Critic: Contacts won't hurt reform
Dissident says program has served purpose

By Andrea Rodriguez
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/10567203.htm

Cuban leader of the 'Varela project' opposition organization Oswaldo Paya speaks to the Associated Press, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005 in Havana, Cuba. Paya commented on the goverment's decision to re-establish formal contacts with various European nations. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)

HAVANA - One of Cuba's best known dissidents said Tuesday that renewed contacts between Cuba and European countries that are likely to kick him and other activists off the embassy cocktail-party circuit won't hurt their efforts to change the communist system.

Oswaldo Paya, lead organizer of the Varela Project democracy drive, said that a policy by European embassies in Havana to invite dissidents to national day events for more than a year had already served a purpose.

"The EU had made the decision to invite us as an expression of solidarity with the people of Cuba, as a gesture of displeasure with the detention of our 75 brothers," Paya told The Associated Press.

Relations between Cuba and Europe chilled after the island's government cracked down on the opposition in March 2003, rounding up and sentencing 75 dissidents to long prison terms.

European nations were also troubled by the firing-squad executions of three men who tried to hijack a ferry to the United States.

EU members responded by unanimously agreeing to reduce high-level governmental visits and participation in cultural events in Cuba and to invite dissidents to embassy gatherings.

But some European nations, led by Spain's new Socialist government, say the EU sanctions have had little effect. In mid-December, an EU commission recommended member states work out a new policy encouraging the Caribbean island to open up - and stop extending invitations to dissidents.

The Cuban government announced Monday it had re-established formal contacts with European nations including France, Germany and Britain after a European Union commission recommended that member states work to improve relations with the island.

Paya downplayed the latest developments.

"We have clearly expressed that changes in Cuba depend on us, on the people of Cuba," Paya said.

"I think that within the European Union there exists the good will to contribute ... so that changes toward democracy can happen (in Cuba)," he added.

Cuba-Reiseinfos
avenTOURa