EU-Cuba improvements hinge on Havana's rights record

EU-Cuba improvements hinge on Havana's rights record
05/11 20:13 CET

Cuba will have to improve its record on human rights to help normalise
relations with the European Union. The 27-nation bloc's Humanitarian Aid
Commissioner Karel De Gucht has reassured Cuban President Raul Castro
that regime change is not on the EU's agenda… but he said there is a lot
of room for closer cooperation on universal rights:
"... a politically oriented development dialogue that could start as
soon as the beginning of next year."

De Gucht's three-day visit to the one-party communist state coincided
with the presence for the first time in eight years of a European
pavillion at the international trade fair in Havana. More than 600
European companies were represented, others American.

This also follows a five-year EU-Cuba rift over Havana's treatment of
dissidents. Human rights groups say there are 200 political prisoners in
Cuba. The government says it has no political prisoners, because fair
legal process is followed to incarcerate anyone found guilty of crimes.

EU-Cuba improvements hinge on Havana's rights record - Diplomacy :
europa, europe | euronews (5 November 2009)
http://www.euronews.net/2009/11/05/eu-cuba-improvements-hinge-on-havana-s-rights-record/