IRELAND and the EU have not followed the lead of the United States on Cuba in recent times. Once again last week, as Washington decided to step up its blockade of Cuba, the European response was more measured.
After marathon negotiations, involving a dispute with China, the US succeeded in getting the UN Security Council to condemn the Cuban action. The following day the White House and Congress agreed on a bill to tighten the existing US embargo on Cuba.
Since last November, Ireland has taken a more robust stand against US squeezing of Cuba. On November 3rd, the Government voted for the first time for a UN resolution condemning the continuing US economic blockade.
Last week, EU foreign ministers issued a more restrained statement than those emanating from Washington. The ministers condemned the shooting down of the US planes, regretted the four deaths, called for moderation and restraint from all involved, sought an investigation into the incident and said there was no excuse for not respecting international law and human rights norms.
There was little moderation and restraint in Washington, however. The UN Security Council, chaired by the US, agreed to criticise Cuba without hearing Cuba's defence. The White House agreed to support a bill further squeezing the Cuban economy.
Under the bill's terms companies operating from outside the US would be penalised for trading with Cuba.
Secretary of State Mr Warren Christopher had threatened to veto the Bill, but at the height of last week's US outrage at the Cuban action, the bill was moderated, and then accepted by the White House.
The US has been on what is almost a solo run in its campaign against Cuba for several years.
While there is widespread international hostility to and distrust of Dr Fidel Castro's communist state, the tough US economic, financial and political blockade of Cuba has not been supported by the international community.
In the UN General Assembly's November vote, 117 states, including Ireland, voted to condemn the blockade, 38 abstained while the US, Israel and Uzbekistan supported the US position.
In previous years the Government had abstained. The week before the 1994 UN vote, the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs had unanimously but vainly recommended that Ireland vote to lift the embargo.
The suspicion then was that Ireland's wish to remain on good terms with the US administration overrode concerns about the fairness and legitimacy of the continued squeezing of the already impoverished Cuban economy.
Irish supporters of Cuba acknowledge the position taken by Ireland as courageous. The UN vote was a fortnight before President Clinton's visit here, and the embargo on Cuba has a political importance in the US out of all proportion to its strategic importance.
The European Parliament has passed many resolutions condemning the blockade, but there is no common EU position. Although it is regarded as interfering with the freedom of EU companies to trade freely, Britain the Netherlands and Germany abstained in November's vote. The rest of the EU voted against the blockade.
US trade restrictions on Cuba have existed since 1960, when the US refused to buy its quota of Cuban sugar. In 1989, the blockade was extended to include "extra territorial" measures. These impose heavy penalties on US companies which operate in other countries and trade with Cuba, or trade with other companies which trade with Cuba. Thus, US companies operating in Ireland, for example, became subject to US law.
President Clinton is the ninth US president to do battle with Cuba. Since the Cuban revolution in 1959 and Castro's long alliance with the former Soviet Union the US has had a deep antagonism to the communists on its doorstep. The US wants multi party democracy and free elections before, relaxing its stranglehold on Cuba. Such elections, the Americans believe, would bring down Dr Castro and the communist regime that has survived for 37 years 130 miles off Florida.
Cuba is doing little to end its isolation. Last November, the EU decided to begin talking to Cuba about a possible economic agreement. This would be conditional on movement towards democracy and greater respect for human rights.
No sooner had EU senior officials visited Havana to open discussions than the Cuban authorities invited more international condemnation. Last month, an umbrella group of 130 human rights and professional groups in Cuba, Concilio Cubano, tried to organise a national conference in Havana. Some 30 were arrested, and, while most have been released, at least two are expected to get significant prison sentences.
This happened before the shooting down of the aircraft. As a result, the EU dialogue with Cuba is not expected to progress in the short term.