#EUCubaAgreement: Respect for human rights and individual freedoms must be at its core

The Foreign Affairs Council will today (12 December) herald a new agreement between the European Union and Cuba aiming to open a new era of relations that includes cooperation in the fight against drugs and criminality, the preservation of  cultural heritage and social development. 

Ahead of this signature, ALDE Group 2nd Vice President, Pavel Telicka, initiated a meeting of over 30 organizations of the peaceful Cuban opposition movement, both from the island as well as in exile, including Sakharov Prize winner Guillermo Farinas. During a 2-days meeting in Florida these opposition representatives discussed the future of Cuba and perspectives for relations with the EU, including the details of the new agreement.

At the conclusion of this meeting the participants adopted a joint statement which formulates six requests to be fulfilled by the government in Havana. At the end of the meetings, Pavel Telicka said: “I believe that an EU-Cuba co-operation agreement may open new space for improved relations, but the European Union must keep human rights and fundamental freedoms at the core of this agreement and substantial improvement must become a pre-condition in the talks with the Cuban government as well as conditional to economic concessions from the EU side.

"I urge the High Representative, Federica Mogherini, to recognize that there is a political opposition to the Government and not "just" human rights defenders, and to engage with this opposition and to listen to their voice before having this agreement ratified and implemented. If we want Cuba to become a modern country, this process must begin with the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms by its government.”

The Cuban opposition issued a common statement, calling on the EU and its member states to condition the ratification of the agreement on six requests (see below) to be fulfilled by the government in Havana.

Request from Cuban democratic opposition groups to the European Union on the occasion of the signature of the political dialogue and co-operation agreement between the EU and Cuba

December 9, 2016
 
Dear High Representative Mogherini,

We commend the European Union´s interest in forging ties with Cuba, our country. As part of Cuba’s opposition movement, we are in close contact with the
citizenry and very familiar with its needs. Our work seeks to attain by peaceful means all fundamental human rights denied to our people for over half a century.

The Cuban government is responsible for the imprisonment of tens of thousands of dissenters, of thousands of extrajudicial killings and executions, and of the exile of millions of Cubans. Violent repression is persistent and intensifies daily. There is no need to elaborate on the crimes of communism in our country, as many EU members are countries that suffered the horrors of these regimes and other forms of totalitarianism. For Europe to ignore the plight of the Cuban people is to turn its back on its own history.  

We share and uphold the same values of respect for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law on which the European Union is founded.

Regrettably, these values are not reflected in the Cooperation Agreement recently negotiated with the Cuban government.   We are not opposed to an agreement between our country and the EU that could benefit our nations, but we must reject the content of the recently negotiated Agreement for lacking conditions allowing the Cuban people to exercise individual and collective freedoms.  

Our concerns extend to the Cuban government’s abuse of European citizens. In recent history, it has perpetrated confiscations against EU investors, subjecting them to manipulated legal processes and expelling them from Cuba. It has also forbidden entry into Cuba, for political reasons, of members of your Parliament as well as of political representatives from your member states.  

We ask that all entities of the European Union condition the ratification and implementation of the Cooperation Agreement with Cuba to the following concrete steps, that are conducive to a democratic transition in Cuba:  
 
1. Free and full access for the Cuban population to information in all forms, including the internet.
 
2. The exercise by Cuba’s citizens of their right to choose a democratic and pluralistic system of government and to hold free elections.  
 
3. Ratification by Cuba of the International Covenants on Human Rights.
 
4. The end of political repression and violent practices by Cuba against members of the peaceful opposition movement and regular citizens as well as of abuses against European nationals.
 
5. The right for Cuban citizens to enter into joint investment ventures with citizens or companies from the European Union, and the right of the enterprises they form to attain legal status and to import and export directly.

6. Respect of the Arcos Principles, the modality of the Sullivan Principles for Cuba, by companies and individuals from the EU conducting business in Cuba, in order to preclude their participation in discriminatory, exploitative, or repressive practices.     
 
We await your favorable consideration of our request.
 
     

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