MADRID, March 2 (Reuters) - Spain on Tuesday expressed concern about a crackdown on anti-government activists in Cuba, saying a planned visit to the island by the King and Queen would go ahead only if there was no ``atmosphere of repression.''
Spanish Foreign Minister Abel Matutes said Spain was concerned about the trial of Cuba's four best-known dissidents.
``We don't have enough information to evaluate the trial at this time, the most important thing will clearly be the sentence, but some of the first signs have caused some concern in this ministry and in other ministries,'' Matutes said during a news conference in Madrid.
Commenting on reports that the King and Queen of Spain might delay a proposed visit to Cuba because of the tension, a foreign ministry spokesman said earlier that the visit would go ahead only under certain circumstances.
``The ministry is working for the visit of the king and queen to go ahead in an atmosphere of normality, not in an atmosphere of repression, or in which the King and Queen could not move around freely, express themselves freely, or have their speeches broadcast directly,'' the spokesman said.
``If these things were not guaranteed the visit would not go ahead,'' he said.
No date has been set for the visit, but Matutes discussed the trip during a visit to Cuba last year.
``At this time the government continues to foresee that the visit of the King and Queen to Cuba will be able to go ahead in the spring though no date has been fixed,'' Matutes said, adding that it could as easily be during the summer.
The round-up of scores of anti-government dissidents coinciding with the trial of the island's four best-known dissidents was the largest crackdown for years by veteran revolutionary Fidel Castro's communist administration.
09:48 03-02-99
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