Warning on relations with Cuban regime

Friday, May 22, 2009
Warning on relations with Cuban regime
Imprisoned by Havana for 20 months, a political dissident speaks to MARY
FITZGERALD, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

A LEADING Cuban dissident has criticised Minister for Foreign Affairs
Micheál Martin for not meeting opposition figures during an official
visit to the island in February, saying that such visits serve only to
legitimise the island's regime.

Speaking during a visit to Dublin, Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés said the EU
should be wary of reaching out to Havana if it does not improve its
record on human rights. He also urged Brussels not to ignore Cuban
opposition groups as it moves towards further engagement with the island.

Last year, the EU decided to formally restore relations with Cuba, five
years after it imposed diplomatic sanctions following a crackdown on
dissidents, including Mr Valdés.

Mr Valdés, an opposition party member, was one of the 75 dissidents
imprisoned in 2003. He spent 20 months in jail before being released
along with 15 others in a move widely considered an attempt by Havana to
curry favour with the EU.

Three, including Mr Valdés, were allowed leave the island.

He now lives in exile in Sweden.

Mr Valdés discussed the Minister's visit during a meeting with
Department of Foreign Affairs officials in Dublin this week. "It is
unfortunate that the Cuban regime can use such visits as a
legitimisation of its power, when the situation in Cuba is still the
same with respect to human rights violations," he said. "We were not
given any concrete reason why the Minister did not meet with opposition
representatives."

Mr Valdés said he was told that an official from the Irish Embassy in
Mexico made a follow-up visit to Cuba during which they met with
opposition figures.

"This [ministerial visit] is not an isolated action, it is part of a
wider movement within the EU which is trying to normalise the
relationship with the Cuban regime without asking for real improvements
in the human rights situation in Cuba," he added. Mr Valdés also met
representatives from human rights groups such as Amnesty International
and Frontline during his visit to Ireland.

According to Amnesty's 2008 global report, at least 62 prisoners of
conscience remain imprisoned in Cuba. Political dissidents, independent
journalists and human rights activists continued to be harassed and
detained, and Amnesty describes restrictions on freedom of expression,
association and movement as "severe".

Mr Valdés said the opposition movement in Cuba had become stronger in
recent years.

"There is more expression of disagreement and unhappiness, particularly
from the younger generation, and artists and writers," he said.

"The key for the democratisation of Cuba will not be the policies of the
EU or the US but this movement. It is something the Cuban government
cannot stop, because they cannot imprison thousands of people at the
same time."

Mr Valdés said a "romantic idea or image" of Cuba had blinded many to
its record on human rights, and he spoke dismissively of what he called
"revolutionary tourism" on the island.

"There is a big difference between going to Cuba to do revolutionary
tourism and suffering for 50 years the reality of that revolution and
life in Cuba."

Warning on relations with Cuban regime - The Irish Times - Fri, May 22,
2009 (22 May 2009)

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0522/1224247111868.html