MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cuban officials boycott German unification reception

Cuban officials boycotted a cocktail party at the German Embassy in Havana to protest a parallel reception where regime opponents were invited.

The event at the embassy was to mark the 15th anniversary of German reunification, October 3, 1990.

Ambassador Hans-Ulrich Lunscken's decision to invite members of Cuba's internal opposition "has not pleased the Cuban government, which was expressed by not attending the cocktail party organized at the embassy" said a European diplomat.

Ambassador Lunscken said the reunification of his country was made possible by the failure and collapse of the Communist regime in East Germany and by the existence of a peaceful opposition in that side of the then-divided nation.

The reception included the screening of the film "Goodbye Lenin" which depicts the efforts of a young man from East Germany who wants to protect her mother that for years was in coma, from the shock of a united Germany following the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The German Embassy is the first EU mission in Havana to invite dissidents to a national-day celebration since last January when the 25-member European Union suspended political sanctions imposed on Cuba following the Fidel Castro regime jailing of 75 peaceful opponents in spring 2003.

At the time punitive measures were set aside and the EU left it to each member whether to continue inviting Cuban dissidents to events in embassies.