Same old story, same old song and dance

Miami, Nov 28 (EFE).- Spain’s top official for relations with Latin America said she met here Wednesday with representatives of Miami’s powerful Cuban exile community to dispel “certain erroneous perceptions” about Madrid’s policy toward the communist-ruled island.
Trinidad Jimenez said she told the exiles about the efforts of the Spanish government to serve as a bridge between the Castro regime, the internal Cuban dissident movement and exile groups.
“I explained in detail how the Spanish government is working in its relations with Cuba to clarify certain erroneous perceptions that do not conform to reality,” she told Efe after the meetings.
One of the misperceptions, Jimenez said, is that Madrid does not maintain a fluid relationship with Cuba’s internal opposition.
“Spanish foreign policy with regard to Cuba includes the relationship with the internal dissident movement as the meetings held in Havana by (senior Spanish Foreign Ministry official) Bernardino Leon demonstrate,” Jimenez said.
Spain’s secretary of state for Ibero-America emphasized that Wednesday’s meetings were enormously fruitful because although some organizations have different points of view, “they understood the logic of the Spanish position.”
“We spoke frankly and it was understood, although some do not share (that point of view), that we’re working to influence the internal process in an honest and logical manner,” she added.
Those mistaken perceptions about Spanish policy toward Cuba arise partly because “there is a debate with a very strong ideological component that hampers dealing more calmly with the complexity of the Cuban matter,” she said.
“But it was very good that we exchanged points of view and that we were able to explain in depth the position of the Spanish government,” she said.
Some of the Cuban exile organizations in Miami have maintained a critical position toward the Spanish government’s dealings with Havana, contending that such a relationship helps to keep the communist Castro regime in power.

Conspicuously absent from this group of “Miami’s powerful Cuban exile community” was any member organizations of Unidad Cubana, which according to its leader, Armando Perez-Roura, was never informed, let alone invited to this meeting. Present, however, were several groups who consider dialog with a lying, repressive, and brutal regime as a viable option in the quest for liberty in Cuba.
Once again, Spain avoids any course of action that might jeopardize their extensive and sizable ongoing investments in communist Cuba. This ludicrous attempt at reconciliation is nothing more than empty words and obfuscation of Spain’s true goals: maximum profit regardless of the suffering of the Cuban people.
Five hundred years of exploitation does not appear to be sufficient for the Spanish government.