Renata Giraldi        Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – President Dilma Rousseff arrives in Havana five days after the Brazilian government issued a visa to the Cuban journalist and blogger, Yoani Sánchez, one of the country’s principal critics of the government of Raul Castro. The gesture was seen by NGOs and specialists in international relations as a sign that Brazil would discuss the issues of human rights and the political opening of the Raul Castro regime at meetings with Cuban authorities during the visit by president Dilma.

However, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry (Itamaraty) says that the visa was issued in response to an invitation by moviemaker Cláudio Galvão da Silva who invited Yoani to a screening of a documentary, “Conexão Cuba-Honduras.”

Brazil’s minister of Foreign Relations, Antonio Patriota, denied that human rights would be referred to in public statements by Dilma while she is in Cuba. Patriota preferred to praise the opening of political dialogue between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church with regard to political dissent, rather than a broad discussion of regional human rights.

Approximately two years ago, the Raul Castro government and Spanish authorities have been negotiating with the Catholic Church in Cuba for the gradual liberation of political dissidents. So far, dozens of them have been released and sent to Spain. At the same time, a local movement in Cuba of women who have relatives who are political dissidents, known as the Ladies in White, has protested publicly and attracted media attention.

Patriot declared that Brazilian and Cuban authorities constantly discuss human rights. According to Patriota, Brazil’s position is that the most pressing human rights problem in Cuba is the American prison at Guantanamo.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Direitos humanos e abertura política podem ser temas de reuniões em Havana

Link - Dilma tem agenda cheia hoje em Cuba