Havana, February 27 (RHC)-- Visiting former Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero highlighted in Havana the need to remove Cuba from the U.S. State Department's list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism. Zapatero stressed that this is a major issue to be resolved in order to pave the way for the planned re-establishment of bilateral U.S.-Cuba diplomatic relations.

The former Spanish head of state thanked Cuba for its support for actions to put an end to the activities of the Basque nationalist group ETA --a goal that was finally achieved in October 2011. He also referred to the third round of talks between the European Union and Cuba, slated to begin next week. The aim, he stressed, is to achieve a political and cooperation agreement and put an end to Europe's so-called 'Common Position' toward Cuba.