EU moving to scrap Cuba sanctions
PHILIPPA RUNNER - euobserver.com
EU states are nearing a deal to permanently lift sanctions on Cuba despite protests from human rights activists and hundreds of political prisoners remaining in jail."The time could be right because of changes undertaken by Cuba's new leadership," an EU diplomat told Reuters ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers on the topic on June 16. "Sanctions could possibly be lifted...we are working on finding the exact formula," another diplomat said. The EU is seeking ways to work with the new regime in Cuba (Photo: wikipedia)The EU froze high-level diplomatic relations with Havana in 2003 after the jailing of 75 dissidents and the execution of three people trying to flee to the US. The EU measures were temporarily suspended in 2005 and are reviewed every six months.The shift in climate comes after president Raoul Castro took over from his brother Fidel in February, lifting restrictions on islanders buying mobile phones and computers and giving more room for political debate. In a sign of the times, leading dissident Hector Palacios on Tuesday told AP that he plans to return from exile to Cuba to resume opposition work as he no longer fears arrest. "Change is going to happen," Mr Palacios said. The European Commission and Spain are leading the push to end EU sanctions for good to encourage further reforms. But the Czech Republic wants rules obliging future EU delegations to raise human rights concerns and meet opposition groups. Opposition NGO Agenda for Transition in an open letter to Brussels on Tuesday said that a premature sanctions move would "punish" pro-democracy activists, who continue to face beatings and intimidation with over 200 prisoners of conscience still behind bars. "What the [Cuban] government wants is for the opposition to be ignored so it can continue its human rights violations without even a single rebuke from the European Union," the letter said, AFP reports.A joint message from the EU-US summit in Slovenia on Tuesday saw the two powers "urge the [Cuban] government to...demonstrate its commitment [to civil rights charters] by unconditionally releasing all political prisoners."EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner also said on the fringe of the Slovenia event that "human rights issues are very important ones and there are still a lot of political detainees there."But the US, which has enforced a crippling trade embargo on Cuba since 1962, is taking a tougher line by calling for a mass release of the prisoners before relations can improve."If the Castro administration really is different, the first way to show that difference to the world is to free the political prisoners," US president George Bush said in his post-summit speech.
España presiona a la UE para levantar las sanciones a Cuba http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=517259&idseccio_PK=1008,
La República Checa cree todavía prematuro suprimir las 'sanciones' a Cuba http://actualidad.terra.es/nacional/articulo/republica-checa-cuba-2535191.htm,
Cuban dissidents warn EU about lifting sanctions
AFP-eubusiness.com(HAVANA) - Cuban dissidents warned the European Union Tuesday that by permanently lifting its economic sanctions on Cuba, it would "punish" all Cubans and instigate more human rights violations on the island.The EU next week will review the sanctions it imposed on Cuba in 2003 for its jailing of 75 dissidents and which were suspended two years later at Spain's request. "What the (Cuban) government wants is for the opposition to be ignored so it can continue its human rights violations without even a single rebuke from the European Union," Agenda for Transition leaders Martha Beatriz Roque and Vladimiro Roca wrote in a letter.The new dissident group said that any process to normalize relations between the EU and Cuba "must take into account the Cuban people, to whom the dissidents belong."Otherwise, it would mean punishing all of civilian society and especially those of us who are fighting for democracy."Cuba wants all EU sanctions dropped before normal relations can be restored, but the EU is a few members short of the unanimous vote required for the permanent lifting of the sanctions. The holdouts include the Czech Republic.Opposition groups here stress that Cuba still holds more than 200 political prisoners, including 55 of those jailed in the 2003 crackdown that triggered the EU sanctions.They also said the harassment, beating and detention of dissidents continues unabated.
RADIO MARTI ENTREVISTA A CALEB MCCARRY TRAS DECLARACION CONJUNTA DE EE. UU. Y LA UNION EUROPEA SOBRE CUBA
http://www.martinoticias.com/ocbstory.asp?MediaID=53780,
La verdad de frente al mundo
Jóvenes cubanos exigen la liberación inmediata de nuestros cinco hermanos presos en cárceles del imperio, en la Tribuna Abierta de protesta contra el injusto veredicto ratificado por la Corte de Atlanta http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2008-06-11/la-verdad-de-frente-al-mundo/,
Declaration by Cuban Youth
Youth of the World:
Cuban youth condemns the injustice that is being committed against our five compatriots, unfairly being held in U.S. prisons for the “crime” of defending their people from terrorism.The visceral hatred of the United States government for our Socialist Revolution and its obsession to make us surrender to them have once again been expressed with the confirmation of the guilty verdicts by a panel of three judges of the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta against Gerardo Hernández, Fernando González, Ramón Labañino, René González and Antonio Guerrero.The panel has decided that the case must be returned to Miami, the place where the initial trial should never have taken place, so that Judge Joan Lenard, the same judge who, in 2001, passed the unfair sentences that our five brothers are enduring today, should be in charge of holding a hearing to impose new sentences on three of them.This decision has been taken at a time when the U.S. government, spurred on by the Cuban-American mafia of Miami, continues with its manoeuvres to protect the infamous international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, refusing to charge him and try him as a terrorist or to extradite him for the crimes he has committed against our people and those of other nations. This fact clearly demonstrates the two-faced nature of U.S. policy in its so-called fight against terrorism.Cuban youth recognizes the heroic demeanour maintained by Gerardo, Fernando, Ramón, René and Antonio throughout a decade of unfair and cruel imprisonment, and it supports the dignified attitude of their families, whom we admire, love and consider as our own.Some years ago, Fidel stated: “Imperialism has tried to strangle and force the Cuban people to their knees, but we shall not renounce our objectives and increasingly we shall continue to struggle more resolutely while upholding our demand for justice so that those five innocent men are released and returned to their homeland”. We reaffirm our commitment with the struggle that all our people are waging for the return of our five brothers, convinced that they will return, and we appeal to all the youth of the world, men and women of good will and a sense of justice, and to the student and youth organizations of the planet to demand immediate freedom for our five brothers being held prisoner in the jails of the Empire.Let us all rise up before the infamy which is being perpetrated against the five Cuban anti-terrorist combatants!DOWN WITH TERRORISM!DOWN WITH IMPERIALISM!PRISON FOR LUIS POSADA CARRILES!FREEDOM NOW FOR THE CUBAN FIVE!HOMELAND OR DEATH. WE SHALL OVERCOME!
Alfabetización: primeras luces del ALBA
Agradecen a Cuba su solidaridad y aporte desinteresado en los programas de alfabetización de 28 países, especialmente Venezuela, Nicaragua y Bolivia http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2008-06-11/alfabetizacion-primeras-luces-del-alba/,
Some Cuban emigrants return to island to live
Whether for financial or family reasons or just plain homesickness, a growing number of Cuban emigrants are returning to the island. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/565667.html,
¡¿Otra vez Batista?!
Por: Ernesto Limia Díaz
En los últimos tiempos, desde las páginas de El Nuevo Herald de Miami están tratando de ensalzar la figura de Fulgencio Batista y hasta han aseverado que los asesinatos cometidos por el sargento devenido vertiginosamente general desde su arribo al poder, en 1933, son una «leyenda». Cuentan que un Batista casi «poeta» escribió en 1965: «desde el fondo de mi alma grita la voz de la historia». Nos quieren estafar y, para ello, apuestan al olvido que suponen provocaron los 50 años transcurridos desde su fuga y el surgimiento en Cuba de varias generaciones. Es lógico que los «nuevos eruditos» se sumen a esa campaña, porque en Miami aún mandan los batistianos y su mafia. http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/opinion/2008-06-11/otra-vez-batista/,
President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with Slovenian Prime Minister Janša and European Commission President Barroso http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080610-10.html,
2008 U.S. - EU Summit Declaration http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080610-8.html,
Nuevo sistema de pago por resultados http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2008/06/11/nacional/artic02.html,
INTELLIGENCE
Cuba allows 'change' only to hold on to power http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/564416.html,
From Che to Chávez
The Venezuelan president's appeal to the Farc to end five decades of guerrilla war is a historic gesture that deserves a positive response
Richard Gott http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/09/venezuela.colombia,
Leading dissident plans to return to Cuba
By DANICA COTO
Associated Press Writer
A leading Cuban dissident said Tuesday that he plans to return to the communist-run island after a nearly two-year absence to fight for the freedom of political prisoners.Hector Palacios, who was in Puerto Rico for a two-day visit, told reporters that he and his wife Gisela Delgado - also a Cuban dissident - would soon travel back to their Caribbean homeland to resume leadership of his outlawed opposition group, Liberal Unity.Palacios, 66, was incarcerated in 2003 on charges of undermining Cuba's communist system. He was released on medical parole in December 2006, cutting short a 25-year prison sentence."We want a country where people can live in peace," Palacios said Tuesday, adding that he is willing to meet with President Raul Castro, who succeeded his elder brother, Fidel, in February. "Change is going to happen."Palacios said he does not fear being imprisoned again in Cuba and that he looks forward to helping liberate the roughly 230 political prisoners he claims are on the island.It will be a hard fight, Palacios said."There's one obstacle," he said. "Fidel is alive."Palacios was among 75 dissidents rounded up in March 2003 on charges they were U.S. mercenaries working to undermine Cuba's communist system - accusations the activists and Washington denied. The Cuban crackdown was protested by governments and rights organizations across the globe.His 2006 release from prison because of heart and respiratory problems marked the first high-profile release since Fidel Castro ceded power to his younger brother, who has implemented a series of reforms since taking over the government.U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday called on Raul Castro to free all political prisoners, speaking in Slovenia during a U.S.-European Union summit.The Cuban government says it holds no prisoners of conscience, only common criminals, and typically characterizes political opponents as mercenaries and traitors.
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