CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

The Silence of the European Parliament

LEYLA CARRILLO RAMÍREZ

Memory can play a dirty trick on people, even to those most effective instruments of the policy in developed countries those who define what is good or bad, criticize and classify the deficiencies of others and consider themselves to have the right to tell others what to do, according to their own models. Judging others is not a mere pastime, but a dangerous activity performed by those wanting to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries.

Defining bad behavior can seem wonderful even to those experts in international affairs. For example, the classification by European Union institutions on the rest of the world has an equation model that is hierarchically ordered. Its member countries have been placed at the top, then allied states (regardless their mistakes), and the last place is for third world states—even when these have been recognized by the UN as the majority in the world. It´s evident that the latter must be "oriented, monitored, censured and punished, if needed.

History speaks for itself. In 1996, the EU Council imposed the Common Position, which still conditions bilateral relations to the "behavior and response of the Cuban regime." Such a position supports the US blockade, but following the European style. Campaigns against Cuba are not a new event. In 2004, 2006 and 2007, the European Parliament issued resolutions on "the situation of human rights in Cuba." So, nobody should be surprised at the Mach 11 resolution.

How is a resolution approved? It is not that easy. Deputies get familiar with those "reliable" opinions going around certain country. The US and the mainstream media exaggerate the facts, opinions by any parliament visiting the alluded country are incorporated, there are meetings with "dissidents" supported by foreign governments, transgressions are exaggerated —against those whose rights have presumably been violated or limited or received any foreign help (even from an Embassy accredited by a European country), an interconnection on the Internet, well-paid prizes or sophisticated equipment, smuggled in, so their broadcasts circulate as quickly as possible.

Thus, censures are brewed, which in 90 percent of cases go around developing countries and are endorsed in regular or urgent meetings with the European parliament depending on how serious developed nations consider they are. The only aim is to criticize the defects and failures of governments, the fullfillment of the state of right, democracy, respect for human rights, and all those things framed in the freedom of individuals and business.

Laws are linked to the goals of the developed nations: censures to stop the collaboration or help, systematic criticism to destabilize the government in their way, or creation of proper conditions to intervene—if decided on—with a more strategic resolution, which is passed to the UN Security Council for its approval. (1)

The resolution against Cuba approved on March 11 by most of the European Parliament members (509 supporters, 30 opponents and 14 abstentions from 736 parlamentarians) has joined the harassment of developing countries. It is clearly seen in those independent journalists deploring the absence of official help to immediately free the so-called "political or prisoners of conscious (even when they are common delinquents).

As usual, once more the European Parliament is trying to damage Cuba by using propaganda supported by the US and its allies, caused by the death of a hunger striker. They are trying to impose those legislations only applied to third countries. It is not odd to think that the privileges given to Cuba, Venezuela, Iran or China in the resolutions of the European Parliament have a common goal: to question the domestic and foreign policy and magnify the problems in those countries whose good economic development or different policy, pose a danger for those telling everyone what to do with their national sovereignty.

The eloquence of the European parliament, however, shows lapses in its legislative memory. As far as human rights is concern, the majority of its deputies should know that the annual (and even six-monthly) repetition of resolutions on violence and inequality of genres and the systematic violation of the minority’s human rights have no found any concrete result in a five-year term.

It is significant the "forgetfulness", in the current situation, that in one of the most prominent member states of the EU, ten hunger strikers died in 1981 while claiming the status of political prisoners, one of whom—Bobby Sands—had been elected member of the British Parliament a few weeks before dying of starvation. Among the crimes kept in secret today by the European Parliament are the extrajudicial executions carried out in Spain by GAL (Anti-Terrorist Liberation Group).(2)

They make less reference to the prolonged inhuman treatment in the punishment cells in US prisons or death rows, and to the unjust eleven-year imprisonment of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters.

They don’t emit resolutions either about the immigrants expelled or interned in camps quite similar to the ones back in the 20th century. We are still waiting for a resolution with respect to the assassination in Milan of an opponent of the Summit of the powerful Group of 8, as well as for their position towards the police repression against the demonstrators during the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change in December 2009. The European Parliament will certainly hold the same position of silence regarding the physical reprimands against those who protest in Greece against the situation imposed by the crisis. For many inhabitants of the poor countries there is no doubt that industrialized countries see them as "dangerous to EU security" and the rest… are just terrorists.

Another relevant exercise would be that in which the third world citizens would classify the resolutions where the Silence of the European Parliament would have been rather better instead of the verbosity used. For instance: why did the 2008 resolution about the secret flights and the torture in Guantanamo gently request the United States to close the euphemistic detention centre, while devoted the majority of the paragraphs to censor the Cuban government?

Another question would be that of knowing the motivations for the systematic allusions to the Hamas attacks against Israel, which justify the genocide of Israel against Palestine. In addition, it is important to know if there is a project of a condemnatory resolution of the "logistical or causal mistakes" by the soldiers from countries belonging to the European Union made in Afghanistan or Iraq. Going over Euro-parliamentarian resolutions, instigating the use of violence by the Tibetan Buddhists against the Chinese government has become a practice, which intends to arouse the world and national opinion in each country against the socialist country, when precisely, one of the characteristics of Tibetan Buddhists is non-violence.

Regarding Latin America, they showed a consistent attitude regarding the coup d’état in Honduras. It contrasts with the resolution which showed "great concern for the situation in Nicaragua." In addition, Venezuela is being followed by the European Parliament: the May 2009 Resolution constituted an antidemocratic act—for those who take so much care for democracy—, as it backed, with only 27 votes in favor (4% of the deputies), the "opponent" Manuel Rosales and "cared for the deterioration of the situation …the concentration of power and the growing authoritarianism of the Venezuelan President"…The wonders of the representative parliament!

The Resolution adopted in Strasbourg features in the daily practices of the legislative acts carried out by the European Parliament. An old saying goes: "If there is nothing better than silence, then remain silent." It would have been better that the deputies who voted against Cuba had kept silence, but their vocation as the absolute universal guardians of human rights has encouraged them to speak once again.

Center of European Studies
Notes: 1.CEE, "Manual for an Intervention", Report 91,18/07/08
2. GAL: Anti-Terrorist Liberation Group

(Cubaminrex – Granma)

 

 

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