Spanish king to visit Cuba in '99

Published Tuesday, May 12, 1998, in the Miami Herald

Spanish king to visit Cuba in '99

MADRID, Spain -- (AFP) -- King Juan Carlos of Spain will visit Cuba for the first time next year in a clear sign that relations between the two countries have been revitalized, the government announced Monday.

The government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar had consolidated the process of normalization of bilateral relations after appointing a new ambassador to Havana, parliament was told.

Spain's new ambassador to Cuba, Eduardo Junco Bonet, took up his post in Havana on April 27, ending more than a year of strained relations between Aznar's conservative government and Cuba's communist leadership.

In November 1996, Cuba rejected Aznar's appointment of Jose Coderch as ambassador to Cuba after Coderch publicly announced that he would ``throw the doors of the embassy wide open to Cuban dissidents.''