President. The next item is the joint debate on the following seven motions for resolutions tabled by:

– José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra and Concepció Ferrer, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group, on Cuba (B5-0192/2004);

– Cecilia Malmström and Bob van den Bos, on behalf of the ELDR Group, on the situation in Cuba one year after the mass detention of dissidents (B5-0201/2004);

– Alain Lipietz, Josu Ortuondo Larrea and Monica Frassoni, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, on the situation in Cuba one year after the mass detention of dissidents (B5-0204/2004);

– Bastiaan Belder, on behalf of the EDD Group, on the situation in Cuba one year after the mass detention of dissidents (B5-0207/2004);

– Ana Miranda de Lage, on behalf of the PSE Group, on Cuba (B5-0208/2004);

– Luisa Morgantini, Pernille Frahm and Herman Schmid, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group, on the situation in Cuba (B5-0212/2004);

– Luís Queiró and José Ribeiro e Castro, on behalf of the UEN Group, on Cuba (B5-0214/2004).

  Ferrer (PPE-DE). – (ES) Mr President, it appears that today, at the request of the Cuban Government, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is going to vote for a draft resolution on the situation of the prisoners in Guantánamo.

I would ask the following question: with what authority can the Castro Government demand explanations of the situation of these prisoners and demand measures to guarantee that their rights are respected, when Cuba still has 74 citizens imprisoned in inhuman conditions, hundreds of kilometres from their homes, for the sole crime of wishing to exercise their inalienable right to freedom of expression and thought?

We also roundly condemn what is happening in Guantánamo. However, precisely because we are demonstrating the consistency that the Castro Government so cynically demands from the European Union in Geneva – a consistency that Fidel Castro himself is incapable of showing – we also once again condemn the arbitrary detention of the Cuban dissidents.

It is true that Julio Antonio Valdés has been freed, and we are delighted about that. But what we do not want is to allow ourselves to be deceived and forget that the other dissidents are still in prison and that this imprisonment and the conditions involved, which contravene all international conventions in the field, are a flagrant violation of fundamental rights. Neither do we wish to forget that the Varela Project has not yet gone ahead and that Osvaldo Payá, whom Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize, is still unable to leave Cuba.

Hence the timeliness of the Resolution we are discussing, which is perhaps a repetition, according to the Socialist Group – and this is the reason why it has not wished to sign up to this resolution – but nevertheless necessary, because events in Cuba are, regrettably, repeating themselves and the situation not only remains unchanged, but as the months have passed has actually deteriorated.

We do not want either Parliament or the Commission to abandon people who fight peacefully to defend freedom to their fate, and nor do we want to remain silent about their suffering or about that of their families. We want to tell them from this House once again that we are still standing by them and that, despite the isolation in which they have been confined, we are not forgetting them and we are still with them in their fight, in the hope that one day Cuba can begin to move toward democracy.

  André-Léonard (ELDR). – (FR) Mr President, an unprecedented wave of repression hit Cuba in March and April 2003 under the pretext of the active role played among political opponents by those representing the interests of the US in Havana. Almost 80 civilians were arrested, tried and given very heavy prison sentences, ranging from six to 28 years.

Those arrested were tried very quickly: in a matter of weeks – or even days – in the course of trials not open to the public. The defendants were aided by lawyers not belonging to independent bar associations. The conditions of detention of these people raise serious concerns, insofar as the Cuban authorities are providing hardly any information on the matter.

Faced with this situation, we urge the Cuban authorities to free these political prisoners and are anxious to remind them that freedom of expression is a fundamental right. Last month, a delegation from Reporters Without Borders, accompanied by relatives of unfairly condemned prisoners, came to protest and call for the help of the European Parliament in fighting to defend freedoms.

I am anxious to stress that Cuba has ratified a number of conventions in the area of human rights and I call on the Cuban authorities to respect their undertakings. Cuba cannot, for all that, use the admittedly disastrous consequences of the embargo, which has lasted for more than 40 years, to claim that some of its nationals, described in particular as mercenaries in the service of foreign powers, have had their human rights systematically violated.

  Sörensen (Verts/ALE). – (NL) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I am speaking personally and not on behalf of my group. Secondly, I am not the author of this resolution but am actually more opposed to it. I therefore want to throw another light on the topic.

I have recently been to Cuba to investigate possible ways of cooperating to combat trafficking in and smuggling of human beings. This phenomenon is a serious and pressing problem in Cuba too, and the Cuban Government is working hard on it. In the first two and a half months of this year no fewer than 30 people-smuggling operations were closed down and about 70 attempts to leave the country illegally were thwarted. Half of these involved people-smuggling. Furthermore, five people died in a dramatic attempt to reach the United States, one person is still missing and three were found alive.

People-trafficking generally involves fake marriages and false promises of work. Why do ordinary Cubans take such risks? When talking about people-trafficking we often use the terms 'push factor' and 'pull factor'. We know that poverty is the principal reason, the push factor, both social and economic poverty. As far as pull factors go, we almost immediately think of the force of attraction exerted by the rich West, in this case the United States. That picture is not entirely accurate. What promises do people-traffickers usually make? As in Europe, they promise the chance to earn more money, sometimes a lot more, and claim that their victims will be grateful to them. A rose-tinted picture, bearing little relation to reality, is painted.

US President Lyndon Johnson approved the Cuban Adjustment Act in 1966. This law automatically gave all Cubans reaching the United States residence and employment rights after they had been in the US for a year. This is a clear pull factor, possibly the most important as far as Cuba is concerned. The assumption has always been that life in the United States, even for people on the breadline, is much better than life in Cuba. But the World Bank, not exactly known for its anti-American pronouncements, has praised Cuban healthcare and education. Compare this to the situation in the so-called Promised Land, the United States, where access to healthcare is far from universal, where affordable education is of low quality and where many prisons are privatised and outside democratic control. I have personal experience of this.

If we are to criticise the human rights situation in Cuba we must bear two things in mind. Who is criticising, and is the criticism reasonable and balanced? Listening to the official voice of the European Parliament over the past few months it is clear to me that double standards are being applied, as whenever values that we ourselves regard as universal come into the picture we suddenly take a very selective approach in the case of Cuba.

  President. Certain Members have informed me that they are incorrectly named as authors of resolutions. If this is the case, please forgive us, but the agenda delivered to us indicates that there are seven motions for resolutions, each with its own authors. It is therefore correct. In any event, we are going to go ahead with the debate and later on we will look at the real motions for resolutions or see if there is a joint one. Now is the time for expressing your ideas.

  Belder (EDD). – (NL) Mr President, I am a signatory to this resolution. Good news from Castro's Cuba; is that possible? Yes indeed, and I refer you to the full-page article in yesterday's Neue Zürcher Zeitung devoted to unceasing internal efforts to bring about peaceful regime change on the island. The title of the article speaks for itself: 'Third run-up to a referendum in Cuba'.

The driving force behind this planned plebiscite is still Oswaldo Paya, winner of the Sakharov prize awarded by this House. The enmity and quibbling of Castro and his associates do not worry him; Paya sees the growing popularity of his initiative as more important. Increasing numbers of Cubans are losing their fear of government repression. In May 2002 Paya and his supporters handed over 11 020 signatures for a referendum to the national parliament. 14 384 more signatures were added at the start of October 2003. About half of these were obtained in the period following the wave of arrests in March 2003. The muzzled parliament did not respond, but this has not stopped Paya from organising a third petition.

In this resolution, the European Parliament is clearly lending its support to Cubans longing for the achievement of a democratic, constitutional state. This House expects the Council, the Member States of the Union and the Commission to have the same supportive attitude. I sincerely hope that the Committee on Foreign Affairs will make good its intention to produce a full report on the situation in Cuba during the next session. We owe it to the peace-loving people of this island which attracts so many European tourists.

  Martínez Martínez (PSE). – (ES) Mr President, I am going to vote against the so-called compromise resolution, which my Socialist Group has not signed, because I believe it is unfair, biased and does not take account of the aggression and threat suffered by Cuba from the United Sates for almost 50 years.

There are several dozen countries in the world in which the situation in terms of human rights and freedom is objectively worse than in Cuba, but we do not talk about those countries with the same concern. Instead, the European Union maintains relations with almost all of them and, incidentally, just today we have voted without any fuss to renew a cooperation agreement with one of these countries.

What we do not have in the world is several dozen countries on which the United States is obsessively fixated as it is with Cuba. In this area, both our agenda and the scandalous double standards of our positions are set by the United States, with the naïve or deliberate complicity of some of our fellow Members.

In principle, I am in favour of the 70 or so prisoners in Cuba being released. I am aware, however, that people who have been shown to have collaborated with an aggressive power would be imprisoned in our countries as well. I would also contradict those who distort the truth, both in relation to the trials undergone by those prisoners and the conditions in which they are carrying out their sentences.

Nobody would be surprised, Mr President, least of all the Cubans, if following its ‘bringing democracy to Iraq’ venture, the Bush administration were to embark on a similar ‘bringing democracy to Cuba’ operation. For this venture as for the previous one, the White House would find supporters amongst us, but I will certainly not be one of them, and nor will I be one of those who end up regretting not having resisted before.

I would also point out that within Cuban territory there are cases of human rights violations, violations of the rule of law, illegal imprisonment and inhuman conditions, not for the 70, but for more than 600 men who have not been sentenced nor subject to any judicial procedure. But that is happening in the part of the island occupied by the United States: in the base at Guantánamo. I am shocked that those Members who collect signatures so that the rights of prisoners in Cuban jails are respected and in order to visit those jails, do not include the situation of the prisoners in Guantánamo and a visit to the jail there.

On the subject of the human rights of Cuban citizens, I would point out that in the United States there are five Cuban prisoners who have been handed down horrendous sentences, in trials which are dubious in terms of legal security, all as a result of actions in defence of their people from attacks from terrorist groups based in Miami. The US Administration is denying them and their families their legitimate rights as defined in the most fundamental rules of international humanitarian law. In this regard, we have called for the mobilisation of the Council and the Commission, today we reiterate our support and we call on Parliament to support the five people who the Cubans see as their heroes, and their families, several of whom have not been able to visit, not for months, not for years, Mr President.

  Bergaz Conesa (GUE/NGL). – (ES) Mr President, my group has always defended the principles of respecting and protecting freedoms, human, social and national rights and rights to sovereignty and democratic development.

We must always work from an objective point of view and nobody in this House can deny that Cuba has achieved a high level of social, economic, scientific and technological development, which is objectively verifiable and indisputable, despite its international isolation and the asphyxiating blockade by the United States, which it has been suffering for almost half a century. This development has been demonstrated by the indicators in the most advanced and reliable studies and investigations by numerous United Nations bodies. This development also includes fundamental aspects of daily life, such as education, culture, sport and health.

I regret that certain Members of this House are still expressing fury at the Cuban Government in such an irresponsible way and with so little objectivity, while refusing to condemn very serious situations in other parts of the world, resulting from the orders of Washington, that is to say, restrictions of freedoms, interference in the politics of other countries by the United States, as well as the prisoners in Guantánamo, about which you say nothing and whose subhuman situation you do not condemn. Their human rights are not recognised, because the United States has decided that they are in no man's land, but this territory belongs to the United States, it is on Cuban territory and Cuba is a sovereign country.

We cannot have two different yardsticks when it comes to applying human rights at international level. It is highly regrettable that certain groups in this House continuously condemn the situation in Cuba in terms of political prisoners, opponents of the Cuban Government but, nevertheless, avoid debating the horrendous conditions of the five Cubans jailed in the United States, who are denied family visits and fair trials.

Our group has been condemning this in this House and nobody has spoken out on behalf of these prisoners. And I ask myself, do the prisoners in the United States, Guantánamo, the 10 000 in Iraq and other countries not deserve the same consideration and treatment by the European Parliament?

My group considers human rights to be universal, and we defend freedom of expression, the recognition of family visits to prisoners and respect for the government of each country, without political interference from other countries.

  Ribeiro e Castro (UEN). – (PT) Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should first like to welcome the fact, on my own behalf and on behalf of my group, that four political groups were able to agree on a compromise resolution, one that is in favour of Cuba, not opposed to it; a resolution that is in favour of the Cuban people, and opposed to a tyrannical regime.

I should like to mention two dates, so that we can be absolutely clear as to what is at stake: on 1 May, ten new Member States are to join this Parliament, our milieu, the house of democracy that we share. Ten years ago, eight of these States were languishing under the tyranny of Communist dictatorships. Once the Wall came down, they were able to develop democratically, to share the same cornerstones of the rule of law, democracy and freedom, and to live side by side with us. This is what we would like to see happen in Cuba.

Next Sunday, 25 April, sees the thirtieth anniversary of the ‘Carnation Revolution’, a democratic revolution, which was promptly hijacked by the extreme left and the Communists, who wished to turn Portugal – to use the expression of the time – into ‘the Cuba of Europe’. We strove hard in 1974 and 1975 to be able to call ourselves a free and democratic country and not a ‘Cuba of Europe’. What we would now like to see is Cuba become ‘the Portugal of the Caribbean’; we would like to see the carnations that brightened up Portugal do the same in Cuba; we would like to share the vibrancy, the colour and the warmth of Cuban culture, a culture we hold in high regard and which we would like to see smile and grow in freedom. This is what is at stake.

Mention has been made here of double standards. What I deplore here is the lack of solidarity, on the part of some Members of this House, with the terrible suffering in Cuba, with people sentenced one year ago to twenty or more years in prison for their beliefs. This is a diabolical state of affairs. If you do not wish to see double standards, then use your vote wisely, otherwise the accusers may soon find the tables turned on them. As revealed recently in Parliament by the Reporters Sans Frontières organisation, Cuba is currently the world’s largest prison for journalists. Since March, twenty-seven journalists have been imprisoned, and three were already in prison. We must, therefore, show unstinting solidarity with all those who advocate freedom of speech, of opinion and of expression, and political freedom in Cuba.

Lastly, one or two words of support for campaigns to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Cuban democrats, such as Rivero Castañeda, a great writer and poet who is in prison, or Oswaldo Payá, to whom we awarded the Sakharov Prize in 2002. We must not tire in our efforts and must never give up on promoting the Sakharov initiative until, as we have requested and as is his right, Oswaldo Payá is able to come here and speak to us.

IN THE CHAIR: MR VIDAL-QUADRAS ROCA
Vice-President

  Sacrédeus (PPE-DE). (SV) Mr President, Commissioner Nielson, on the first anniversary of the mass imprisonments on political grounds, carried out by Castro, we Christian Democrats from Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made a joint appeal in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. We wished to draw attention to the fact that, on 18 March 2003 in the shadow of the Iraq war, Fidel Castro instituted a wave of repression in which 75 advocates of democracy were falsely imprisoned following summary trials. They were each sentenced to between 15 and 27 years’ imprisonment.

A total of 1 456 years’ imprisonment was thus imposed upon these 75 constitutional activists. Their fate must not be ignored by the surrounding world. It is therefore a matter of extreme urgency that we in the European Parliament make this statement today. As Members of the European Parliament, we believe that the judgments must be overturned inasmuch as the trials in Cuba were clearly conducted without legal rights for the accused, who were sentenced on exclusively political grounds. We ask for these 75 human rights activists to be released, and for them to be so without delay.

Their so-called crime is that, in accordance with the Cuban Constitution, they collected approximately 10 000 signatures calling for a referendum on a more pluralistic and more democratic Cuba. For that, they were given extremely long sentences. The majority of those advocating democracy belong to the Christian and Christian Democratic human rights movement, Movimento Cristiano Liberación.

I, together with Mr Ribeiro e Castro and 206 other MEPs, took the initiative of inviting Sakharov prizewinner Osvaldo Payà Sardiñas to visit us here in Europe. Commissioner Nielson, let this invitation bear fruit by putting pressure on the Cuban regime to enable Osvaldo Payà Sardiñas to visit us.

  Alyssandrakis (GUE/NGL). – (EL) Mr President, I must congratulate the organisers of today's debate on their inventiveness. Having failed to find any other excuse to regurgitate their slander of the Cuban people, they remembered the anniversary of the decisions by the courts which sentenced agents of US imperialism and decided to celebrate it. However loud you attack socialist Cuba, my dear fellow Members, you cannot deny the fact that Cuba is the only free country on the American continent, the only country where the people take authority into their own hands. That is why it has endured exclusion, threats and invasion. That is why the United States of America and the European Union want to overturn the Cuban revolution. If, therefore, you are truly interested in the people of Cuba and in human rights, organise a debate on its long-term exclusion or on the five Cuban patriots who are rotting in gaol in Miami, without even being able to see their families, because they acted against the terrorism which is striking their country.

  Posselt (PPE-DE). – (DE) Mr President, I have to say that what we have just heard from Mr Alyssandrakis is quite eerily reminiscent of a past that will at last be finally behind us when, in just a few days’ time, we welcome the States of Central and Eastern Europe into the European Union.

For decades, this House has contended for freedom, human rights and the right of peoples to self-determination in Central and Eastern Europe. It has helped to sweep away Communism and its dictatorship, banish the ghost of Stalin, tear down the Iron Curtain and now unite the whole of Europe in freedom, and it is positively spooky that a relic of this inhuman ideology such as Mr Alyssandrakis should get up in this House and defend the dictatorship in Cuba.

Let me say it loud and clear, my good friends: we are not, as you suppose, against the Cuban people. On the contrary, we defend them. Those who, before 1989, spoke in this House in defence of the Communist dictatorships must be ashamed when their words are dredged up from the Minutes. In the same way, you too will one day have to be ashamed of what you have said today about Cuba, one of the last brutal and repressive Communist dictatorships in the world.

We do not have an uncritical attitude towards the United States, and God knows that I am not going to defend all the things that a blockade entails. I take a thoroughly critical view of it. I have to say, though, that it stands to reason that it is our duty as democrats to defend with all our might Cuba’s democracy movement, the rule of law there, and its freedom, against those who repress them, represented by the old-school Communist Fidel Castro, a man as lacking in understanding as you are, Mr Alyssandrakis, and, like you, forever yesterday’s man.

  Nielson, Commission. Mr President, this is clearly an issue on which this Parliament likes to be divided. This reflects political reality, but I have one plea. I direct it to Mrs Bergaz Conesa who highlighted Cuba's fine performance in areas such as health, sports and education. That is fine, but I would add, 'and so what'? It should be possible, without being misunderstood, to discuss the issue of human rights on its own merits, not just in Cuba, but everywhere.

(Applause)

It is as if this is a sort of balancing game, a sort of political scoreboard relating to the totality of Cuba's situation, character and state of mind politically. This is not the case. As I understand it, this is about expressing concern – to put it mildly – on human rights issues there, and as friends of that nation we in Europe are entitled to do that here without being seen as escalating or creating even more problems than we have already.

The Commission shares Parliament's concern about the human rights situation in Cuba. We need to see progress on democracy and the opening-up and normalising of political life, especially now, one year after the mass detention of dissidents. In our analysis things have not improved.

The EU continually follows the situation of political prisoners through the Human Rights Working Group in Havana and through contacts with family members of those imprisoned. Last February, the wives and mothers of the political prisoners expressed their appreciation to the European institutions for the support they give. The European Union intends to continue to raise the cases of prisoners of conscience with the Cuban authorities and to exert the pressure we can for real democratic reform and respect for human rights in Cuba. The recent declaration by the Council presidency, congratulating the Cuban journalist Raúl Rivero on the award of the Word Press Freedom Prize from Unesco, called again on the Cuban authorities to release all the imprisoned dissidents without delay.

The Member States supported the recent resolution on Cuba at the UN Human Rights Commission, lamenting the sentencing of political dissidents and journalists last year and expressing hope that the government of Cuba will take measures to promote the full development of democratic institutions and civil liberties.

The European Union considers dialogue with Havana important to promote political, economic and civil rights reforms. However, positive moves by Cuba on its political prisoners are needed. If Cuba took concrete steps to improve the human rights situation, I am sure that the European Union would immediately respond. We regret the current situation. We not only see scope for improvement, we also see the need for improvement.

The Commission supports Parliament's initiative to invite Oswaldo Payá. Our delegation in Havana is in regular contact with him and is trying to facilitate the visit.

Finally, despite Cuban decisions which impede our development cooperation activities, the Commission remains willing to provide aid to promote democracy and improve living standards for ordinary Cubans. We regret the lower level of activity in what we are doing together for the time being and, without wanting to create further political tension, we hope and work for a normalisation of the situation.

(Applause)

  Alyssandrakis (GUE/NGL). – (EL) Mr President, I requested the floor on a personal matter because the stand taken by Mr Posselt, who did not make the effort to listen to me, whereas I made the effort to listen to him when he spoke, has gone beyond the bounds of political confrontation.

I can accept any political argument in response to the political arguments which I put forward. I cannot, however, under any circumstances accept revenge policies, excommunications and witch hunts.

  President. The joint debate is closed.

The vote will take place following the debates.