Cuban ambassador in Berlin dampens expectations for political change

Cuban ambassador in Berlin dampens expectations for political change
Europe 01.05.2015
By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online

Berlin (dpa) - Cuba's ambassador to Germany Rene Juan Mujica Cantelar
Thursday lowered expectations for political change on the Caribbean
island after the ongoing historic reconciliation between Washington and
Havana.

"This is not an issue that is on the agenda of the Cuban people, of the
Cuban society," he said at an event in Berlin.

He was answering a question about whether new political parties and
independent media would be allowed in the future on the socialist island.

"This is another assumption that unless you have a multiparty system you
don't have democracy or that democracy cannot exist without a multiparty
system," he said. "I reject this assumption."

But he added: "I cannot predict how Cuban society will be in 10, 20, 50
years."

The Communist Party has the monopoly on power in Cuba, and small
opposition groups move about in the shadows of illegality. The European
Union has been pushing Cuba for years to undertake a transition process
to a pluralistic democracy.

Cuba and the United States in December agreed to pursue normalization of
diplomatic relations after more than a half century of having none.

Source: Cuban ambassador in Berlin dampens expectations for political
change | EUROPE ONLINE -
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/cuban-ambassador-in-berlin-dampens-expectations-for-political-change_389908.html