Alfonso Fraga Pérez

Alfonso Fraga Pérez was a Havana born lawyer whose diplomatic career took him across the socialist world. He served as ambassador in Yugoslavia and China, worked in Poland and East Germany, and directed the foreign ministry’s department for European socialist countries in the late 1970s. He also represented Cuba in Zimbabwe before becoming head of its Washington interests section in the early 1990s. ¹

In August 1995, Robert T. Hennemeyer of the United States Catholic Conference wrote to Fraga about the imprisonment of Pentecostal pastor Orson Vila in Santiago. The letter requested information about the charges and restrictions on religious meetings. ²

Fraga subsequently served as ambassador to Chile from December 2000 until January 2006. In his farewell interview, he criticized Chile’s votes on Cuba at the United Nations human rights commission while pointing to expanding commercial ties. He called for implementation of a bilateral economic agreement and recognition of qualifications earned by Chilean medical students in Cuba. ¹