On Friday, King Mohammed VI flew to Cuba in an unofficial trip accompanied by Lalla Salma, Moulay El Hassan and Lalla Khadija. The royal family will spend a vacation in the republic which has declared several times its backup for the Polisario front. La Havana-based media reported that Cuban authorities rushed to reassure the Front about the King's visit stressing on the fact that it would not affect their relations. King Mohammed VI accompanied by Lalla Salma, Moulay El Hassan and Lalla Khadija went on Friday 7th April to the Cuban capital La Havana, where the royal family is to stay at the Saratoga hotel. Reacting to the King's visit, local Cuban media reported that the whole elegant hotel was booked by the Moroccan King's family and that the area surrounding was highly secured by Cuban authorities. Cibercuba, a Cuban online newspaper, claimed that the Moroccan sovereign would also stay at the Nacional de Cuba hotel while the staff and workers accompanying him would be staying at the Telegrafo Hotel located next to the capital's Museum of Revolution. La Havana will be the first part of the royal vacation as they are also supposed to visit Cayo Santa Maria, an island in the Cuban archipelago of Jardines del rey. The Royal visit comes under the circumstances of a political breakup between the Kingdom and Cuba that lasted for more than 37 years. Cibercuba also indicated that the family is celebrating Moulay El Hassan's birthday that will take place in the 8th of May when the Heir to the throne will turn 14. According to the same Cuban source the visit is supposed to last one month. Cuba reassures the Polisario Front On the other hand, El Confidencial pointed out that senior officials from the latin republic have rushed to reassure the Polisario front about the Moroccan Monarch's latest visit. La Havana sent its ambassador in Algeria to Tindouf in order to inform Ibrahim Ghali, head of the Front, that the visit of King Mohammed VI to Cuba would not affect Cuba's opinion about the Sahara conflict. Futurosahara, a pro-Polisario front website has reported that a senior official from the Front assured that Moroccan King's visit is unofficial and devoid of political purposes. However, the same source could not hide its worries concerning the King's visit to Latin America. He told Futurosahara that this visit might have political objectives. On the same subject, the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial quoted a European diplomat who compared the King's visit to the «American President John F. Kennedy visiting Cuba during the missile crisis in 1962». For the record, Morocco broke off relations with Cuba since 1980 after the latter announced its support to «the Sahraoui democratic republic» announced by the Polisario front. King Mohammed VI visited the Caribbean islands in December 2004 and spent a few days in the Dominican Republic with an entourage of 300 people. The visit was commented on by the Ministry of Tourism's spokesperson Anna Jimenez who claimed that this trip would participate in the promotion of tourism in the region.
