New tensions emerge between Spain, US over Cuba

MADRID -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a lightning stop here yesterday, intending to signal an end to the Bush administration's diplomatic deep freeze of the Spanish government, but new tensions emerged over dealings with Cuba.

Spanish officials were annoyed that Rice earlier this week criticized Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos for visiting Havana without meeting dissidents. Speaking to reporters as she flew here from Berlin, Rice reiterated those comments.

Cuba has "a major transition coming," she said, alluding to the illness of longtime leader Fidel Castro. "I think democratic states have an obligation to act democratically, to support opposition in Cuba, not to give the regime the idea that it is just going to be transition from one dictatorship to another."

Meeting with reporters after a long session, Moratinos and Rice tried to play down their differences by noting that they shared the goal of a democratic government for Cuba. But when Moratinos defended the Spanish approach of engagement with the Cuban government and suggested that eventually Rice would see the method's merit, Rice rolled her eyes, turned to US reporters and silently mouthed, "Don't hold your breath."

"I have real doubts about the value of engagement with a regime that is antidemocratic and that appears to be arranging a transition from one antidemocratic regime to another antidemocratic regime," Rice said.

Rice also met with Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, King Juan Carlos and opposition leaders.

The former conservative government was one of the Bush administration's strongest allies, and former secretary of state Colin Powell went to Spain almost every six months. But no senior US official has visited the country in three years, ever since the new socialist-led government abruptly withdrew troops from Iraq after a terrorist attack in Madrid.

Zapatero openly rooted for a John Kerry victory in the 2004 election, calling the occupation of Iraq "a fiasco" and saying he looked forward to a period of "no wars for oil" during a Kerry administration. Bush refused to accept a congratulatory phone from Zapatero after the election.

Rice said here that the problem was not that Spain left Iraq but the way the announcement was handled. "We had our differences," she said.