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Brazilian President to Meet Castro in Cuba
By STAN LEHMAN, Associated Press
Writer
SAO PAULO, Brazil, 25- Brazilian President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva will walk a diplomatic tightrope
when he sees his old friend Fidel Castro later
this week, trying not to antagonize Washington
while balancing his role as a regional leader.
In the nine months since taking office, Silva
has made regional integration the centerpiece
of his foreign policy, visiting nearly every South
American nation or meeting with their presidents
in Brasilia.
In the same period, Cuba has come under international
criticism because of a crackdown on dissent in
March in which 75 Cubans were given prison sentences
from six to 28 years.
Silva, a former union official and Brazil's first
leftist leader, arrives in Havana Friday for two
days of talks with Castro, the 77-year-old communist
leader he has known for decades.
A major focus of the trip will be Silva's concern
that Cuba does not "remain isolated from
the concert of nations" Tilden Santiago,
Brazil's ambassador to Havana, told reporters.
"If integration is to be achieved, Cuba
cannot be left out," said Mario Marconini,
executive director of the Brazilian Center for
International Studies in Rio de Janeiro.
Silva will also be testing his country's delicate
relationship with the United States, which has
had no diplomatic relations with Cuba for more
than four decades. The United States is both the
largest exporter to Brazil and the largest recipient
of Brazilian products.
"If the visit turns out to be nothing more
than a gesture to please leftist forces in Brazil
and in the rest of world, it will be an empty
and meaningless gesture," Marconini said
in a telephone interview.
"But if it becomes part of a broader approach
to the Hemisphere it could turn into a constructive
exercise that should please even the United States,"
Marconini said.
Cuban dissidents and their supporters have asked
Silva to intervene on behalf of 75 activists sentenced
to long prison terms after a crackdown this year.
Silva should demand the release of the country's
political prisoners, Cuban democracy activist
Oswaldo Paya said in an interview published Sunday
in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.
"Brazil should defend an opening in Cuba
and a dialogue between the government and the
opposition," Paya said.
The Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Without
Borders has asked the Brazilian president to press
for the release of the 26 independent journalists
among the 75 jailed dissidents.
While recognizing Silva's political affinities
with Castro, the press group wrote this week that
"no democrat of the left or right would understand
if these affinities were to take precedence over
respect for human rights."
Brazilian diplomats have said the president has
no plans to meet with dissidents on the island.
Economic issues will also be on the table during
Silva's visit.
Brazil's national Development Bank is negotiating
a credit line of up to $400 million to finance
Cuban imports of Brazilian machinery, farm equipment
and food.
In 2002 Brazil exported $95 million worth of
products to Cuba and imported less than $10 million.
Associated Press writer Anita Snow in Havana
contributed to this report.
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