Cuba accepts negotiations with EU
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's foreign minister on Thursday formally accepted a European Union invitation to begin talks on improving ties, and expressed concern over upheaval in key ally Venezuela and in Ukraine.
At a news conference in Havana, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said Cuba had notified the EU of its decision earlier in the day. He said diplomats will work with Brussels to determine the details and dates for negotiations.
"I think this correct decision by the EU demonstrates that unilateral policies do not work, nor do they have a place in our time," Rodriguez said.
Cuba-EU relations turned chilly in 1996 when the bloc adopted the so-called Common Position linking ties to human rights, political opening and civil liberties on the island.
The EU resumed low-level contacts with Cuba in 2008, two years after Raul Castro took over from his older brother Fidel and started granting Cubans more freedom, including the right to travel and buy property.
EU officials announced last they would seek to upgrade ties with Cuba, but cautioned that they would still demand more progress on rights.
Rodriguez said Havana is willing to talk about any issue.
"Cuba is disposed to discussing, on a basis of equality, sovereignty and mutual respect, whatever matter including those of human rights, about which it has many concerns over what is happening in various European countries," the foreign minister said.
Rodriguez reiterated Havana's support for the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose nation sends Cuba billions of dollars in oil each year on preferential terms.
Venezuela has seen weeks of daily protests by government opponents, and on Wednesday Maduro announced he would break political and economic relations with Panama. He accused the Central American nation of working with Washington to act against his government, after Panama asked for the Organization of American States to discuss the situation in Venezuela.
Rodriguez denounced what he called "attempts to destabilize and violently oust the (Venezuelan) government through the interference and intrusion of foreign powers, in particular the United States government."
He also backed Russia on Ukraine, placing blame for the crisis on the West.
"We cannot accept the violent overthrow of a constitutional government at the cost of dozens of deaths and wounded through an intervention by the United States and some of its NATO allies," Rodriguez said, "through threats to the physical integrity of Ukrainian citizens due to their national origin, and the destruction of institutions, political parties and legitimate and legally recognized entities."
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