The Diplomat
The PSOE rejected a proposal by the PP to approve an institutional declaration in the Congress of Deputies condemning the repression in Cuba, because the PP wanted the text to refer to the “Cuban dictatorship”, according to sources from the party led by Pablo Casado.
According to these sources, the deputy spokesman of the PP in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Pablo Hispán, tried to negotiate a text with the spokesman of the Socialist Group, Héctor Gómez, in order to increase pressure on the Cuban government, which has harshly repressed the demonstrations that have taken place on the island demanding freedom.
The PP proposal referred to the Castro regime as a “dictatorship” and pointed out that “it has not taken any steps that would allow a transition to democracy”, terms that were not accepted by the Socialist spokesman.
Héctor Gómez also reportedly rejected the statement’s assertion that “the crisis generated by Covid, together with the failure of the economic model and the lack of freedoms have increased the unrest among the population”. The PSOE wanted to remove the reference to the failure of the economic model and for the text to simply read: “the crisis generated by Covid, together with the lack of progress in reforms, have increased the unrest among the population”.
Faced with this refusal, the Popular Party gave up their attempt, which, in any case, had little future, since institutional declarations in the Lower House require the support of all groups, and there was little chance that groups such as Unidas Podemos, the government’s partner, would sign a text critical of the Castro regime.
Yesterday, the Minister for Social Rights and Secretary General of Podemos, Ione Belarra, avoided, as did the rest of the members of the Government, calling Cuba a “dictatorship” and limited her analysis of what is happening in the country to saying that “it is experiencing a special situation” and calling for the US embargo on the island to be lifted.
From the PP, its president, Pablo Casado, criticised the PSOE for having vetoed the institutional declaration, and reiterated that his party will ask the European Parliament to recover the European Common Position, which was in force between 1996 and 2017 and “which consisted – he recalled – in that with Cuba neither trade nor talk if there is no respect for human rights”. He added that they will also call for a freeze on the assets in Europe of “the managers” of regimes such as those in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
