Santo Domingo.- President Leonel Fernandez’s sudden trip to Havana has sparked speculation that Dominican Republic may become the second nation to receive Cuban political prisoners, after Spain, and may herald a new era of shuttle diplomacy made famous by Henry Kissinger during the Cold War. 

His visit to Cuba comes just 10 days after meeting with president Barack Obama, five days after the arrest of Puerto Ricn Jose Figueroa Agosto and 15 hours after Sobeida Felix’s deportation by U.S. authorities.

Political analysts say Fernandez may be acting at Obama’s behest “to help” in the reception of Cuban detainees, which the West calls political prisoners, but accused of being common criminals in their country.

And though local media refer to Fernandez’s 24 hour visit as official, Cuba state-run newspaper Gramma published only two paragraphs noting the meeting with Raul Castro and the conference he’ll dictate in Havana University.

Since there are more than 100 dissident detainees still and Spain has already met its quota, and the fact that some of those who arrived last week have voiced criticisms against that nation’s authorities, the United States needs to look for another destination for the rest.

Yesterday Washington stated its interest in receiving an unspecified number of prisoners, but asked other countries to collaborate in distributing them among the Americas and Europe.

The analysts stress that Fernandez’s sudden trip to Cuba is to convey Washington’s message and that everything points to the distribution of the Cuban prisoners outside US territory, given the bitter experience of the Mariel boatlift 20 years ago.