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11/03/09 - EFE (Madrid) - Cuba Needs No Intermediaries to Speak with U.S.

MADRID The new Cuban ambassador in Spain said on Tuesday that his country
needs no intermediaries to speak with the United States, having already
expressed its willingness to discuss their differences directly on a basis
of respect.

Alejandro Gonzalez Galiano gave a press conference on Tuesday at the Cuban
Embassy in Madrid.

Gonzalez was serving as Cuba's deputy foreign minister when President Raul
Castro named him in August as the next ambassador to Spain.

Days after a visit to Cuba by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel
Moratinos to consolidate bilateral ties, the ambassador stressed Tuesday the
"positive moment" of Spanish-Cuban relations after overcoming "old
misunderstandings."

In that regard, he said that he will make "the greatest effort" to promote
their relations in all possible spheres.

Gonzalez said he was not present at Moratinos' long meeting with Raul
Castro, so he said he was unaware that Spain had delivered a message to Cuba
from the United States after the Oct. 13 White House meeting between
President Barack Obama and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero.

He said that Cuba is a "victim" of Washington's 47-year-old economic embargo
and that they have already expressed their "willingness to discuss directly"
with the United States all of their differences, as long as it is done on
the "basis of respect for their sovereignty and independence," and for that
reason there was no need for intermediaries.

"We are not disposed to discuss with third parties what is up to Cubans to
resolve," he said.

Nonetheless, he described as "positive" Moratinos' visit to Cuba and
emphasized the "great respect" of the Spanish minister towards the communist
government, which showed its appreciation by releasing two political
prisoners.

"We appreciate the efforts of the Spanish government in trying to correct or
change a position promoted in the European Union by another Spanish
government," Gonzalez Galiano said. "If it can be corrected it would be a
historical act of rectification," he said.

It was at the urging of Spain's then-prime minister, conservative Jose Maria
Aznar, that the EU adopted in 1996 a "common position" toward Cuba which
calls on Havana to free political prisoners and undertake democratic reforms
as a prerequisite for closer ties with Europe.

In that sense, after saying that his job will be to promote relations with
Spain in all possible spheres and that he will make the greatest effort to
do so, Gonzalez said that his nation is also interested in having good
relations with the EU.

"We already have good bilateral relations with many countries in the EU," he
said, adding that the 27-member European bloc should not subordinate its
relations with the island to its ties with the United States.

At the press conference Gonzalez mentioned the report entitled "The Need to
Put an End to the Economic, Trade and Financial Blockade Imposed by the
United States against Cuba," which will be voted on Wednesday in the U.N.
General Assembly.

He also regretted that since Obama arrived in the White House nothing has
been done about the embargo, which, he said, "remains intact."

"He may have changed the method and the rhetoric, but in the end not the
policy," he said.

For Gonzalez the "only possible gesture is for the United States to
unconditionally and unilaterally raise the economic, financial and trade
blockade against Cuba."