German and Cuban officials met on Friday and discussed conditions for a possible end to EU sanctions against the communist state.
The meeting between German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly was the first bilateral meeting of its kind since Cuba’s ailing, longtime leader Fidel Castro handed the presidency to his brother Raul Castro in February.
Steinmeier said they had discussed the political situation in Cuba, “which for the first time in 50 years is showing gradual movement.”
He said the EU had welcomed Havana’s decision in February to sign an international pact on civil rights committing it to respect rights, including freedom of expression, association and movement.
“I made clear today that we noticed this gesture, but expect that the ratification process is pursued in Cuba,” he said.
Steinmeier highlighted further reforms, including greater access to mobile phone service and the Internet and the release of dozens of political prisoners. But he said the 27-member EU expected more.
“The European Union has reacted and said that if this course continues, we would lift the sanctions that have been suspended — however, with the agreed condition that a review of the human rights situation in Cuba takes place again next year,” he said.
Steinmeier said he also expressed his sympathies to Roque over losses in hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which killed seven people, destroyed 320,000 homes and caused extensive damage to crops and infrastructure.
He offered US$511,000 for emergency shelters and other humanitarian aid.
EU-Cuba relations were frozen in 2003 when the EU imposed sanctions on Havana in retaliation for the imprisonment of more than 70 dissidents and the execution of three men convicted of hijacking a ferry and demanding it sail to the US.
After a 2005 initiative from Spain to normalize relations, the EU moved definitively on June 19 to establish “political dialogue.”
The EU’s requirements for lifting sanctions include an improvement of the human rights situation and the release of political prisoners, including detainees imprisoned in 2003.
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