to sign because the signature drive coincided with the death of his son, but he has signed similar petitions in the past, organizers say.
History takes strange turns.
Or perhaps it's not that ironic, and Castro's Cuba has come full circle, becoming a system not too different from the one he overthrew four decades ago. Whatever the case, Paz, for one, would have applauded the Mexican intellectuals' manifesto.