BBC News Online
Cuba not optimistic about US ties
Monday, 15 January, 2001, 16:46 GMT.
The Cuban foreign minister, Felipe Perez Roque, has said he does not believe
relations with the United States will improve under the incoming president,
George W. Bush.
Mr Perez Roque said the Cuban exile lobby had helped win the election for Mr
Bush and would now urge a tougher position towards Cuba.
Mr Perez Roque, who's on an official visit to Greece, said Havana wanted
relations with Washington to be normalised, but this could only happen when the
US embargo against Cuba was lifted.
Prague demands Cuba release two Czechs
Monday, 15 January, 2001, 19:09 GMT
The Czech government has demanded that Cuba immediately release two Czech
citizens arrested for allegedly meeting local dissidents.
Cuban police last week detained Ivan Pilip, a former Czech finance minister
and now a member of parliament, along with Jan Bubenik, an ex-student leader.
Correspondents say the arrests have further soured already hostile relations
between the two countries, once Communist-bloc allies.
Last year, the Havana government reacted with fury when the Czech Republic
and Poland sponsored a United Nations resolution condemning human rights abuses
in Cuba. The Cuban authorities haven't commented on the detentions, but
diplomats say it's likely the two men will be deported.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service | 