CUBA-SPAIN: Road to Improved Relations Off to a Rocky Start

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Oct 18 2004 (IPS) - Just days after Spain announced its intentions to lead the way in improving European Union (EU) relations with the island, Cuba’s expulsion of a Spanish opposition party lawmaker may have jeopardised those ambitions.

Nevertheless, the Spanish government has been quick to point out that it will not allow its determination to embark on a new road regarding Cuba to be undermined by internal political disputes between Spanish parties.

Jorge Moragas, foreign relations secretary of Spain’s conservative Popular Party (PP), was denied entry into Cuba on Friday after attempting to enter the country through "fraudulent and illegal" means, according to the Cuban foreign ministry.

The Spanish politician had travelled to Havana on a tourist visa, despite having publicly declared that he would be meeting with opponents of the Cuban government.

Moragas was accompanied by two Dutch lawmakers and two representatives of non-governmental organisations. The group was held at the Havana international airport for several hours, and then forced to board a return flight to Paris.

While at the airport, they were able to communicate with Spanish embassy officials in Havana by telephone. The Spanish government has called the expulsion "unacceptable".

For its part, the Cuban foreign ministry has labelled Moragas’ actions "a flagrant violation" of Cuban sovereignty and a "blatant political provocation".

In a press release issued in Spain, the PP had announced that the main goal of Moragas’ visit was to show support and solidarity for Cuban dissidents, in response to the announced shift in Spanish policy towards the island.

Just last Tuesday, at an official Spanish embassy reception in Havana celebrating Spain’s Oct. 12 national holiday, Ambassador Carlos Alonso Zaldívar declared that his country wanted to lead the way in improving the "deeply unsatisfactory" current state of relations between Cuba and the EU.

He reported that the EU had already begun to reflect on ways to ease bilateral tensions, and had "reached a consensus on the doubtful practical utility of the measures adopted by the EU in June 2003, and on the need to replace them with more effective strategies," he said.

He added that it was "only a matter of time" before a new policy was agreed upon.

In June 2003, the EU adopted a package of diplomatic sanctions against Cuba to protest the jailing of 75 Cuban dissidents and the execution of three men who had attempted to hijack a boat to the United States.

Among the EU measures was the decision to invite opponents of the socialist government of President Fidel Castro – labelled "dissidents" by Brussels, but called "counterrevolutionaries" and "U.S. mercenaries" by Havana – to all European embassy national holiday celebrations.

As a result, the Spanish ambassador’s allusions to a change in Cuban policy under Socialist President José Rodríguez Zapatero and an imminent shift in the EU’s stance towards the island provoked dismay among some of the dissidents in attendance at Tuesday’s reception.

"The expulsion of Moragas should send a good message to Zapatero, who’s been acting like a strike-breaker in the EU, trying to change the common position" towards Cuba, prominent dissident Marta Beatriz Roque told IPS.

According to Roque, the Spanish government should now realise that "no borders limit the totalitarianism" of the Cuban government. Roque claimed that she had no prior knowledge of Moragas’ visit. "I didn’t know he was coming," she said.

The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations noted that Moragas is well known for his close ties to former Spanish prime minister José María Aznar (1996-2004), also of the Popular Party. During his term, Aznar was an outspoken and active opponent of the Castro government, and has been accused by Havana of spearheading the tougher EU stance towards the island.

According to a foreign ministry communiqué, Aznar has shown "special enthusiasm over the past few days in spending the five million dollars he was recently given by U.S. President (George W.) Bush to organise anti-Cuban activities and events."

The ministry also pointed out that this was the second time Moragas had travelled to Havana "to meet with and offer financial support to mercenaries", as the Cuban government refers to the country’s dissidents.

"He entered our country with a tourist visa in July as well, but on that occasion, our authorities, exercising extraordinary moderation and patience, merely warned him that there would be no impunity for actions like these in the future."

The foreign ministry communiqué maintained that Cuba had the "sovereign right" to defend itself. "Our patience has its limits, and no interventionist acts or provocations will go unanswered," it concluded.

The Spanish government, for its part, called the expulsion of Moragas "deplorable", and issued an "urgent" summons to Cuban Ambassador Isabel Allende to provide an explanation.

At the same time, however, Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told the Spanish press, "The bottom line is that this administration wants to carry out a policy of state on Cuba, and it doesn’t want the Cuban issue to be turned into an internal dispute between the different political parties in Spain."