CUBA:
Cautious Response to
Lifting of EU Sanctions
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA (IPS) - Cuba
reacted cautiously to
the announcement that
the European Union would
lift the diplomatic
sanctions adopted after
75 dissidents received
lengthy jail terms on
charges of conspiring
with Washington to
destabilize the Cuban
state, and three men
convicted of hijacking a
passenger ferry were
executed, in 2003.
The governing Communist
Party daily newspaper
Granma published the
news Friday under the
headline: EU Foreign
Ministers Revoke Unjust
Sanctions against Cuba.
The brief article also
says "the EU plans to
reactivate political
dialogue with Havana."
But European diplomatic
sources consulted by IPS
clarified that the
article cannot be
considered an official
response by the
government.
"There will surely be a
response when the
authorities see the
document on the
question," which could
be approved next Monday
in Brussels, according
to one of the sources.
"If that has occurred, I
believe it is a step in
the right direction,"
Cuban Foreign Minister
Felipe Pérez Roque said
Thursday night when
approached by a Reuters
journalist at a
reception held in honour
of Uruguayan President
Tabaré Vázquez.
EU ambassadors in Havana
held their monthly
meeting Friday, in which
the decision to lift
sanctions, which was
already expected, was
"just one more point" on
the agenda, said a
diplomat who spoke to
IPS on condition of
anonymity.
Some dissident groups
responded to the
announcement with
disappointment or
outright rejection,
while more moderate
groups said the EU
decision was "the right
thing to do."
"We support dialogue as
a route towards
democratisation,"
dissident leader Manuel
Cuesta told IPS. "Now we
have to say that the
ball is in the Cuban
government’s court."
The EU temporarily
suspended the sanctions
in 2005. But in March,
the Cuban government
insisted that dialogue
would only be possible
if the measures were
officially eliminated.
The sanctions included a
limit on high-level
government visits, a
reduction in EU
participation in Cuban
cultural events, and
invitations to
dissidents to the
receptions held in
European embassies in
Havana on the countries'
national days.
The participation of
dissidents in embassy
receptions particularly
irritated the Cuban
government, which
considers them
"mercenaries" at the
service of a hostile
U.S. policy towards
Cuba.
According to the news
from Brussels, the
foreign ministers of the
27 EU countries reached
an agreement that
proposes, besides the
removal of the measures,
the start of a political
dialogue with the Cuban
government, now headed
by Raúl Castro.
But at the behest of
several countries
opposed to the decision,
the EU will reassess the
results of the dialogue
on political and human
rights questions a year
from now.
Spain’s Foreign Minister
Miguel Ángel Moratinos
clarified, however, that
the reassessment will
not consider a renewal
of the measures, which
have been definitively
struck down.
Granma said that
condition was "a renewed
commitment to the
so-called Common
Position" on Cuba
sponsored in 1996 by the
Spanish rightwing
government of Prime
Minister José María
Aznar (1996-2004), which
in Havana’s view is "an
instrument that meddles
in Cuba’s internal
affairs."
The Common Position was
approved by the European
Council with the stated
aim of encouraging a
gradual, peaceful
transition towards a
pluralist democracy and
respect for human rights
and basic freedoms in
Cuba, and towards
improved living
standards.
That stance, which has
complicated relations
and has stood in the way
of a framework
cooperation accord
between the EU and Cuba
for years, was not
mentioned as a hurdle to
the normalisation of
ties during European
Commissioner for
Development and
Humanitarian Aid Louis
Michel’s visit to Havana
in March.
On that occasion, Michel
and his host, Foreign
Minister Pérez Roque,
agreed that to engage in
broad political dialogue
encompassing all issues,
including human rights,
it was essential to lift
the 2003 sanctions.
Michel said he was in
favour of such a move,
but clarified that it
was up to the European
Council to decide, and
that the decision had to
be unanimous.
In a press conference in
Brussels, Foreign
Minister Moratinos said
the aim in removing the
diplomatic measures was
to initiate a stage of
dialogue that is neither
conditioned nor limited
by measures that, in the
view of Spain’s
socialist government,
have never been
especially useful and
were even
counterproductive.
Madrid heads the group
of countries in favour
of dialogue with the
Cuban government, which
has repeatedly stated
that it will not accept
pressure or impositions
of any kind.
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