Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-10-Speech-4-130"
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"en.20030410.7.4-130"2
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"Mr President, Oswaldo Payá, winner of the 2002 Sakharov Prize, stated in this very Chamber that thousands of his countrymen and women are fighting for their rights in the midst of persecution. He also stated that hundreds of his fellow citizens had been imprisoned for claiming and defending those rights. The situation in Cuba remains unchanged. Amongst those arrested and sentenced in the last wave of repression are human rights defenders and peaceful dissidents. Many of them were members of the Christian Liberation Movement, and involved in the Varela Project. Independent journalists such as Raúl Rivero were also targeted. This gentleman is 57 years of age and received a 20-year prison sentence. Others sentenced include Omar Rodríguez, a photographer, who received a 27-year sentence and another journalist, Víctor Rolando Arroyo, sentenced to 26 years in prison.
Mr President, it is no accident that Cuba is the only Latin American country not linked to the European Union by virtue of an association or cooperation agreement. These regrettable events illustrate why this is so. Sadly, the events took place just as the European Commission opened a representation in Havana, and when our institutions and many Members of this House were favourably disposed towards extending participation in the Cotonou Agreement to include Cuba. I urge the Commissioner to condemn these events and further, to state the conclusions the Commission intends to draw from them.
For all these reasons, Mr President, I believe Parliament must first reject and strongly condemn these events, as provided for by the joint resolution. Parliament has to stand firm and continue to insist on freedom as a prerequisite. Secondly, Parliament must express its solidarity with all those fighting for their freedom and dignity inside Cuba. To paraphrase Oswaldo Payá, they feel no hate in their hearts as they fight, but no fear of their oppressors either."@en1
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