Should foreign leaders meet with civil society when they visit Cuba?

Should foreign leaders meet with civil society when they visit Cuba? /
14ymedio
Posted on May 12, 2015

14ymedio, 11 May 2015 — The arrival in Cuba of French President Francois
Hollande has fueled the controversy about whether the presidents and
other foreign leaders visiting the island should meet with
representatives of civil society. The debate has intensified since it
was announced that the agenda of the French President, Francois
Hollande, on Cuban soil includes only a meeting with Cardinal Jaime
Ortega y Alamino as representative of civil society.

Manual Cuesta Morua, Coordinator of Platform for a New Country: "Civil
society actors are the most legitimate interlocutors to express the
concerns and demands of the population."

vs.

Luis Morlote, President of the Hermanos Saiz Association (Saiz Brothers
Association): "The Cuban Revolutionary delegation, the true civil
society (…) we cannot be in the same space (…) as a supposed civil
society (…) that is paid and manipulated."

Other presidents and international leaders who have visited the country
in recent years have also chosen not to have contact with opponents and
independent activists. The argument for this decision lies in not
offending their hosts and trying to remove obstacles from the path of
understanding with the Cuban government. Meanwhile, the authorities of
the Island themselves do not recognize the legitimacy of these
independent groups.

For their part, activists argue that representatives of the Cuban
government, when they travel abroad, receive and meet with politicians
who belong to the opposition in their respective countries and also with
leaders of civil society in other nations. They also complain that an
exclusively official agenda will never let the visitors approach the
real problems of the country, and will give them a skewed vision of
Cuban reality.

Contact with civil society: Yes or no? It seems to be one of the
questions that is most difficult to answer for those considering a trip
to Cuba.

Source: Should foreign leaders meet with civil society when they visit
Cuba? / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/should-foreign-leaders-meet-with-civil-society-when-they-visit-cuba-14ymedio/