EU must rectify errors...
posted by F Espinoza | 27.06.2007 09:17 | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | London
With Cuba, the only dialogue possible is one between sovereign and equal parties, without any conditions or pending threats...
It is the European Union that must rectify errors committed against Cuba.
• Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on
conclusions reached by the European Union’s External Relations Council regarding Cuba
The European Union’s Council of Foreign Ministers adopted several decisions on June 18 regarding Cuba.
A document published by the European Union (EU) titled "Conclusions on Cuba" contains a proposal for "comprehensive and open political dialogue with the Cuban authorities on all topics of mutual interest," which the Cuban Foreign Minister has noted, considering it a much-needed rectification.
However, the abovementioned document does not refer to the so-called sanctions that the EU attempted to impose on Cuba, unjustly and rashly, in 2003 and which for two years, out of arrogance, it maintains as "suspended" only.
With Cuba, the only dialogue possible is one between sovereign and equal parties, without any conditions or pending threats. If the EU wants a dialogue with Cuba, it must completely eliminate those sanctions, which have been inapplicable and unsustainable.
The "Conclusions" also do not mention the so-called "Common Position" reached hastily by the financial ministers of the EU in 1996, under pressure by Aznar and based on a draft written in the U.S. State Department.
After so many errors and failures, the only obvious conclusion the EU should reach is that its so-called "Common Position" should disappear, because there neither was nor is any reason whatsoever for its existence, and because it is an obstacle to normal, mutually respectful relations of common interest with our country.
It should be acknowledged that a group of influential European nations has made efforts to change this ridiculous situation. Others, like the Czech Republic, have devoted themselves to being U.S. peons on the European map.
In addition, the "Council Conclusions" meddle, in a slanderous way, in strictly internal Cuban affairs; they issue judgments and announce interventionist and hypocritical actions that Cuba considers to be offensive and unacceptable and rejects energetically.
We do not recognize any moral authority whatsoever on the part of the European Union to judge or advise Cuba.
If, in alluding to President Fidel Castro’s temporary delegation of duties to comrade Raúl Castro and calling it "a new situation," they are expressing the illusion that contradictions or differences exist between the Revolution’s leaders or that Cuba’s revolutionaries are divided, they are wrong again. The Revolution is more solid and more united than ever.
Our country has risked its very existence; it has waged heroic resistance and has fought tirelessly for more than a century to defend its independence. Cuba is an independent and sovereign country, and the European Union is mistaken if it thinks that it can treat Cuba in any way other than as an equal.
The European Union has shown persistent and humiliating subordination to the United States, rendering it incapable of holding positions based on European interests and making it an accomplice — though it says otherwise — to the criminal and inhumane blockade imposed by that country on the Cuban people, something about which the "Conclusions" does not dare to say a single word. In a statement from the summit it held in April with the United States, the European Union bowed down, questioning Cuba and accepting a motion that gave legitimacy to the "Bush Plan." Its secret meetings with messengers from the empire are well-known, including with the illegitimate administrator appointed for Cuba by the United States, and its officials are often present in anti-Cuban events in Miami or held in Europe but budgeted in Washington.
The European Union is shamefully hypocritical when it unjustly addresses Cuba but remains silent about the torture carried out by the United States on its illegal naval base in Guantánamo, which usurps Cuban territory, and Abu Ghraib, which is even used against European citizens. It remains silent, with impunity, about the kidnappings of individuals by the U.S. special services in third countries, and it has provided its territory for collaborating with secret CIA flights and for sheltering illegal prisons. It has not said anything either about the dozens of people who have disappeared under those circumstances, nor about the hundreds of thousands of civilians murdered in Iraq.
It is the European Union that must rectify errors committed against Cuba. Every step in the right direction will be appropriately welcomed. But there is no hurry: we have all the time in the world.
Havana, June 22, 2007
Human Rights Council discontinues mandate against Cuba
• Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
AT the end of its 5th Session in Geneva, the Human Rights Council decided to discontinue the mandate of the so-called personal representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in relation to Cuba, thus putting an end to the U.S. government’s manipulation of the human rights issue against our country.
This decision of the body that replaced the discredited Human Rights Commission constitutes a historic victory in our people’s struggle to seek justice and put an end to the anti-Cuban operation conceived of by the United States precisely as a pretext for maintaining and exacerbating its genocidal policy of blockade and aggression of Cuba.
With this decision, the Human Rights Council has acknowledged the unjust, selective and discriminatory nature of the actions perpetrated against our country over decades, and given its vigorous denial to the resolutions and mechanisms that the U.S. government managed to impose in the now-expired Human Rights Commission (HRC) by using coercion, threats and heavy pressure.
The backing of members of the Non-Aligned Movement and other Third World countries has been essential in achieving this result. Even the European Union countries, constant allies of the United States in its actions against Cuba within the framework of the former HRC, had no other option than to accept the discontinuation of the discredited mandate against Cuba as the only way of trying to give credibility to the Council, which has just completed its first year of existence.
This result constitutes an act of essential justice for the valiant and generous Cuban people, whose sons and daughters contributed to the disappearance of colonialism and apartheid in Africa, and who now, in a modest and selfless way, are devoting themselves to the fulfillment of the human rights of millions of people in 100-plus countries who receiving the solidarity of more than 42,000 Cuban doctors, nurses, teachers, sports trainers, engineers and technicians. It is an act of justice for the people who are currently educating, free of charge, more than 30,000 young students from 118 countries and have restored the sight of close to 700,000 persons from 31 countries.
It constitutes an acknowledgement of the prestige and work of Cuba and its Revolution, whose undeniable labors in promoting and protecting all human rights for everybody, and in creating a society that is constantly more just, more egalitarian and more humane, cannot be ignored or distorted.
It is a merited acknowledgement of Cuba’s defense of Third World interests, its condemnation of and resistance to U.S. pretensions of imperial domination, of the Cuba that, on its own merit, was elected a founding member of the Human Rights Council by 135 votes of more than two thirds of the UN General Assembly membership, despite pressure from the government of the United States and the European Union, both of which worked actively against the Cuban candidacy.
The result of the recently-concluded institutional construction process of the Council, despite the shortcomings and deficiencies that it continues to have, is favorable to the countries of the Third World, organized and united by the Non-Aligned Movement under the presidency of Cuba. The Movement played an active role and succeeded in placing items of particular importance for the nations of the South on the Council’s agenda, including the “situation of human rights in Palestine and the occupied Arab territories,” “the right to development,” and “racial discrimination and xenophobia.”
It now remains to be seen whether the industrialized countries that used the former HRC as an instrument for trying to impose their concepts and political vision are really disposed to work on the basis of the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity, non-selectiveness, constructive dialogue and cooperation, avoiding double standards and the politicization that led to the discredit of the expired Human Rights Commission, which became a inquisition tribunal for the countries of the South.
In its quality as president of the Non-Aligned Movement, Cuba has played an important role in this process, and will continue battling in defense of the truth, our sovereignty and the interests of the countries of the Third World.
Havana, June 19, 2007.
“Year 49 of the Revolution.”
Translated by Granma International
The U.S. has been left without pretexts for maintaining the blockade
AFTER dedicating the victory won by Cuba in the Human Rights Council to Fidel, Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque stressed that the Bush government has now been left without pretexts for maintaining the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed on the island for close to 50 years.
That brought an end to 20 years of U.S. pressure, heavy threats and instigations against Cuba in this terrain, said Pérez Roque, adding that it was a tribute of Cuban diplomacy to Vilma Espín, the recently-deceased heroine of the Revolution.
He noted that this time, pressure from Washington reached unheard-of extremes: several U.S. officials for Europe, with Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice among them; Bush himself by phone¼
But the Canadian delegation, together with the United States, Germany and the Czech Republic, remained isolated, facing a group of 26 countries, two-thirds of the Council.
The foreign minister stated that the European Union nations could not break the consensus, either, and voted in favor of Cuba.
He that it was an interesting situation that had been created by the community bloc, in its agreeing that there are no reasons to justify keeping the island under the Human Rights Council’s observation, and stated that he hoped for further steps toward rectification in the future.
In that context, he referred to the need to abolish the so-called EU common position, adopted in 1996 at the request of former head of government José María Aznar and drafted by U.S. officials, as well as the sanctions imposed in 2003 but suspended since 2005.
The new Human Rights Council, now under the presidency of Mexico, rejected that policy of persecution and pressure on Cuba, he said. He described the position of the Mexican delegation as an amicable gesture at a remove from the position assumed by the former government of that country.
He noted that the United States did not stand as a candidate for the new Council because it knew that with a secret vote it would not get the support needed for gaining a seat.
Translated by Granma International
http://www.antiterroristas.cu
http://www.freethefive.org
http://www.cubainformacion.tv
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/reflexiones/esp-007.html (Serie completa de las reflexiones de Fidel, en varios idiomas)
• Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on
conclusions reached by the European Union’s External Relations Council regarding Cuba
The European Union’s Council of Foreign Ministers adopted several decisions on June 18 regarding Cuba.
A document published by the European Union (EU) titled "Conclusions on Cuba" contains a proposal for "comprehensive and open political dialogue with the Cuban authorities on all topics of mutual interest," which the Cuban Foreign Minister has noted, considering it a much-needed rectification.
However, the abovementioned document does not refer to the so-called sanctions that the EU attempted to impose on Cuba, unjustly and rashly, in 2003 and which for two years, out of arrogance, it maintains as "suspended" only.
With Cuba, the only dialogue possible is one between sovereign and equal parties, without any conditions or pending threats. If the EU wants a dialogue with Cuba, it must completely eliminate those sanctions, which have been inapplicable and unsustainable.
The "Conclusions" also do not mention the so-called "Common Position" reached hastily by the financial ministers of the EU in 1996, under pressure by Aznar and based on a draft written in the U.S. State Department.
After so many errors and failures, the only obvious conclusion the EU should reach is that its so-called "Common Position" should disappear, because there neither was nor is any reason whatsoever for its existence, and because it is an obstacle to normal, mutually respectful relations of common interest with our country.
It should be acknowledged that a group of influential European nations has made efforts to change this ridiculous situation. Others, like the Czech Republic, have devoted themselves to being U.S. peons on the European map.
In addition, the "Council Conclusions" meddle, in a slanderous way, in strictly internal Cuban affairs; they issue judgments and announce interventionist and hypocritical actions that Cuba considers to be offensive and unacceptable and rejects energetically.
We do not recognize any moral authority whatsoever on the part of the European Union to judge or advise Cuba.
If, in alluding to President Fidel Castro’s temporary delegation of duties to comrade Raúl Castro and calling it "a new situation," they are expressing the illusion that contradictions or differences exist between the Revolution’s leaders or that Cuba’s revolutionaries are divided, they are wrong again. The Revolution is more solid and more united than ever.
Our country has risked its very existence; it has waged heroic resistance and has fought tirelessly for more than a century to defend its independence. Cuba is an independent and sovereign country, and the European Union is mistaken if it thinks that it can treat Cuba in any way other than as an equal.
The European Union has shown persistent and humiliating subordination to the United States, rendering it incapable of holding positions based on European interests and making it an accomplice — though it says otherwise — to the criminal and inhumane blockade imposed by that country on the Cuban people, something about which the "Conclusions" does not dare to say a single word. In a statement from the summit it held in April with the United States, the European Union bowed down, questioning Cuba and accepting a motion that gave legitimacy to the "Bush Plan." Its secret meetings with messengers from the empire are well-known, including with the illegitimate administrator appointed for Cuba by the United States, and its officials are often present in anti-Cuban events in Miami or held in Europe but budgeted in Washington.
The European Union is shamefully hypocritical when it unjustly addresses Cuba but remains silent about the torture carried out by the United States on its illegal naval base in Guantánamo, which usurps Cuban territory, and Abu Ghraib, which is even used against European citizens. It remains silent, with impunity, about the kidnappings of individuals by the U.S. special services in third countries, and it has provided its territory for collaborating with secret CIA flights and for sheltering illegal prisons. It has not said anything either about the dozens of people who have disappeared under those circumstances, nor about the hundreds of thousands of civilians murdered in Iraq.
It is the European Union that must rectify errors committed against Cuba. Every step in the right direction will be appropriately welcomed. But there is no hurry: we have all the time in the world.
Havana, June 22, 2007
Human Rights Council discontinues mandate against Cuba
• Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
AT the end of its 5th Session in Geneva, the Human Rights Council decided to discontinue the mandate of the so-called personal representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in relation to Cuba, thus putting an end to the U.S. government’s manipulation of the human rights issue against our country.
This decision of the body that replaced the discredited Human Rights Commission constitutes a historic victory in our people’s struggle to seek justice and put an end to the anti-Cuban operation conceived of by the United States precisely as a pretext for maintaining and exacerbating its genocidal policy of blockade and aggression of Cuba.
With this decision, the Human Rights Council has acknowledged the unjust, selective and discriminatory nature of the actions perpetrated against our country over decades, and given its vigorous denial to the resolutions and mechanisms that the U.S. government managed to impose in the now-expired Human Rights Commission (HRC) by using coercion, threats and heavy pressure.
The backing of members of the Non-Aligned Movement and other Third World countries has been essential in achieving this result. Even the European Union countries, constant allies of the United States in its actions against Cuba within the framework of the former HRC, had no other option than to accept the discontinuation of the discredited mandate against Cuba as the only way of trying to give credibility to the Council, which has just completed its first year of existence.
This result constitutes an act of essential justice for the valiant and generous Cuban people, whose sons and daughters contributed to the disappearance of colonialism and apartheid in Africa, and who now, in a modest and selfless way, are devoting themselves to the fulfillment of the human rights of millions of people in 100-plus countries who receiving the solidarity of more than 42,000 Cuban doctors, nurses, teachers, sports trainers, engineers and technicians. It is an act of justice for the people who are currently educating, free of charge, more than 30,000 young students from 118 countries and have restored the sight of close to 700,000 persons from 31 countries.
It constitutes an acknowledgement of the prestige and work of Cuba and its Revolution, whose undeniable labors in promoting and protecting all human rights for everybody, and in creating a society that is constantly more just, more egalitarian and more humane, cannot be ignored or distorted.
It is a merited acknowledgement of Cuba’s defense of Third World interests, its condemnation of and resistance to U.S. pretensions of imperial domination, of the Cuba that, on its own merit, was elected a founding member of the Human Rights Council by 135 votes of more than two thirds of the UN General Assembly membership, despite pressure from the government of the United States and the European Union, both of which worked actively against the Cuban candidacy.
The result of the recently-concluded institutional construction process of the Council, despite the shortcomings and deficiencies that it continues to have, is favorable to the countries of the Third World, organized and united by the Non-Aligned Movement under the presidency of Cuba. The Movement played an active role and succeeded in placing items of particular importance for the nations of the South on the Council’s agenda, including the “situation of human rights in Palestine and the occupied Arab territories,” “the right to development,” and “racial discrimination and xenophobia.”
It now remains to be seen whether the industrialized countries that used the former HRC as an instrument for trying to impose their concepts and political vision are really disposed to work on the basis of the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity, non-selectiveness, constructive dialogue and cooperation, avoiding double standards and the politicization that led to the discredit of the expired Human Rights Commission, which became a inquisition tribunal for the countries of the South.
In its quality as president of the Non-Aligned Movement, Cuba has played an important role in this process, and will continue battling in defense of the truth, our sovereignty and the interests of the countries of the Third World.
Havana, June 19, 2007.
“Year 49 of the Revolution.”
Translated by Granma International
The U.S. has been left without pretexts for maintaining the blockade
AFTER dedicating the victory won by Cuba in the Human Rights Council to Fidel, Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque stressed that the Bush government has now been left without pretexts for maintaining the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed on the island for close to 50 years.
That brought an end to 20 years of U.S. pressure, heavy threats and instigations against Cuba in this terrain, said Pérez Roque, adding that it was a tribute of Cuban diplomacy to Vilma Espín, the recently-deceased heroine of the Revolution.
He noted that this time, pressure from Washington reached unheard-of extremes: several U.S. officials for Europe, with Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice among them; Bush himself by phone¼
But the Canadian delegation, together with the United States, Germany and the Czech Republic, remained isolated, facing a group of 26 countries, two-thirds of the Council.
The foreign minister stated that the European Union nations could not break the consensus, either, and voted in favor of Cuba.
He that it was an interesting situation that had been created by the community bloc, in its agreeing that there are no reasons to justify keeping the island under the Human Rights Council’s observation, and stated that he hoped for further steps toward rectification in the future.
In that context, he referred to the need to abolish the so-called EU common position, adopted in 1996 at the request of former head of government José María Aznar and drafted by U.S. officials, as well as the sanctions imposed in 2003 but suspended since 2005.
The new Human Rights Council, now under the presidency of Mexico, rejected that policy of persecution and pressure on Cuba, he said. He described the position of the Mexican delegation as an amicable gesture at a remove from the position assumed by the former government of that country.
He noted that the United States did not stand as a candidate for the new Council because it knew that with a secret vote it would not get the support needed for gaining a seat.
Translated by Granma International
http://www.antiterroristas.cu http://www.freethefive.org http://www.cubainformacion.tv http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/reflexiones/esp-007.html (Serie completa de las reflexiones de Fidel, en varios idiomas)
posted by F Espinoza