Castro’s ‘big prison’ captivates MEPs

Date: 26/01/06

MEPs will next week push for a stronger EU stance against Cuba following reports that the human rights situation on the island has deteriorated.

In June last year EU governments decided to suspend the sanctions against Fidel Castro's regime which had been imposed two years earlier, in protest at the imprisonment of 75 political dissidents and at the executions of three men convicted of hijacking a ferry.

By the standards of international sanctions, the EU's measures were not especially punitive. They primarily involved restrictions on high-level contact and a policy of opening the doors of embassies from the Union's member states to Castro's critics, for example by inviting them to receptions for national holidays. Yet the measures irritated the Cuban authorities, which broke off contacts with European embassies in response.

Swedish Liberal MEP Cecilia Malmstr�m said that lifting the sanctions had proved to be a mistake. "The situation in Cuba has got much worse," she said. "There are a lot of political prisoners being held in very bad conditions."

Malmstr�m argued that the sanctions were more strategic and targeted than the economic embargo imposed by the US, which has been blamed for bringing indiscriminate hardship to Cuba's 11 million inhabitants. They were part of a process, she noted, whereby the EU has held out the possibility of both dialogue and eventual accession to the Cotonou agreement - the EU's trade and aid pact with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries - provided the Cuban regime becomes less autocratic.

The newly published annual report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) describes Cuba as a "Latin American anomaly: an undemocratic government that represses nearly all forms of political dissent". "President Fidel Castro, now in his 47th year in power, shows no willingness to consider even minor reforms," it adds.

More than 300 political prisoners were held in Cuba in July last year, according to information provided to HRW. Prisoners are generally kept in "poor and abusive conditions, often in overcrowded cells", it says, citing allegations that some have been victims of physical and sexual abuse, "typically by other inmates with the acquiescence of guards". Political prisoners who have spoken out against these conditions have been punished by isolation or denial of medical treatment.

Officials from Austria's EU presidency say that an evaluation of the Union's policy towards Cuba has been pencilled in for June, twelve months after the lifting of the sanctions.

At present, there is no consensus among the Union's 25 governments about how Cuba should be handled.

Some of the former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe have been advocating that a hard line should be taken. Cuba has become one of the most piquant foreign policy topics for the Czech Republic, in particular. V�av Havel, the former Czech president and leading dissident of the Velvet Revolution, has described Cuba as "one big prison", while serving Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda has been pressing for EU financial aid to be given to Castro's opponents.

Spain, on the other hand, led the campaign to have the sanctions scrapped. "It is difficult to find a magic solution," said a Spanish government official. "But we believe that we have a pragmatic approach. We want to have diplomatic relations with Cuba because we believe this could be helpful in a transition period."

The European Commission has had some dialogue with Cuba over the past year. Louis Michel, the commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, has travelled to Cuba. He smoked cigars with Felipe P�z Roque when the Cuban foreign minister visited Brussels. A source close to Michel said he was disappointed that the authorities were unwilling to ensure that these contacts would be followed by such goodwill gestures as the release of political prisoners.

Both left and right-leaning MEPs condemned the refusal by Cuba to issue travel visas to representatives of Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White), a group of wives and mothers of imprisoned dissidents, in December.

The women had been invited to Strasbourg to receive the Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Discussions are taking place among leaders of the assembly's political groups about handing over the prize on Cuban soil.

One possibility being considered is that Parliament's President Josep Borrell could undertake an official visit to Havana for that purpose.

Major analysis feature on the EU's relations with Cuba and the recent human rights situation in the country.

• Primary Source

European Commission: DG Development: Countries: Cuba https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/countries/cuba_en

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