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Spain summons Cuban ambassador
after politician denied entry to Havana
The
Canadian Press, October 18, 2004.
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Authorities in Cuba
denied entry to a conservative Spanish politician
and two Dutch colleagues hoping to meet
with dissidents, Spain's Foreign Ministry
said Saturday.
Cuba's ambassador to Madrid, Isabel Allende,
has been summoned urgently to explain what
the Spanish government considers an "unacceptable"
expulsion, the ministry said in a statement.
The incident threatens to ignite a diplomatic
spat just days after Spain's new Socialist
government said it wanted to improve relations
with Cuba and lead the European Union in
changing its policies toward the communist-run
island.
Jorge Moragas of Spain's opposition Popular
Party, travelling with two centre-right
politicians from the Netherlands, was stopped
on arrival Friday night at Havana airport
and denied access to Spanish diplomats,
including Ambassador Carlos Alonzo Zaldivar.
Spanish news agencies said the three were
kept at the airport for two hours and threatened
with arrest if they did not board a plane
to return to Madrid, which they did.
Cuban authorities said Moragas was travelling
on a tourist visa, which meant he could
not conduct political activities, Spanish
news reports said. The Spanish Foreign Ministry
declined to comment.
Moragas holds a seat in Parliament and
is his party's senior official for foreign
policy.
Party president Mariano Rajoy said the
incident was an insult to the Spanish people
in general because Moragas represented them
as a lawmaker.
Rajoy said the episode "shows that
Cuba, the Castro regime, is nothing but
a dictatorship in which dissidents cannot
carry out any political activities."
He was referring to President Fidel Castro.
Trinidad Jimenez, Moragas's foreign policy
counterpart in Spain's ruling Socialist
Party, downplayed the affair. She said Moragas
erred by not requesting the right visa before
travelling to Cuba.
"The problem is Mr. Moragas's lack
of maturity, planning and seriousness. He
does not know how to organize his trips,"
Jimenez said.
Just this week the new Spanish ambassador
to Cuba called the current relationship
between Cuba and Spain "profoundly
unsatisfactory."
"We want to improve the situation,"
Zaldivar said.
After a Cuban government crackdown of dissidents
in the spring of 2003, European Union nations
responded by unanimously agreeing to reduce
high-level governmental visits and participation
in cultural events in Cuba. Then-Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a conservative,
was among the most outspoken critics of
Castro.
They also decided to invite dissidents
to national holiday celebrations at their
embassies in Havana as a sign of support
for the island's internal opposition.
Zaldivar said these measures are of "doubtful
practical utility" and that "it
is just a matter of time" before policy
changes are made.
"Spain wants to lead this process,"
he said.
© The
Canadian Press, 2004
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