Spanish FM breaks ice with Cuba visit

Spain's foreign minister visited Cuba on Monday in a possible first step toward thawing relations between Cuba and the European Union, frozen since a 2003 dispute over dissident arrests.

Miguel Angel Moratinos, the most senior EU government official to go to the island country since the dispute, was expected to meet on Tuesday with acting President Raul Castro, who took over in July after Fidel Castro underwent stomach surgery.

On Monday, Moratinos met with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, who said his visit opened "a new path" in Cuban-Spanish relations and possibly in Cuban-EU relations. He also said there could be cooperation in human rights.