Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-16-Speech-2-144"
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"en.20041116.12.2-144"2
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"Mr President, to the things I condemned yesterday in this very House – that is to say, the obscure backroom manoeuvres of the Spanish Government aimed at reducing the sanctions imposed by the European Union on the Castro regime – I can now add the media manipulation of the results of the meeting of the European Council’s Committee on Latin America, which at no point has reduced the sanctions imposed on the regime in 2003.
Those sanctions – I would remind certain confused Members – were not implemented by the ‘hordes’ of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, but during the Greek Socialist Government’s Presidency of the Union.
What has the Castro regime done over the last year to be thrown such an unexpected and generous lifeline? The answer is simple: nothing. Or rather it has imprisoned and tortured more opponents and isolated the Cuban population even further, moving them further away from our dream: a free and democratic Cuba.
I do not intend to give up on that dream and I know that many members of other groups in this Parliament, including the Socialist Group, will not do so either. This Parliament has always been a model and a pioneer in defence of human rights and at this critical time it must demonstrate that it will not throw in its lot with a corrupt dictator in full decline nor be carried along by the collaborationism of certain Members who have always been manipulated by that dictatorship.
The democratic model of co-existence on the island and the hope of a peaceful political transition which will give Cuba and its people the important role on the international stage they have always deserved must win out today. In order to achieve that aim, it is essential that all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Castro’s jails be released immediately, that the torture and execution of dissidents cease immediately, that there be free dialogue amongst all the parties and the recognition by the regime that it is they who are isolated rather than the brave people of Cuba who are calling for freedom.
I would call on all my fellow Members to share this dream with me and I hope that we will all wake up one day soon to a free Cuba in control of its own destiny."@en1
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