HAVANA (Reuters)
Cuba’s National Assembly strongly condemns the resolution by the European Parliament, which criticized the country’s human rights record and called for EU sanctions against Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and other top officials.
“The European Parliament lacks the moral, political, and legal authority to judge Cuba,” stated Cuba’s parliament. “This could cast doubt on the EU’s objectives of seeking to re-launch its relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.”
EU leaders are set to meet in Brussels next week with heads of state from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) for their first bi-regional summit in eight years.
During the summit, leaders are expected to discuss important issues such as climate change, development funding, and Haiti’s security crisis. Cuba expressed its desire for stronger relations, but accused the EU of being opaque and manipulative in its preparations.
The European Parliament’s resolution proposes that “autocratic regimes should not participate in such summits”. It also strongly condemns Cuba’s human rights record, suggesting that this could jeopardize the 2016 cooperation deal between Cuba, its top trade partner, and the EU. Additionally, the resolution calls for the “immediate and unconditional release” of “unjustly detained prisoners”. Following anti-government protests in July 2021, the largest since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, hundreds of Cubans remain in jail. Cuba’s Communist government maintains that those jailed committed crimes including assault, vandalism, and sedition.
In May, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell visited the island and criticized the United States over its 60-year trade embargo. He also stated that the EU did not have the capacity or the will to impose changes in Cuba. The European Parliament resolution expressed deep disapproval of Borrell’s comment.
In response, Cuba’s National Assembly deemed the resolution “highly interfering”.
Borrell announced in May that the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, will visit the island in November to evaluate the consequences of the 2021 protests.
Reporting by Nelson Acosta and Sarah Morland, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
Credit: The Star : News Feed
