6-28-07, 11:54 am

Statement By The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba On The Conclusions of the External Relations Council of The European Union About Cuba

The Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the European Union adopted several decisions on Cuba last 18 June.

The document, released by the European Union under the title 'Conclusions on Cuba,' contains a proposal for 'a comprehensive and open political dialogue with the Cuban authorities on the basis of reciprocity and mutual interest,' of which the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken note and considers it to be a necessary rectification.

However, such document does not mention the so-called sanctions that the European Union tried to enforce on Cuba, in an unjust and thoughtless manner, in 2003 and which it has only maintained 'in abeyance' for two years now out of haughtiness.

With Cuba, a dialogue will only be possible if between sovereign and equal partners, without any conditions or impending threats. If the European Union wishes to engage in any dialogue with Cuba, it must definitely eliminate those sanctions, which since then have turned out to be impracticable and unsustainable.

The 'Conclusions' also failed to mention the so-called 'Common Position,' agreed upon in a hasty fashion by the Ministers of Finance of the EU in 1996 under the pressure of Aznar and based on a draft written at the US State Department.

After so many mistakes and failures, the only obvious conclusion that the European Union should fittingly draw is that the so-called 'Common Position' must disappear, since there were no and there are no reasons whatsoever for its existence and because it hinders any normal, mutually respectful relationship of common interest with our country.

It must be recognized that a group of influential European nations have endeavored to change this ludicrous situation. Others, such as the Czech Republic, have confirmed to be American pawns on the European map.

On the other hand, the 'Conclusions of the Council' slanderously meddle with matters that are of Cuba's strict concern, pass judgment and announce intrusive and hypocritical actions that Cuba regards as offensive and unacceptable, while strongly rejecting them.

We do not recognize any moral authority in the European Union to pass judgment on or advise Cuba.

If when the Council refers to the temporary transfer of President Fidel Castro's duties to comrade Ral Castro, regarding it as a 'new situation,' it is expressing the illusion that there may be contradictions or differences among the leaders of the Revolution and division among Cuban revolutionaries, it is wrong once again. The Revolution is more solid and is more united than ever before.

Our country has risked its own existence, has shown heroic endurance and has relentlessly fought for over a century in order to defend its independence. Cuba is an independent and sovereign country and the European Union makes a mistake if it believes that it can treat it differently and not as an equal.

The European Union has shown a persistent and humiliating subordination to the United States, which renders it incapable of holding positions based on European interests and turns it into an accessory, despite references to the contrary, to the ruthless and inhumane blockade that the US enforces against the Cuban people, and about which the 'Conclusions' did not even dare say a single word. In the declaration from the Summit that it held last April with the United States, the European Union yielded to them to question Cuba and accepted a reference that acknowledges legitimacy to the 'Bush Plan.' Known are its collusions with the Empire's envoys, even with the spurious inspector appointed by the United States for Cuba, and frequent is the presence of its officials at anti-Cuban rallies and events in Miami or held in Europe but budgeted from Washington.

The European Union is shamelessly hypocritical when unjustly talking about Cuba while keeping silence on the US-led tortures at the illegal Naval Base of Guantnamo, which encroaches on Cuban territory, and at Abu Ghraib, where these are even administered to European citizens. It impudently remains silent on the kidnappings by the US special forces in third countries and has offered its territory to cooperate with the CIA's secret flights and to harbor illegal prisons. Nor has it said anything about the tens of persons who have disappeared under such circumstances or about the hundreds of thousands of civilians murdered in Iraq.

It is up to the European Union to rectify the mistakes made in respect of Cuba. Any step in the right direction will be aptly welcome. But there is no rush: we have all the time in the world.

Havana, 22 June 2007