Dissidents question if Cuba will shift on rights

(HAVANA) - Cuban dissidents questioned Monday whether President Raul Castro is willing to respect human rights in return for normalized relations with the European Union.

"I see a nearly complete lack of political will on the part of the Cuban government to respect universally accepted norms concerning rights," Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation, told AFP.

His comments came after a meeting between Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and top EU officials in Brussels.

The discussion was set to pave the way for an EU foreign ministers meeting next month that will consider the bloc's policy toward Havana.

Opposition leaders in Havana expressed skepticism that the Cuban government would make significant concessions on human rights, a key subject of the June 15 EU meeting in Luxembourg.

Sanchez said Havana's aim is "to try to obtain the most possible from the international community and to make minimal of concessions, and if possible none at all."

In comments about the Brussels meeting, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said there was no convergence of views between the sides on human rights.

But European Development Commissioner Louis Michel recommended that the EU move swiftly to normalize relations with Havana before the United States does.

"I got the impression everywhere that Cubans have a real wish to completely normalize their relations with the European Union which, in their eyes, has become an increasingly important partner," Michel said.

Miriam Leiva, the wife of opposition figure Oscar Espinosa, said the EU "appears to believe in the promises of the Cuban authorities, who don't even live up to those made to our own people. Instead, they listen, take notes and put off responding."

Manuel Cuesta, an opposition leader, however, said the meeting "stabilizes the dialogue and the exchanges," which he said was "more important for democratization than a revival of confrontation."

At the Luxembourg meeting, the EU will decide whether to maintain or rescind its 1996 common position on Cuba, which conditions closer cooperation on progress on democratization and human rights.

Havana insists that the common position is a barrier to negotiations.

Sanchez argued that rescinding the common position was "unjustified" because respect for human rights in Cuba has grown worse.

Cuba and the EU reestablished ties and a political dialogue in June 2008. They had been suspended since 2003 when the EU imposed sanctions on the island for jailing 75 political opponents.