Spain naturalizes Cuban author

Spain is to grant the Cuban author, Zoe Valdes, Spanish nationality so that she can travel to the United States and Britain.

The council of ministers in Madrid said that the Cuban-born writer would be naturalized due to her special circumstances.

Ms Valdes, who has been living in exile in Paris for the last three years, has had three novels published in Spain La Nada Cotidiana, Te di la vida entera and Cafe nostalgia.

She was denied a visa to the United States to attend a book fair and to Britain where she wanted to interview the Peruvian-born novelist, Mario Vargas Llosa.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service