Cuba ejects Polish officials 

Thursday, May 19, 2005

WARSAW, Poland (UPI): Two Polish legislators plan to urge European officials to re-impose sanctions against Cuba after being ejected from the island nation.

Boguslaw Sonik and Jacek Protasiewicz, both members of Poland's Parliament, arrived Tuesday in Havana to attend a May 20 meeting of Cuban democracy activists, the EUobserver reported Wednesday.

They said they entered the country as tourists because Havana denied them diplomatic permits. Once at the airport, however, they said they were "frog-marched" to a plane headed for Mexico.

"Since the European Union changed its relations with Cuba in January, we felt MEPs would not be blocked from entering the country," Protasiewicz said.

The two men said they plan to call on the European Parliament and the Polish government to re-impose diplomatic sanctions on Havana.

In January, EU foreign ministers temporarily suspended diplomatic sanctions on Cuba for six months and gave themselves until June to determine whether negotiations with Havana proves to be a more effective policy.

The diplomatic freeze against the communist regime was introduced in June 2003 after 77 dissidents were arrested and sentenced to as many as 28 years in prison.

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