Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Wednesday, July 21, 2010 11:12 am TWN, By Silvia Ayuso, dpa

Sponsors
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.

Castro reappears to show that he is 'still here'

She said that his four public appearances in less than 10 days this month were meant to send the message that, “I am the one who approved this, and all the changes in Cuba have to go through me; I am the one who controls everything.”

The official U.S. reaction to the decision to free the dissidents was cautious, barely qualified as “a positive step,” but there is no doubt that every step is being followed with utmost attention.

In fact, it was revealed last week that the Archbishop of Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the chief mediator in the dissidents' case, had made a trip to the U.S. at the end of June, at the height of the negotiations.

The U.S. State Department refused to “confirm or deny” that Ortega had met with senior administration officials, but said it was aware of the talks.

“We learned through a variety of sources that the Cuban government was considering releasing political prisoners and that the Catholic Church and the Spanish government were playing a role in that effort. We generally do not discuss the details of our communications,” a spokesman said.

Most Cuba analysts in the U.S., and even dissidents on the island, are convinced that the decision to free the prisoners was not gratuitous, and that Raul Castro expects a reciprocal gesture, most of all from the European Union but also from Washington.

U.S. President Barack Obama has not yet revealed whether he is thinking about making any more steps to engage dialogue with Cuba apart from initial timid gestures that he made more than a year ago.

Anti-Castro politicians like Ros-Lehtinen say this is no time to concede anything, but rather to “exercise maximum pressure on the Cuban tyranny.”

But Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue said it would be important to take advantage of the opening.

“There are ample grounds for skepticism based on past experience, and especially in view of Fidel's reappearance, but in any case it is sensible to seize the opportunity to see if the Cubans are really prepared to go further than they have in the past,” he said.

“Washington should not only welcome the gesture, but also make a reciprocal move that shows it is hopeful of encouraging some political change, however modest.”

1|2