 European Union Development Commissioner Louis Michel held talks on Friday with Cuba's communist authorities that included sensitive human rights issues such as political prisoners and access to jails. In the first high-level talks since a crackdown on dissent led to a diplomatic freeze two years ago, Michel met with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and the president of Cuba's National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon. "The mood is good and the conversations are very frank," he told reporters after his meetings. "There is an acceptance on the Cuban side (of the need) to discuss all these very sensitive issues, human rights, the prisoners, renewed cooperation between the European Union and Cuba," he said. Michel's visit is the most senior by a EU official since Cuba locked up 75 pro-democracy dissidents in March 2003, just days after the EU opened an embassy in Havana. |