Paris, Mar 3 (EFE).- French President François Hollande will travel to Cuba on May 11, the first visit by a French head of state to the Latin American country, the Elysee Palace, the French presidential residence, announced Tuesday.

 

“The visit of the president of the republic to Cuba on May 11 will constitute the first time a French head of state has traveled to that country,” said the French President’s Office in a communique.

 

Hollande’s visit will come as part of a tour he will make to visit French territories in the Caribbean between May 8-11.

 

Although the announcement of the trip comes less than three months after U.S. and Cuban Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro, respectively, announced the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana, France took pains not to connect that process with Hollande’s trip.

 

Government sources emphasized that relations between France and Cuba have strengthened since 2010 “and particularly since 2013.”

 

Regarding the question of the so-called “common position,” conditioning dialogue between the European Union and Cuba on human rights progress on the communist island, the sources added that “France wants to have a role with an eye toward a rapprochement” between Brussels and Havana.

 

The French secretary of state for foreign trade, tourism and French citizens abroad, Matthias Fekl, will travel to Cuba from next Thursday to Saturday to prepare Hollande’s visit with Cuban authorities.

 

Before arriving in Cuba, the French leader will preside at a regional summit in Martinique on May 9 to prepare for the Paris conference on climate change, which will be held at the end of this year.

 

A day later, he will be in Guadeloupe to inaugurate the ACTe Memorial, a Caribbean center dedicated to recalling human trafficking and slavery. EFE