Different reactions. Bildt rejected the Cuban accusation, claiming Sweden is one of the most open countries in Europe in terms of immigration: “There are many Cuban exiles that have been living in Sweden for years as freedom of speech and press are not at the top of Cuba’s bill of rights. After all, everybody knows Cuba’s government is a dictatorship”. He’s not the only one who thinks so. Many demonstrations to support “the dissidents” have been held in the Cuban capital in the last few days. Many writers and journalists detained for “opinion crimes” were mentioned: Jorge Olivera Castillo is “a journalist who’s guilty because he wants to be a free journalist”. He has a regular visa for the USA but he has been prevented from leaving the island with his family since 2002. “This jail is the symbol of that so-called “socialist” revolution that actually raped the original socialist ideology and principles”, he said. Olivera is not alone. Cuban writer and poet Lezama Lima, whose works were strictly controlled by the government, died in 1976; also Reinaldo Arenas tried to fight Castro’s dictatorship with his well known critics.

The mailbox mystery. Christian Carlsson, spokesman of the Swedish chancellor, declared that many diplomatic letters had already been opened by the Cubans before actually reaching the Swedish diplomats in Havana: now the Swedish want to summon Cuba’s ambassador Jorge Zubiaur to Stockholm to make it clear. In the meantime Bildt demanded an official apology from Cuba as well as an explanation for “the mailbox mystery”.