Cuba resumes relations with all European states

[Mika]

Cuba resumes relations with all European states
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/10/news/notes.html

Cuba ended a diplomatic deadlock with eight European Union nations on Monday in response to indications that EU officials may stop inviting Cuban dissidents to their national day receptions.
.
Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque said that Cuba was reopening official contacts with the embassies of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece, Portugal and Sweden.

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Trend,

In --> Cuba
Out --> USA

[Massacure]

1. I guess Bushit won't be invading them so easily, eh?

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[FlemingsGhost]

3. As we attempt to return to the past, the world moves forward.

It's gonna be awfully lonely as a world pariah. Well, at least we'll have Israel to keep us company.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Don't forget the Marshall Islands...

They have been known to vote with Israel in support of the United States embargo on Cuba, whereas ALL the other countries either vote against the embargo or abstain each year when the U.N. General Assembly condemns the embargo officially.

By the way, Israel ALSO does business with Cuba. Odd, isn't it?

[0007]

15. I bet the spying between Cuba and Israel takes on a new meaning

when these two countries take at it! Hasn't Cuba has been running circles around the CIA for years?

[Spazito]

4. WTG Cuba!

Gotta love it! Chavez has thumbed his nose at bush, the EU is thumbing their nose at him as well, as a matter of fact, it seems only Poland, never forget Poland, hasn't yet thumbed their nose, lol.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Here's the Agence France Presse report on this event...

Cuba normalizes ties with European Union nations
01-10-2005, 22h46


HAVANA (AFP) - Cuba announced that it is renewing official contacts with all European Union countries, including those that took the hardest line against the communist government after its crackdown on dissidents.

The move announced by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque could bring to an end diplomatic hostilities that broke out in June 2003 after many EU nations started inviting dissident critics of President Fidel Castro to embassy cocktail parties.

Following new moves to improve ties, the European Commission recommended that the invitations be suspended until June and this is expected to be confirmed by an EU foreign ministers meeting at the end of January, diplomats said.
(snip/...)

http://www.turkishpress.com/world/news.asp?id=050110224631.wir6xxkg.xml

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Wouldn't you think we can expect the _Bush administration to get right on this, and float up some more charges against Cuba, as per usual?

I also think we can expect some super-sneaky provocation to stir things up again, as in the Hermanos al Rescate pilots' invasion of Cuban air space and the predictable shoot down, or the phoney story getting beamed in from Miami via Radio Marti claiming the Mexican embassy was offering free visas to Cubans, which precipitated some Cubans' with criminal records hijacking a bus and crashing it through the Mexican embassy fence. The eventual upshot of that event was the temporary suspension of relations between Mexico and Cuba.

_Bush will not willingly allow the bonds Cuba had with the E.U. to flourish. Not for a minute, if they can find a way sabotage it all quickly.

[tsuki]

8. Bush does not have the time to sabotage it. He is way over his

head, and the rest of the world knows it.

[Mika]

9. Or maybe..

Or maybe the US will stir the pot by employing more "independant journalists" so that the Cuban government will crack down on said "independant journalists" spouting US gov propaganda, just like Armstrong Williams, but on a foreign government's (the US's) payroll.

The Cuban government discourages such illegal activity, but nonetheless many Americans, including some DUers, think that the Armstrong Williams types of "independant journalists" in Cuba (on the US payroll) is a good thing, and that Cuba should be condemned for busting up such an illegal op.

The EU is starting to smell the coffee.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Yep, that's a distinct possibility, isn't it?

The "dissidents" who were sent to prison, which kicked off the _Bush propaganda blitz were paid agents of the U.S. Many people know it, others deny it, but it remains true.

2. The arrests
It is a fact rarely mentioned in the western media and willfully ignored
by governments in Europe that these dissidents were not tried for their
political beliefs. They were tried for treason, accepting money from an
enemy power, under the Law of Protection of National Independence passed
in 1999. The "dissidents" were sentenced to terms fluctuating between 6
and 28 years. All accused had the right to name a defense attorney and
those who did not were assigned a professional lawyer much as in courts in
the US; none was subjected to torture or humiliation; all hearings were
public and they were attended by about 3,000 people, including the
relatives of the accused. In June, the Cuban Supreme Court heard the
appeals against sentence of the so-called dissidents and upheld the
sentences. The contrast with the treatment given to prisoners in the
Guantanamo base could not be more stark.

Some of the accused had special passes for unrestricted entry to the US
Office of Interest in Havana; one of them had US$13,500 in his pockets,
another had US$5,000 in a jar at home - they could not explain the origin
of these monies. Felipe Pérez Roque, Cuban foreign affairs minister, in a
press conference of April 9, 2003, gave ample evidence of the US financing
of subversive activities against the Cuban state with the purpose of
assisting in creating the conditions for a military confrontation with the
United States. Pérez Roque claimed that the Agency for International
Development, an official US government body, had stated that $22 million
represented ''just a tiny part of the funds channelled to Cuba,'' which he
claimed supported ''subversion'' in Cuba. AID records show that from 1996
to 2001, the agency provided $12 million to 22 groups to promote peaceful
transition to democracy in Cuba. And although Adolfo Franco, assistant
administrator for the Agency for International Development, who is in
charge of the Latin American and Caribbean bureau, denied Roques
allegations, he did acknowledge that AID finances programs to promote
democracy in Cuba through various private groups, including major
organisations in Miami (read the Cuban American National Foundation -
CANF). Such activities would carry jail sentences for treason in any
country in the world, including the US.

No country in the world tolerates or labels domestic citizens paid by and
working for a foreign power to act for its imperial interests as
''dissidents''. This is especially true of the U.S. where under Title 18,
Section 951 of the U.S. Code, ''anyone who agrees to operate within the
United States subject to the direction or control of a foreign government
or official would be subjected to criminal prosecution and a 10 - year
prison sentence''.
(snip/...)

http://homepages.poptel.org.uk/markburton/briefing.html

[Gloria]

7. OK, Cuba!! I love listening to Radio Havana....they actually tell

you when they are delivering an editorial comment!! When they read from the US plan to privatize the whole island, it gives me shivers!

They sent me a lovely New Year's card. Totally unexpected. I had written for a QSL card early last year. I didn't expect a follow up contact...

[HuckleB]

11. Well, now. Don't we look foolish, as always.

[Mika]

12. In this arena - yes

Gotta demonize some poor country and/or it's leader.

[Judi Lynn]

13. EU welcomes move by Cuba to normalize ties

EU welcomes move by Cuba to normalize ties
AFP: 1/10/2005

BRUSSELS, Jan 10 (AFP) - The European Union's executive Commission on Monday welcomed Cuba's decision to renew ties, and said it would quickly send a top official to discuss future bilateral relations.

The decision by Havana "should open new possibilities in the relations between the Union and Cuba," European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said in a statement.

Brussels will send humanitarian aid and development commissioner Louis Michel to Havana soon to discuss bilateral relations, said the statement.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Monday in Havana that Cuba had decided to renew ties with the European Union as well as all EU countries.
(snip)

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?ID=35795

[Vidar]

14. Good for Cuba & Europe.