Europe hopeful of change in Cuba bringing engagement
By Marc Frank
Published: March 28 2005 03:00 | Last updated: March 28 2005 03:00
From the Financial Times

The last time Louis Michel, the European Union's commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, was in Havana he rode a Harley Davidson down a balmy Malecon, the city's picturesque seaside drive.

That was in 2001 when he was Belgium's foreign minister. Mr Michel was back over the Easter weekend looking to mend the EU's tattered ties with the Communist-run island two years after President Fidel Castro locked up 75 pro-democracy activists. This time a motorcycle ride did not seem appropriate.

"I am far more hopeful than I was before I came," was about all Mr Michel had to say for his visit, which included a four-hour talk with Mr Castro, meetings with other officials, dissidents and Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega.

"Cuba and the European Union must make a real effort to renew a political dialogue," he said, before departing yesterday.

Mr Michel is a veteran of the on-again off-again political dialogue begun in 1996 when the EU tied improved relations on Cuban progress towards a more open society. He said authorities wanted improved relations based on "mutual respect for sovereignty and reciprocity".

Felipe Perez Roque, Cuban foreign minister, said as much before Mr Michel's arrival but added that a fresh start should be made by ripping up the 1996 common position.

He said that was forced on the EU by José María Aznar, then conservative Spanish prime minister, in complicity with the US. "It is a unilateral measure and a conditional document aimed at reducing relations, not one that stimulates a dialogue and looks to improve relations," Mr Perez said.

In contrast to Mr Aznar's strong support for sanctions, Spain's new Socialist government has pushed for EU dialogue with Cuba.

When the EU retaliated over the 2003 crackdown by stopping official visits and inviting dissidents to national day receptions, Mr Castro declared "we do not need Europe". He cancelled plans to join the Cotonou aid agreement with Europe's former colonies and ordered his government to snub European diplomats in Havana.

When the EU temporarily suspended sanctions for six months this year on condition that Cuba improve the human rights situation, Mr Castro said he did not need anyone's pardon for jailing enemy mercenaries.

Mr Castro did conditionally release 14 of his opponents for health reasons and lifted the ban on contact with EU country diplomats.

"I think things have changed, because yesterday during four hours I had in front of me a very kind man, very skilful and very healthy, full of energy, who seems to be wishing to make some headway with the European Union," Mr Michel said.

He added that the EU position on human rights and the release of imprisoned dissidents remained unchanged, but the bloc was not setting conditions for Cuba in the hope that engagement, rather than sanctions, would bring about improvements.

But on Palm Sunday hundreds of flag waving and chanting government supporters besieged a few of the imprisoned dissidents' wives and female relatives as they peacefully protested by walking, dressed in white, down a main avenue in the Miramar district of Havana.

"I am sceptical the government will respond positively to the EU initiative," says Elizardo Sanchez, who heads the illegal but tolerated Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. "The situation in terms of civil, political and economic rights has deteriorated in recent days and it appears it will deteriorate further, barring a miracle."

He pointed to the recent mob action, last used more than a decade ago to silence dissent, and what he termed "threatening rhetoric". Various officials have stated that the streets are for patriots and revolutionaries, not US mercenaries, which is what the government brands all opponents.

Local analysts say Mr Castro's ways have little to do with Europe and everything to do with his arch-enemy the US.

As Cuba's pro-democracy movement remains isolated and divided, the US has further tightened the embargo, doubled already hefty aid to dissidents and taken to calling for a regime change.

Meanwhile, Mr Castro, 78, has found new strength from Chinese loans and a close alliance with Venezuela, which provides cheap oil in exchange for doctors. Europe, however, remains Cuba's main trading partner.

Mr Castro, in power since 1959, speaks to the nation every Thursday evening about how the economy, in crisis since the demise of the Soviet Union, is on the mend after the tightening of state controls.

Both Amnesty International and Christine Chanet, special United Nations envoy to investigate Cuban human rights abuses, condemned the situation on the island as the annual UN meeting on human rights got under way in Geneva.

They also said the US approach provided Cuban authorities with an excuse for more, not less, repression.