A group of leading intellectuals in Mexico has called on the president, Vicente Fox, to condemn Cuba's human rights record.

The thinkers urged Mexico to respond to what they described as the serious and systematic violations of individual freedoms in Cuba by voting against the communist government in a United Nations vote next week.

Mexico has never supported the annual resolution at the UN Human Rights Commission and has been one of Cuba's closest allies since Fidel Castro came to power forty-one years ago.

But Mr Fox, a conservative, has hinted that he wants to link future ties to democratic reforms.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service