EFA MEPS POINT OUT OPPORTUNITIES IN EU-CUBA RELATIONS AFTER THE VISIT OF HIGH REPRESENTATIVE TO THE ISLAND

EFA President Jordi Solé and MEP Ana Miranda intervened in the plenary to express their concern about the situation taking place in Cuba and to welcome the future opportunities that the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and the island offers.

“Cuba is going through one of the worst crises in the last decades. It is experiencing a fuel shortage, inflation and a huge wave of migration”, Jordi Solé said.

MEP Solé pointed out the U.S. Embargo as one of the causes of the poor situation that the island is going through, but that it does not explain everything.

MEP Miranda also criticized the American blockade explaining that this situation has only worsened since 2019 with the implementation of new measures by President Trump.

“The U.S. blockade of Cuba is unacceptable, unfair and inhumane”, she said

“During the pandemic, the blockade was directed against imports to Cuba, by prohibiting them, and, in particular, prevented the importation of lung ventilators and the importation of oxygen from third countries, and measures were taken against the industrial scaling of vaccine production Cuban”, she added

In that regard, the Galician MEP also expressed the solidarity of Galiza with the Cuban people and criticized the nature of the measures designed to:

“Hurt the economy and generate humanitarian damage”, she concluded.

Meanwhile, the Catalan MEP, Jordi Solé, criticized the stand of the Cuban government regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as the poor situation of human rights in the Caribbean nation, with political prisoners and restrictions on fundamental freedoms.

Both MEP Ana Miranda and MEP Solé valued positively the opportunities of building stronger tights with the Island.

EFA´s group leader expressed that although there are big challenges to overcome, there are also opportunities in the framework of political dialogue and cooperation, paving the way for reforms and openings in the economic and institutional fields as well as promoting the discussion of matters as important as human rights. 

“The way of agreement is complex and requires perseverance and effort from everyone, but given the context, this is our best alternative, especially taking into account our renewed aspiration to increase our relations with Latin America and the Caribbean”, he concluded.