EU
kowtows to US on Cuba
The
following EU press statement was issued on 5 June 2003:
“Following the recent
deplorable actions of the Cuban authorities aiming not only at violating
fundamental freedoms in Cuba, but also at depriving civilians of the ultimate
human right, that of life, the EU regrets that the Cuban authorities broke the
de-facto moratorium on the death penalty and wishes to inform the international
community that on 5 June it addressed the following demarche to the Cuban
authorities:
‘The EU, deeply
concerned about the continuing flagrant violation of human rights and of
fundamental freedoms of members of the Cuban opposition and of independent
journalists, being deprived of their freedom for having expressed freely their
opinion, calls once again the Cuban authorities to release immediately all
political prisoners.
‘While expecting a
favourable response from the Cuban authorities, the EU, mindful of increasing
reports about poor detention conditions of prisoners with serious health problems,
appeals to the Cuban authorities that, in the meantime, the prisoners do not
suffer unduly and are not exposed to inhumane treatment.’
“Furthermore and
vis-à-vis the current situation in Cuba, the EU has unanimously decided to:
-
limit the bilateral high-level governmental
visits
-
reduce the profile of member states'
participation in cultural events
-
invite Cuban dissidents at national days
celebrations
-
proceed to the re-evaluation of the EU common
position.”
The
issuing of this “demarche” was the latest in a series of protests to Cuba by
the EU sparked by the execution in March of three men, who hijacked a ship off
Cuba to take it to Florida. The Cuban
Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a spirited statement in response on 11 June,
which suggested that the real reason for it was a desire on the part of the EU
to make up with the US, after recent disagreements over Iraq:
“They are very conscious in Europe
that their decision to join in the U.S. government’s attacks against Cuba will
be seen as more proof of their contrition and repentance over the differences
that arose over the war in Iraq between “Old Europe” – as Mr Rumsfeld called it
– and the imperial Nazi-fascist government which is trying to impose a
dictatorship on the rest of the world.”
The Cuban
Government is probably right. Recently,
the EU has also joined with the US in threatening Iran for daring to consider
developing nuclear weapons, that is, weapons of self-defence, to prevent the
Anglo-Saxon wolves falling upon it, like they did upon its neighbour.
US
executions
One
wonders how many “demarches” the EU has issued to the US authorities about the
infringements of the right to life itself, which occur on a regular basis in
the US. As the Cuban Foreign Office said:
“Cuba will not go into great
detail about the extraordinary reasons, explained more than once, that forced
it to take energetic measures against three armed hijackers who had criminal
records, who threatened to kill dozens of hostages, including several European
tourists.
“Cuba has never heard a word from
the European Union condemning the death penalty in the United States. It has
never seen the European Union spearhead a motion in the Commission on Human
Rights condemning the United States for inflicting the death penalty on minors,
the mentally ill and foreigners who were denied their right to meet with their
consuls. Cuba has never heard the European Union criticize the 71 executions
that took place in the United States last year, including the executions of two
women. Why does the European Union condemn the death penalty in Cuba and not in
the United States?”
And, they
might have added, why does the EU not protest at the thousands of entirely
innocent Iraqis that have been killed by US military action in recent months?
US prisoners
without trial
The US
gained control of Cuba after the Spanish-American war of 1898, and maintained
control until the revolution. During
its period of control, the US established a military base at Guantanamo, which
it still holds on to today, despite the revolution. The base is under US control, but it is not part of the US and
therefore not governed according the constitution and laws of the US. It has therefore been an ideal location for
holding prisoners without trial.
It is a
bit rich therefore that the EU should protest against the violation of “fundamental
freedoms” practised by the Cuban Government while remaining absolutely silent
about the violation of these freedoms being practised by the US in a piece of
Cuba, which it holds on to by imperial fiat.
The Cuban Foreign Office did not fail to point this out:
“Cuba will not repeat the
arguments it has used over and over again. It will only point out that it has
never heard the European Union say one word of censure about the hundreds of
prisoners – some of whom are Europeans – who the United States is holding, in
violation of the most basic norms about human rights, in the naval base in
Guantanamo, which they force on us against our will.
“The European Union has never said
a word about the thousands of prisoners that the United States has kept locked
up since September 11, often simply because of the way they looked or because
they are Muslims. These people do not enjoy even the most basic legal
safeguards, nor have they been tried and their names have not even been
published.”
The statement blames Prime
Minister Aznar of Spain for this increase in antagonism towards Cuba from the
EU, saying:
“Mr Aznar, obsessed with punishing
Cuba and now a minor ally of the Yankee imperial government, has been the
person mainly responsible for the fact that the European Union has not
developed an independent and objective approach to Cuba and today is the man
mainly responsible for its traitorous escalation in aggression, just when our
little island has become the peoples’ symbol of resistance to the threat that
the United States may impose a Nazi-fascist tyranny on the rest of the world,
including European peoples – who were recently unrecognised and humiliated when
their stalwart opposition to the war in Iraq was ignored – and even on the
American people themselves. …
“How can
we explain Mr Aznar’s interest in ‘promoting democracy in Cuba’ if he was the
first and only European head of government to support the fascist coup in
Venezuela and offer his ‘support and availability’ to the ephemeral ‘president’
of the Venezuelan coup?”
The latter is a reference to the military coup against Hugo Chavez on 11 April 2002, which was reversed after two days. Aznar was in good company: the coup was also approved of in Washington.
Aznar is also blamed for the EU
caving in to the US in 1997 over the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity
Act (1996), better known as the Helms-Burton Act. Earlier, in 1992, after the
Soviet bloc broke up and Cuba became economically vulnerable as a result, the
US tightened its embargo on Cuba by passing the Cuban Democracy Act. It was hoped that, without Soviet help, the
embargo would bring down the Castro government and the United States would be
able to re-establish its profitable ventures in Cuba after a lapse of over 40
years.
But this Act, which forbade
companies owned or operated by US nationals to trade with Cuba, merely
disadvantaged the US, since foreign companies were able to do business
there. An international embargo was
needed, and that is why the Helms-Burton was passed in 1996. It attempted to force foreign companies not
to have economic dealings with Cuba, by allowing them to be sued in the US if
they did.
The Helms-Burton Act is contrary
to the rules of the WTO (and NAFTA).
Initially, the EU took a case to the WTO about it. However, the case was withdrawn in 1997
after US promised that EU nationals would not be proceeded against. So, the EU went along with the US attempt to
throttle Cuba economically, contrary to international trade rules, as long as
their nationals are OK.
Now the EU is lining up with the
US against Cuba again.
Labour & Trade Union Review
July 2003