Belmopan low key over V.O.A. rebuff

Belize’s failure to allow U.S. authorities to broadcast propaganda into Cuba from a relay station in the Toledo District is being downplayed in Belmopan. A recent report in the Miami Herald indicates that the U.S. government was taken aback by the refusal of Prime Minister Said Musa to grant permission for the Voice of America facility outside Punta Gorda to be used by Radio Marti to beam signals into Cuba. According to the article, by Herald staffer Tim Johnson, the decision by Belmopan was taken two months ago, despite two diplomatic notes sent by Washington to press for approval. But while the article purports that some noses in Washington may be out of joint, diplomats here have expressed surprise that anyone in the State Department could have expected otherwise. “We have cordial relations with Cuba and there is no way we would provide a platform for what they consider to be U.S. aggression,” said one official who asked to remain anonymous. When we spoke to Foreign Minister Assad Shoman this morning by telephone he said that the incident will have absolutely no effect on Belize-United States relations. The U.S. embassy had no comment.