Spanish officials defend warmer relations with Cub

Posted on Wed, May. 23, 2007

Spanish officials defend warmer relations with Cuba
By PABLO BACFHELET
pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com

WASHINGTON --
Spain will ask Cuba to allow the Red Cross and human rights groups
greater access to the island, a top Spanish diplomat said Wednesday as
she defended Madrid's effort to establish warmer ties with Havana.

Trinidad Jiménez, who runs Latin American affairs for the foreign
ministry, also told The Miami Herald that Washington should approve a
controversial free trade pact with Colombia and that Madrid has
complained privately to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government
about its decision to take RCTV, an opposition TV station, off the airwaves.

The Spanish government's recent decision to improve relations with
Havana has angered Washington, some members of the Cuban American
community, Cuban dissidents and the Spanish opposition.

''Sometimes we ask ourselves what the U.S. policy of isolation toward
Cuba has accomplished,'' Jiménez said. ``Cuba hasn't budged an inch in
its position toward the United States. . . . Some people should cast
ideological postures aside to try and obtain more effective results.''

Cuba has agreed to discuss human rights when delegations from the two
countries meet March 28 -- a rare concession that Jiménez said
vindicated the Spanish position.

Among other things, Madrid will press Cuba to allow the Red Cross to
visit political prisoners. She said the harassment of dissidents by
state-sponsored mobs has stopped in recent weeks. This was not enough,
she added, but nonetheless amounted to ``positive signals.''

Amnesty International, in its annual report issued this week, said grave
restrictions and repressive acts were continuing in Cuba.

''Any effort by any government to obtain the release of political
prisoners is welcome,'' said Frank Calzon, the head of the
Washington-based Center for a Free Cuba, an anti-Castro organization. He
criticized Spain for giving too many concessions without getting
anything in return. ``This whole thing has been a farce.''

Jiménez said ``we're not going to achieve in three months what hasn't
been achieved in 50 years.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_dade/story/116414.html