A resolution passed by the European Parliament today calls on the EU, its Member States, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and its delegation in Cuba to publicly condemn the Cuban regime’s repression.
“Today we remember the day when Cubans took to the streets to demand freedom and an end to a regime of misery, fear, injustice and lies”, ECR Shadow Rapporteur Herman Tertsch said.
“The resolution is a further step towards ending the intolerable complicity of the European Union, and in particular its High Representative, Josep Borrell, with the Cuban dictatorship”, he added.
The European Parliament’s resolution criticises H.R./V.P. Josep Borrell for missing an opportunity to engage with civil society and promote democracy during his visit. It also calls on the Council to apply the EU’s Magnitsky Act sanctions against the dictatorship. Borrell’s visit to Cuba has not only caused considerable outrage among Cuban exiles, but also runs counter to the European Parliament’s mandate, secured by the ECR Group, calling for the suspension of the agreement.
“We stand by the people of Cuba. We will not allow the global public to forget about more than 1,000 political prisoners in Cuba, about their dire situation, including cases of torture. Since the establishment of the ECR, thanks to the presence of MEPs from Central Europe, especially from Poland, the European Parliament has firmly and consistently condemned human rights violations and atrocities committed by the Cuban communist regime. We also criticised Cuba’s influence on the politics of many Latin American countries and the destabilization of subsequent societies. In the current term of the European Parliament, thanks to the presence of deputies from Spain, our political line has been strengthened, gaining many new and interesting dimensions”, ECR Group Foreign Affairs Coordinator Anna Fotyga commented.
“I am not surprised with the appalling information about political murders committed by the communist regime in Cuba as recently proved in the cases of murdering Oswaldo Paýa and Harold Cepero, which unfortunately reminds me of cases that I remember from the past in Poland under communism, as in the case of Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko and others. I am strongly convinced that the communist regime in Cuba has no future. Sooner or later, the necessary changes towards the democratisation of Cuba will take place”, Fotyga continued.
“The European Union has to change its attitude towards the Cuban government and help to end this regime that is incompetent in everything except crime. The Cuban communists, like communists all over the world, will hopefully end up in the dustbin of history as wretches, murderers and failures. And with them their accomplices in the democracies of America and Europe, who have caused so much damage and pain to the Cuban people in these 64 years,” added Herman Tertsch.
The ECR Group will continue to speak out strongly against human rights violations in Cuba.
