BBC News Online. 3 December, 2001
Cuba celebrates its revolution
Cuban soldiers have served all over the world
By the BBC's Daniel Schweimler in Havana. Monday, 3
December, 2001, 01:34 GMT
Cubans are holding double celebrations this weekend to mark the 45th
anniversary of the launch of the revolution and the foundation of the country's
armed forces.
One of President Fidel Castro's greatest challenges has always been to keep
his revolution alive and relevant to younger Cubans who do not remember life
before he came to power in 1959.
There are many anniversaries, few more important to Cubans than 2 December.
That marks the day in 1956 when Fidel Castro and the Argentine revolutionary
Ernesto Che Guevera landed on the south-eastern coast to try to overthrow the
repressive government of Fulgendio Batista.
They landed in the wrong place at the wrong time and were soon betrayed.
More than three quarters of the young revolutionaries were killed.
The survivors fled into the Sierra Maestra mountains from where Fidel Castro
conducted the revolution.
He triumphed a little over two years later and has held onto power ever
since.
Historic site
One of the foundations of his government has been the Cuban armed forces,
which this weekend celebrates its foundation.
Festivities on Saturday were attended by President Castro and the head of
the armed forces, his younger brother Raul, in the Moncada barracks in the
eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.
Fidel's failed attack on those barracks in 1953 is seen as the start of his
uprising.
The building is a national monument, another symbol on a weekend of symbols
and anniversaries in which Cubans are being reminded that they should not forget
or ignore their past.
EU and Cuba bury the hatchet
Monday, 3 December, 2001, 15:36 GMT
Political dialogue with Cuba is back on track, European Union
representatives have announced after a weekend of talks in Havana.
The EU praised in particular Cuba's willingness to discuss questions of
human rights - an issue which had previously soured relations.
"Both parts reaffirm their willingness to exchange relative information
in the area (of human rights)," a final declaration from the meeting said.
A common position adopted by the EU five years ago said that improved
political relations with Cuba would depend on progress in human rights and
democracy.
History of acrimony
"We've had an open meeting during which we worked seriously and could
re-establish, I believe, a political dialogue at a very useful level," said
the head of the EU delegation, Jan De Bock.
For his part, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the discussion
had been "serious, open and respectful".
The warmth of the discussion is something of a turnaround. Only last year,
several European states backed a UN vote condemning Cuba's human rights record,
causing relations to become increasingly acrimonious.
As a result, Cuba withdrew from a trade and aid pact between the EU and
African, Caribbean and Pacific nations.
Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel further aggravated Cuban sensitivities
when he held meetings with dissidents on a visit to Havana earlier this year.
Cuba is currently the only Latin American country not to have an economic
co-operation agreement with the EU.
But trade with individual European countries remains strong, particularly as
the US embargo on Cuba leaves the market free from American rivals. | 
