02-13-06,9:28am

Havana, February 11 ( AIN ).- The US government's total lack of respect for the sovereignty of Mexico and other nations was the main topic of Friday's The Round Table program broadcast on Cuban television and radio.

The panelists cited recent events at the Maria Isabel Sheraton Hotel of Mexico City as the latest example of how the Bush administration goes beyond its borders to implement anti-Cuba laws in its crusade to destroy the island’s revolution.

The expulsion of a group of Cuban officials and diplomats from the US-owned hotel in the Mexican capital took place on February 3rd. The US Treasury Dept. also ordered the confiscation of the advance payment made by the Cuban delegation.

The incident has brought widespread protests by Mexican citizens, as well as statements from social organizations, members of Parliament and the mass media. They criticize the low-key reaction by the Mexican government in the face of a clear violation of the nation's honor.

Juventud Rebelde newspaper director, Rogelio Polanco, reminded the audience that everything began when a group of Cuban officials linked to the field of energy were meeting at the Maria Isabel Sheraton Hotel in Mexico City with a group of United States corporate executives.

Among the topics on the agenda -of the meeting concluded at another Mexican owned hotel-- was to review the possibilities of cooperation in the area of oil exploration. The US business people were interested in learning about the potential of the Cuban Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, and the possibilities of future negotiations about on this topic.

The meeting had to take place in a third country because due to the nearly half century blockade on Cuba, US business persons are prohibited by their government from traveling to Cuba.

Running roughshod over Mexican law, just as the first day of the meeting had ended, the Cuban delegation was informed by the Sheraton Hotel management, that the US Treasury Department had ordered them to evict them from the premises, totally ignoring the Mexican authorities jurisdiction.

In an editorial published on Friday, Cuba's Granma newspaper noted the ambiguous statements by Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez, who tried to sidestep the issue by putting the blame solely on the Sheraton's management. Granma chided Derbez for ignoring the real cause of the shameful incident: the violation of the sovereign principles of his own nation: Mexico, by the Government of the United States.

Granma newspaper director Lazaro Barredo, a panelist on the Round Table, explained how the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba, enforced from the very early days of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, was reinforced by the Helms-Burton Act, passed in 1996 under the sponsorship of Republican Senator Jesse Helms and Democratic House Representative Dan Burton.

Earlier, in 1992, the Torricelli Act was enacted, under the sponsorship of Democrat Rep. Robert Torricelli. This law bans US companies and their subsidiaries abroad from establishing commercial ties with Cuba. Years later President George W. Bush, using his powers to implement executive orders, generated a series of new regulations further tightening the US blockade against Cuba.

Juana Carrasco, Juventud Rebelde newspaper foreign affairs expert, highlighted the fact that during the past two years aggressions related to the tightening of the US blockade have increased dramatically, including pressures against religious persons and groups to stop them from travelling to the island. She noted that enforcing fines against foreign banks for doing business with Cuba and the continued search for Cuban funds abroad to try and impound them is another part of the stepped-up aggression.

At least 77 different entities were fined due to this aggressive policy of the Bush Administration, which Carrasco said is in constant pursuit of US scientific and cultural organizations that are doing any kind of exchange with Cuba, while at the same time blocking the participation of Cuban athletes in competitions that take place in the United States.

Raul Garces, a Cuban journalist who is also a University of Havana Professor, quoted recent statements by Mexican Foreign Minister Derbez, who exonerated the US government after the scandal erupted, but who now says he is considering sending a diplomatic note of protest. Meanwhile Bush administration spokespersons insist there government will continue the extra-territorial enforcement of their laws.

A TV report by the TeleSur international network affirmed that Mexican authorities found a number of violations of an administrative nature at the Sheraton Hotel, in what appears to be an attempt to totally blame it for the incident, while members of the Mexican Parliament are demanding President Vicente Fox adopt a firm position in defense of the nation's sovereignty.

It was also learned that a Mexican judge had accepted a judicial request that temporarily blocks the Mexico City government from closing the hotel.

Juventud Rebelde director Rogelio Polanco called the court's acceptance of the request as part of the comical situation produced by the cowardly attitude of the Mexican government in the face of the White House arrogance.

Journalist Juana Carrasco revealed during The Round Table that for a long time the CIA had used the Maria Isabel Sheraton Hotel to lodge its agents, and Carrasco also cited other shoddy ties of the American Hotel Chain. She also recalled that 20 Mexican companies had to stop trading with Cuba due to the pressure from the US government.

Lazaro Barredo emphasized that the offense to the dignity of the Mexican nation had motivated the five main political party's represented in its two chambers of parliament to unanimously condemn the US intervention in the internal affairs of their country, demanding an investigation and that the corresponding sanctions be imposed according to Mexican law.