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.''