A Spanish diplomat who served as ambassador in Havana from 2001 to 2004 was appointed Thursday to head the Foreign Ministry section that handles Spain’s relations with Latin America.

Jesús Gracia Aldaz, named as Secretary of State for Iberoamerica, was Spain’s ambassador to Cuba when Havana courts sentenced 75 dissidents to lengthy prison terms during a crackdown in 2003 known as “Cuba’s Black Spring.”

He was appointed to the Cuba post in 2001 by the conservative People’s Party government of Prime Minister José Maria Aznar and left the island in 2004, when socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero succeeded Aznar. PP leader Mariano Rajoy took over as prime minister after his party won the November elections.

Joaquin Roy, who heads the European Union Center at the University of Miami, noted that while Gracia is experienced in Spanish-Cuban relations, he will have to follow the policy guidelines set by Rajoy and Foreign Minister José Manuel García Margallo.

“Everything depends on how active Rajoy and García-Margallo want to be on Cuba. I would be surprised if they start any ‘harassment’ (against the Cuban government) … that goes beyond the verbal,” Roy wrote in an email to El Nuevo Herald.

After Cuba’s crackdown in 2003, the Aznar government helped push member nations of the European Union to adopt sanctions on Havana, such as cutting back on government-to-government contacts and inviting dissidents to embassy functions.

Rodríguez Zapatero and his foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, reversed course by pushing the EU nations to abandon the 2003 sanctions and trying unsuccessfully to lift a EU “Common Position” that loosely links EU assistance to Cuba’s human rights record.

The socialist government also eliminated the title of Secretary of State for Iberoamerica in 2010. Gracia Aldaz’ appointment to the resurrected title points to Rajoy’s stated goal of warming up relations with Latin America.

The 51-year old Gracia Aldaz is currently the No. 2 at the Spanish embassy in Argentina and has served in top positions in the government agencies that are in charge of assistance to Latin American and other nations.

A post Thursday in the Spain-based blog CubaEncuentro argued that Cuba issues have a low priority for the Rajoy government because of Spain’s many domestic problems and the hefty Spanish investments in the Cuban tourism and oil industries. The Spanish Repsol company is spearheading the island’s offshore oil exploration efforts.

But Rajoy also is unlikely to continue the Rodriguez Zapatero government’s strong push to drop the EU’s Common Position, and trouble may lie ahead, added the post, signed by Tony Gonzalez.

“Somewhere along there will be confrontation, and diplomatic notes with insults and apologies,” the post noted.