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CUBA: Human Rights at the Eye of the
Storm
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA (IPS) - Cuba's
government-controlled stepped up its
media offensive Monday in response to
what the government calls a
well-orchestrated international campaign
of misinformation carried out in the
last few weeks against this socialist
island nation.
At the same time, the Ladies in White -
wives and mothers of the group of 75
dissidents in prison since 2003 in Cuba
- launched a week of protests to demand
the release of their loved ones. The
women will carry out different
activities, from fasts to street marches
or attending mass at various Catholic
churches in Havana, for seven days - one
for every year their husbands or sons
have been behind bars.
"We are going to continue our peaceful
struggle, no matter what the cost,"
Berta Soler told IPS. The wife of Angel
Moya, who is serving a 20-year sentence
on charges of conspiring with a "foreign
power" (the United States) to
destabilise the government - the same
charge faced by most of the 75
dissidents thrown into prison that year
- added that "We are peaceful and we
have nothing to lose."
In an article by Leyla Carrillo of the
Centre for European Studies (CEE) in
Havana, Granma, the official daily of
the governing Communist Party, lashed
out again at a Mar. 11 resolution
adopted by the European Parliament
calling for "the immediate release of
all political prisoners" and support for
"the launching of a peaceful process of
political transition to multi-party
democracy in Cuba."
The statement was part of a global
outcry triggered by the death of Orlando
Zapata, a 42-year-old government
opponent who died in prison Feb. 23, on
the 85th day of a hunger strike.
The government denies that Zapata was a
"political prisoner," as he is described
by dissident groups.
According to Carrillo, "smear campaigns
orchestrated against Cuba are nothing
new" and "no one should be surprised" at
the European Parliament resolution which
was adopted by 509-30 votes with 14
abstentions. The resolution "is part of
the onslaught against underdeveloped
countries," she writes.
The article adds that in order to pass
resolutions of this kind, events are
blown out of proportion from Washington
and by the press in industrialised
countries, and the concerns of some
parliamentarian who visits the country
and meets with "dissidents prefabricated
from abroad" are incorporated in the
statement.
In Carrillo's view, "the eloquence of
the legislators is closely linked to the
objectives of the governing forces in
the developed world: criticise to
suspend cooperation or aid, or to simply
impose conditions on it; systematically
criticise to denigrate a government that
bothers them, or to generate a situation
favourable to an intervention."
Another article, published in the
newspaper Trabajadores, links the
European Parliament resolution to
efforts by the right in Spain and other
European countries to derail the attempt
by the government of socialist Prime
Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to
normalise ties between Cuba and the
European Union.
Even after the European Parliament
issued its statement, Spanish Foreign
Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said his
country would continue the effort to
replace the so-called "common position"
on Cuba with an agreement negotiated
with Havana.
Spain, which currently holds the
rotating presidency of the European
Union, is trying to change the bloc's
common position on Cuba by eliminating a
clause calling for democracy and
improved human rights, in order to
remove hurdles to better relations.
Spain's aim is to push for "a greater
commitment by Cuban authorities with
respect to human rights," as well as
"the release of political prisoners."
Madrid and Havana have held periodic
talks on the issue since 2007.
But the main hurdle to that objective is
building a consensus among all 27 EU
countries on the abolition of the common
position, which was agreed in 1996 when
the Spanish government was led by
centre-right Prime Minister José María
Aznar, who heavily influenced the
decision.
Havana complains that the common
position amounts to unacceptable
meddling in internal affairs and is an
obstacle for the full normalisation of
ties with the EU. It also says the talks
launched with the EU in 2008, after
several years of distancing between Cuba
and the European bloc, can only move
forward if the common position is
scrapped.
The CEE researcher writes that with the
common position, the EU basically joined
"the U.S. blockade (as the nearly
five-decade embargo is called in Cuba),
but in the elegant style of the
Europeans."
Another article in Granma accused the
European Parliament of "openly calling
on European governments to intensify
their subversive activities and on their
embassies in Havana to get even further
involved in encouraging, supporting and
financing the mercenaries" - the term
used by the government to refer to
dissidents in Cuba.
"The resolution brazenly calls for
cooperation projects between the
European Commission and Cuba to be used
for subversive purposes," says the
lengthy article by Javier Rodríguez, a
journalist with the Cuban news agency
Prensa Latina, published Mar. 12 in
Granma.
As part of the process of normalisation
of ties, Cuba and the EU relaunched
bilateral cooperation in 2008, after the
bloc lifted the diplomatic sanctions it
had adopted when 75 dissidents received
lengthy jail terms on charges of
conspiring with Washington to
destabilise the Cuban state, and three
men convicted of hijacking a passenger
ferry were executed, in 2003.
Of the original group of 75, 53 are
still in prison. The others were
released on health grounds.
Laura Pollán, one of the spokespersons
for the Ladies in White, told IPS that
26 of the 53 are in poor health.
Dissident Guillermo Fariñas, who has
been on a hunger strike since Feb. 24 in
Santa Clara, 300 km from the capital, is
demanding the release of the 26
prisoners.
Fariñas has been hospitalised since Mar.
11.
"We don't agree with hunger strikes,
because what matters is life, and we
must fight for it. But we respect his
decision," Pollán remarked to
journalists. |
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