Speech at the seminar on "Democracy in Cuba" Brussels 2005-06-02Cecilia Malmström
Europaparlamentariker (fp)
Democracy in Cuba
My friend Hector Palacios is sick, very sick. The doctors fear for his life. His blood pressure is high, his circulation is bad and his has had several heart complications. He is now at the hospital in the prison of Combinados
del Este.
Hector is 63 years old and he is condemned to 25 years of prison. He is one of the 75 dissidents arrested in the last crack down by the Cuban regime in March 2003. Hector´s crime was arguing for freedom and democracy.
Hector Palacios is a well-known dissident in Cuba. He is the founder of Todos Unidos and a keen promoter of the Varela project. His wife, Gisela Delgado, is the director of the movement of independent libraries, las Bibliotecas Independientes. "There are no forbidden books in Cuba"; said Fidel Castro when asked at a bookfair in Havana in 1998, "it is just that we have no money to buy books". Yes there is little to read in the island, except for the collected speeches of the dictator. So the movement of independent libraries started and grew to 80 small bibliotecas all over Cuba, mainly in private homes. Books were brought in by tourists, NGOs, friends or sent to embassies for distribution. They were read and carefully studies by a people hungry for news and information from the outside world. It is said that the most popular book is 1984 by George Orwell.
All the books in Gisela's and Hector´s home were confiscated by the police that evening of the 20 March 2003. Hector was arrested and brought to prison. He got 25 years after a trial far from filling international norms.
Many of the other dissidents also suffer from diseases, malnutrition and critical health conditions. Although ten prisoners have been released, nothing has really changed in the Cuban policy. There are still around 70 prisoners arrested in March 2003, condemned to sentences between 15 and 30 years, a total of 1456 years! The arrested were journalists, librarians, and members of political parties or think tanks. Today Cuba is the world's second biggest prison for journalists.
The prisoners are often places in small and crowdy cells, far away from their families. Food is insufficient, health conditions are poor and the hygienic situation is horrible.
The crime these people have committed is to promote another Cuba, where democracy, human rights, freedom of speech and rule of law reigns The have all used peaceful means, promoting dialogue and acting in full transparency. But to Castro they are dangerous and must be silenced.
Bu introducing the diplomatic embargo and opening the embassies to the dissidents, EU showed its support to the prisoners, their families and the millions of Cubans who dream of another Cuba. But by changing that common position, and asking nothing in return, the European Union have let them down - Hector, Adolfo, Oswaldo, Antonio, Felix and the others have been abandoned. WE who live in democracy, who can and should voice concerns over the Cuban dictatorship, we have failed to stand up to what we believe in. Almost six months after the decision of the European council, there has been no improvement in Cuba. Our friends are still in prison, freedom of expression is still not allowed, and all criticism is considered to be illegal and contra revolutionary. There are no free elections, no opposition is allowed and every district has a special surveillance committee, guarding over the neighbourhood, reporting suspect behaviour to the police. Poverty and despair is growing.
The Cuban people have the right to democracy, freedom and a better life. The European Union is basing our actions on the defence of certain values - freedom. democracy and human rights. But now we have failed to support those values in Cuba and the Cuban people are paying the prize. And in the meantime, Hector might be dying.