Mugabe last visited Cuba in April 2000, when he headed his country's delegation at the summit of the Group of 77 developing nations held in Havana. Mugabe, 78, has ruled Zimbabwe since it gained independence from Britain in 1980. As his popularity has waned, he has imposed curbs on journalists and opposition parties, and many of his critics have been attacked or threatened with prosecution.
After March elections that independent observers said were riddled with irregularities, the 15-nation European Union imposed an embargo against Mugabe's government. The United States also has imposed sanctions. Zimbabwe's government has targeted about 95 percent of farms owned by the country's white minority for seizure, saying it wants to redistribute them among landless blacks. The often violent program of seizures has been condemned by Western governments and has contributed to widespread food shortages. [End]
Two of its most controversial leaders - Cuba's Fidel Castro and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe - will not be there. The European Union is telling the ACP - which accounts for more than 650 million people and includes 40 of the world's poorest countries - that if they want to keep getting European aid, they will have to start removing their trade barriers to Europe's exports. Under an agreement signed between the group's members and the EU in 2000 at Cotonou in the African state of Benin, the European Union is also linking trade and aid to ACP states which impose safeguards to prevent corruption.***