Pedro Sánchez avoids talking about dissidence despite questions at a press conference in Havana

The president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, has avoided talking about the issue of the Cuban opposition in the press conference he gave in Havana.

After a tour of Old Havana that he held with the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel(both accompanied by their respective wives), in which the Spaniard even greeted several curious onlookers who approached him, Sánchez was particularly brief when referring to the issue of human rights on the Island, and did not even mention the words “dissidence” or “opposition.”

When asked why he had not met with the dissidents, he limited himself to answering that apolitical cooperation memorandum between both governments, which recognizes that there will be dialogue on human rights in Cuba.

The head of the Spanish executive was, however, tremendously expressive, explaining that the importance of his visit to Havana was to recover the ties between Spanish and Cuban society, and their strong emotional, social, cultural and historical ties.

“It was necessary to recover that relationship, it was necessary to break the ice, and that is what we have done: we have broken the ice, we have normalized institutional and political relations; “We have approved two important memorandums, and what we are going to do over the next few years is continue that relationship and strengthen it,” he said.

“We have also come to defend the interests of the Spanish business community, to facilitate their presence, and I think it is the most important thing we take away from this official visit,” he added.

Previously, the Spanish president, when meeting with a hundred businessmen who participated in the Cuba-Spain Business Forum, hadDíaz-Canel's “reformist drive” praised, in whom he found a “will” to consolidate economic openness in the new Constitution.

However, at the press conference, when asked about his intercession in the release of some of the 139 Cuban political prisoners, he responded that he could not make public the conversations he had with Díaz-Canel, but that he could guarantee that they had "spoken of everything".

The journalists also reminded him of Amnesty International's request that he make representations on behalf of certain prisoners of conscience.

“I insist, we have spoken with President Díaz-Canel about everything,” he noted.