Saturday, June 2, 2007

Odds and ends

“What Spain is not prepared to do is be absent from Cuba,” he said. “And what the U.S. has to understand is that, given they have no relations with Cuba, they should trust in a faithful, solid ally like Spain.”

Don’t hold your breath for that, either.

But it’s a safe bet that Rice’s State Department has suggestions for those naïve Spaniards when they talk human rights with Cuba, asks them afterward what happened at those talks, and asks them generally about their contacts with Cuban officials that our diplomats don’t see, and about their trips outside Havana where our diplomats don’t travel.

1 comment:

leftside said...

It appears Moratinos got a little testy at the press conference. So much so that he let a little tidbit get aired (that Spain is responsible for some dissident's release):

"This government, this socialist government, has no problem whatsoever in talking to the dissidents and in talking to those sectors of the Cuban population who have opinions that differ from those of the current regime. But I would turn the question back... The Spanish Embassy has permanent contacts with the dissidents. We watch over the dissidents. We free the dissidents. We are always concerned and work towards the improvement of human rights in Cuba. So what we should do is compare what we're doing, what we're both doing. It's not only a matter of appearances or perceptions, which are totally respectable. Let's talk about facts, who talks to the dissidents the most."