By ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
             Herald Staff Writer

             The 15-country European Union issued a strong statement Wednesday calling for
             the release of four Cuban dissidents who received harsh sentences in Havana this
             week, while European and Latin American officials said they are rethinking their
             recent overtures to the island.
             In a statement issued in Brussels, the EU said the Cuban dissidents, who received
             prison terms of between 3 1/2 and 5 years for publishing a pamphlet criticizing the
             government, had been exercising the universally recognized right to freedom of
             expression. ``The European Union cannot accept that citizens who do so be
             criminalized by state authorities,'' the statement said.

             The four dissidents -- Vladimiro Roca, Felix Bonne, Rene Gomez Manzano and
             Marta Beatriz Roque -- are well known intellectuals who were arrested after
             publishing a manifesto titled The Homeland belongs to all.

             The French news agency AFP reported Wednesday that Cuba's failure to release
             the four could lead to Cuba's exclusion from upcoming talks between the EU and
             African, Caribbean and Pacific Rim developing countries. EU officials were not
             available late Wednesday to comment on the report.

             The EU recalled that it had expected the four dissidents to be released last year
             when it agreed to Cuba's request for observer status in its discussions with
             developing countries who are beneficiaries of Europe's Lome economic
             cooperation agreement.

             ``The EU therefore repeats its calls for the prompt release of the four and will
             continue to evaluate the development of this matter,'' the statement said.

             ``In addition, the EU wants to convey its disappointment at the fact that neither
             diplomats nor foreign news media were allowed to attend the trial of the dissidents,
             despite the fact that their relatives had been told that the trial would be open to the
             public,'' it said.

             The EU also said it was concerned about the temporary detention and house
             arrest of several dozen people connected to the imprisoned dissidents and by new
             Cuban laws that ``curtail the exercise of citizen's rights.''

             Although Cuba customarily rejects such denunciations as intervention in its internal
             affairs, the EU statement is considered significant because the European group has
             steadfastly maintained friendly diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba in the face
             of threats of retaliation from powerful critics of Cuba in the U.S. Congress.

             The Helms-Burton Act, which imposes sanctions on countries investing in Cuban
             property confiscated from U.S. citizens, was aimed at some European investors
             but their governments have challenged the law and refused to back down.

             In a telephone interview hours before the statement was released, Sweden's
             international cooperation minister, Pierre Shori, told The Herald that the recent
             developments in Cuba are ``alarming.'' Shori said that ``the toughening of the laws
             against dissidents goes against what the Cuban authorities have said in their
             dialogue with the European Union.''

             The EU statement came a day after Canada said it was reconsidering its support
             for Cuba's return to the Organization of American States (OAS) after Monday's
             sentencing of the four dissidents. Cuba's OAS membership was suspended in
             1962.

             The EU statement did not mention the possibility of excluding Cuba from the first
             European-Latin American summit, to be held June 28-29 in Rio de Janeiro.
             Fifteen European and 33 Latin American and Caribbean presidents, including
             Cuba's Fidel Castro, are expected to attend.

             The EU condemnation of Cuba's latest crackdown against peaceful opponents,
             however, marks a possible reversal of the island's ties with the European Union,
             which had been warming up since 1996 and appeared ready for a significant
             improvement since Pope John Paul II's visit to the island last year.

             Meanwhile, top officials from several Latin American countries -- including Chile,
             Uruguay, Argentina and El Salvador -- said their governments were rethinking
             whether to attend a summit of Ibero-American countries in Havana in November.
             Nicaragua has already announced it will not attend.

             Latin American foreign ministers are to discuss participation at the Havana summit
             at a meeting in Veracruz, Mexico, on Friday. But a senior Mexican official said
             Mexico -- which presides over the Veracruz meeting -- will oppose any effort to
             organize a boycott of the Cuba summit and that such a move ``is not on the
             agenda.''
 

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