Saturday, June 02, 2007

US and Spain clash over Cuba

US and Spain clash over Cuba
By Leslie Crawford in Madrid
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: June 2 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 2 2007 03:00


The US and Spain yesterday clashed over how to promote a democratic transition in Cuba, during the first official visit to Madrid by Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state.

Spain has never broken relations with its former colony, even during General Francisco Franco's strongly anti-Communist dictatorship, and favours constructive engagement with Fidel Castro's regime. Spanish companies have big investments in the island's tourism and tobacco industries.

After meeting Miguel Angel Moratinos, the Spanish foreign minister, in Madrid, Ms Rice said: "I have real doubts about the value of engagement with a regime that is anti-democratic and that is trying to secure the transition of one regime to the next anti-democratic regime."

Mr Moratinos said: "I hope that, over time, we will convince Ms Rice that our tactics can deliver results." Earlier this week, Spanish diplomats were allowed to visit Cuban jails for the first time. Cuba and Spain agreed to establish a dialogue on human rights following a visit by Mr Moratinos to Havana in April.

Ms Rice said Cuba needed "structural change," not a dynastic succession, and implied that Spain should be more sympathetic to the plight of Mr Castro's political opponents.

Mr Moratinos was criticised by human rights groups for not meeting dissidents during his visit in April, but yesterday he bristled at the implication that Spain was not doing enough to promote human rights on the Caribbean island.

"We have no difficulty talking to dissidents," he said. "The Spanish embassy in Havana is in contact with them. Our diplomats visit Cuba and talk to dissidents. We worry about them and we have even secured the release of some of them. Who has talked more to them? Who?" he asked.

Mr Moratinos said he and Ms Rice had had "frank" discussions and that they had agreed to better align tactics on the shared goal of bringing democracy to Cuba. "We will work more closely to ensure our efforts are complementary and not contradictory," he said.

There was some agreement on Venezuela. Both Ms Rice and Mr Moratinos expressed concern at the closure of a television station in Caracas that was critical of Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan president. The two called on Mr Chávez to cease his attacks on the free press. Ms Rice's visit came in the wake of a meeting in Madrid between Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, and Ali Larijani, Iran's top security official, over Tehran's nuclear programme, writes Daniel Dombey in London. Diplomats said the meeting failed to produce a breakthrough.

The US, together with other members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, has backed the talks, but unity has been strained in recent weeks, as Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, has called for a more flexible stance.

"You do not want to give additional argument to new crazies who say: 'Let's go and bomb Iran'," Mr ElBaradei told the BBC in comments released yesterday.

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