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Spain and Cuba resume official
relations
The
Washington Times,
November 28, 2004.
Havana, Cuba, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Spain and
Cuba have resumed official relations after
17 months of silence, the Spanish newspaper
La Vanguardia reported Friday.
The Spanish ambassador to Cuba, Carlos
Alfonso Zaldivar, met with Cuban Foreign
Minister Felipe Perez Roque in Havana Thursday.
Roque told reporters after their 95 minute
meeting that the two countries had resumed
official contact in response to Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's
demand for "profound changes"
on the island.
The objective of the meeting was to move
towards a normalization of relations between
Cuba and the European Union, Roque said.
The European Union officially severed relations
with and placed sanctions on Castro's government
in June 2003 after a wave of a political
imprisonments.
European ambassadors in Cuba are said to
have reacted with surprise at the meeting,
which came a week after the E.U. Parliament
ruled not to change its policy on Cuba until
all political prisoners were freed.
Copyright
2004 United Press International
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