EU human rights envoy in Cuba to discuss aftermath of 2021 protests

HAVANA (Reuters) - The European Union`s human rights envoy was set to meet on Friday with Cuban officials as the island`s communist-run government faces sharp rebuke from the European bloc, the United States and rights groups for jailing protesters involved in anti-government demonstrations in 2021.

EU representative Eamon Gilmore said "all topics" were on the table ahead of the dialogue with top Cuban officials after two days of meetings with the island`s government and civil society.

"There are issues in which we will find common cause, and there are issues where we will question and sometimes challenge each other," Gilmore told reporters in Havana.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, on a visit to Cuba earlier this year, announced Gilmore`s visit but told reporters the EU would not "impose" demands on the island`s government.

The United States and the European Union have critiqued Cuba`s response to the 2021 protests - the largest since former leader Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution- as repressive and heavy-handed. Rights groups say around 1,000 Cubans were jailed for their political beliefs following the demonstrations and several subsequent protests.

Cuba's government blames the U.S. government for stoking the protests in a bid to overthrow Cuba`s government and says those detained are guilty of assault, vandalism and sedition, among other crimes.

"No one is convicted for their political opinions," Cuba`s foreign ministry said prior to Gilmore`s visit on social media.

Tensions around the issue flared just days before Gilmore`s arrival after a prisoner died this week in Cuba, prompting a rebuke from the U.S. embassy.

"We are outraged to learn of the death of political prisoner Luis Barrios Díaz while imprisoned in Cuba," the embassy said. "We call on the Cuban government to respect the human rights of everyone, including the rights of political prisoners and those unjustly detained."

Johana Tablada de la Torre, a top diplomat in Cuba's foreign ministry, called Barrios Diaz`s death "unfortunate" but blasted the U.S. for intervening in Cuba`s internal affairs.

The Cuban government did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the circumstances around the prisoner`s death.

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood and Alien Fernandez)