Posted at 7:17 a.m. EDT Tuesday, August 21, 2001.
The Miami Herald
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- (AP) -- European Union officials travel to Cuba on
Wednesday for a three-day mission to improve diplomatic relations, following a
freeze in relations triggered by EU criticism of Cuba's human rights record.
Foreign Minister Louis Michel of Belgium, which holds the rotating EU
presidency, will have talks with his counterpart, Felipe Perez Roque, and
possibly President Fidel Castro, said Michel's spokesman, Michel Malherbe.
European nations last year backed a motion that condemned Havana at the U.N.
Human Rights Commission. Cuban officials immediately responded by canceling a
trip to the EU.
The exploratory mission will try to set the conditions for a resumption of
dialogue, building on recent conciliatory signals from Havana, Malherbe said.
The mission also includes Spanish state secretary Miguel Angel Cortes Martin
and a representative for EU External Relations Commissioner Christopher Patten.
Cuba, a former Spanish colony, withdrew its application to join the EU's
aid-and-trade pact with the world's poorest countries last year following the
rift over human rights policies. Joining the group would have given Cuba
preferred access to EU markets for its goods.
An EU official said Cuba is interested again in playing a part in the
aid-and-trade pact. However some EU nations have vowed to withhold any trade
perks for Cuba because of its human rights record.
In March, the European Commission provided 8 million euros (dlrs 7.4
million) in humanitarian aid for Cuba, aiming to improve living conditions for
elderly and disabled people on the island.
The EU gave Cuba 17 million euros (dlrs 15.6 million) in aid last year. It
provided a total of 78 million euros (dlrs 71.8 million) in humanitarian aid in
Cuba from 1993 to 2000. | 
