Remembering Laura Pollán, Cuba's Lady in White eight years after her untimely death

They can either kill us, put us in jail or release them. We will never stop marching no matter what happens." - Laura Inés Pollán Toledo (2010)

Laura Inés Pollán Toledo, February 13, 1948 – October 14, 2011

Source: CubaBrief

Eight years ago today, Cuban opposition and human rights defender Laura Pollán died under circumstances that Cuban dissident and medical doctor Oscar Elias Biscet described as "death by purposeful medical neglect."
Laura Inés Pollán Toledo, a courageous woman spoke truth to power and protested in the streets of Cuba demanding an amnesty for Cuban political prisoners. She had been a school teacher, before her husband was jailed for his independent journalism in 2003. Laura was a figure greatly admired both inside and outside of the island.
However when one opposes the regime in Cuba not only is their physical life in danger, but their reputation is systematically slandered. The dictatorship claimed that she was a stateless "traitor." She became ill and died within the space of a week under circumstances that raise the question of foul play by the Castro tyranny. Following her death the official media began a campaign asserting that she was a common criminal.
Laura Pollán became a dissident when her husband was imprisoned during the Black Cuban Spring of 2003 along with more than 75 other activists and civil society members. She was one of the founders of the Ladies in White and challenged the Castro regime in the streets of Cuba. 

Following brutal repression, in an effort to prevent them from marching through the streets of Havana, Laura Pollan directly and nonviolently challenged the regime declaring, "we will never give up our protest. The authorities have three options — free our husbands, imprison us or kill us."

Unfortunately beginning in 2010 a new and deadlier pattern of oppression presented itself with the extrajudicial death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo.

Today let us remember the words that Laura put into action and that was nonviolent resistance to tyranny.

"They tried to silence 75 voices, but now there are more than 75 voices shouting to the world the injustices the government has committed." (2004)

"We fight for the freedom of our husbands, the union of our families. We love our men." (2005)

"They can either kill us, put us in jail or release them. We will never stop marching no matter what happens." (2010)

"We are going to continue. We are fighting for freedom and human rights.” (September 24, 2011)

"As long as this government is around there will be prisoners because while they've let some go, they've put others in jail. It is a never-ending story." (2011)

“If we must give our own lives in pursuit of the freedom of our Cuba that it be what God wants.” (September 24, 2011)

"We are not going to stop. If you have imprisoned our sisters thinking that we would give up, they are mistaken. We are very united (...) all the women's movements are very close." (October 2, 2011)

"My life has changed a lot, now I have learned to love the country much more, the prisoners, the humanity. That's how I have so much work, that I don't have much time to think about myself, what really satisfies me, in short, I owe myself to other more important tasks. Now I understand much more, before I could not understand these things, you have to live and feel them to be able to dedicate soul heart and life to this beautiful cause." (2011)

The regime in Cuba is the most misogynist government in all of Latin America. Women who speak out and exercise their fundamental rights are regularly slandered, physically assaulted and sometimes die under suspicious circumstances as Laura did eight years ago today.

Recovering the Promise of 1989: Take part in the 23rd FORUM 2000 CONFERENCE October 13–15

"If we take the widest and wisest view of a Cause, there is no such thing as a Lost Cause because there is no such thing as a Gained Cause." -  T. S. Eliot (1927)

Forum 2000 started today and this 23rd gathering in Prague will focus on "recovering the promise of 1989." Some of the ways to do that are to attend this gathering in person, virtually over social media, and to revisit the writings and thoughts of those who led the struggle that saw freedom spread around the world in 1989.  One of them is Václav Havel and he is also a founder of Forum 2000. 

If you haven't heard of him, then shame on you. He is an important figure to know, to understand how Eastern Europe was liberated in 1989.

Václav Havel was a Czech playwright, who became a dissident, a prisoner of conscience, presided over the Velvet Revolution, became president of Czechoslovakia, resigned in protest over the Velvet Divorce, then became president of the Czech republic and finally citizen and playwright once again. All the while he demonstrated his solidarity with victims of repression in his own country and around the world.

The fruits of his legacy can be seen in the work of Forum 2000, this annual gathering of politicians, philosophers, artists, scientists, and the public to reflect on important issues challenging civilization that is currently underway. 

Ten years ago on October 12, 2009 at another Forum 2000 conference Václav Havel offered the following reflection on President Barack Obama's decision to back out of meeting with the Dalai Lama due to an upcoming trip to China:

I believe that when the new Laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize postpones receiving the Dalai Lama until after he has accomplished his visit to China, he makes a small compromise, a compromise which actually has some logic to it. However, there arises a question as to whether those large, serious compromises do not have their origin and roots in precisely these tiny and very often more or less logical compromises.

Ten years ago on the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, Václav Havel also warned of the dangers of appeasement. In an address to the European Parliament in Brussels, Havel issued a challenge to the European Union and warned of the consequences of failure:

"Above all, clear and unequivocal solidarity with all those confronted by totalitarian or authoritarian regimes wherever they are in the world. And economic or other particular interests should not hinder such solidarity. Even a minor, discreet and well-intentioned compromise can have fatal consequences– even if only in the long term, or indirectly. One must not retreat in the face of evil, because it is in the nature of evil to take advantage of every concession. Besides, Europe has already had its own unfortunate experience of appeasement policies. 

The "Velvet Revolution" achieved profound non-violent change without wholesale slaughter and violence associated historically with revolutions. A cursory look would claim that the "revolution" took 11 days in November for the Communists to relinquish power. 

In reality, it began at least in 1976, after the beatings and arrests of the members of the rock band the Plastic People of the Universe, led a number of intellectuals, Vaclav Havel, among them drafting and signing Charter 77.  Charter 77 challenged the Czechoslovak communists to honor the rights outlined in their own constitution and in the Helsinki accords that the communist government had signed in 1975.

This small moral act had big consequences over the long term, and immoral acts such as engaging with Communist China without conditioning relations to improved human rights is now having a great impact in both Europe and America.


On December 9, 1996 President Bill Clinton met with Chinese General and Defense Minister Chi Haotian, in the Oval Office. General Haotian was the military leader who oversaw the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.  President Clinton did not raise the issue of Tiananmen Square in his meeting with the Chinese general. This further empowered the hard line elements in China.

In 2017, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, a high ranking center right politician, went to Trier to honor Karl Marx, and celebrate the unveiling of a statue of the communist philosopher paid for by the communist regime in China. The European Commission President also excused and downplayed in his remarks the responsibility of the author of the Communist Manifesto for the 100 million lives lost to impose Marx's ideological project.

Václav Havel 5 October 1936 – 18 December 2011

Havel passed away on December 18, 2011 but in the final months of his life he continued to speak out and take action for human rights.

For example, too many remain silent about the human rights situation in China because of its increasing economic might, claiming that nothing can be done, but Vaclav Havel never held that view. In fact, he protested Western silence. On January 7, 2010, Vaclav Havel walked over to the Chinese Embassy in Prague and rang the doorbell on three occasions before posting a protest letter through the outdoor embassy mail slot defending human rights in China, and the plight of Chinese dissidents. The former Czech president turned to reporters present and explained what he was doing:

“We are here now because we are asking the Chinese president and Chinese government not to repeat what happened to us 33 years ago, where fighters for freedom were pursued and persecuted.”

On January 19, 2010 Havel met with the Executive Director of Human Rights in China, Sharon Hom, and engaged her in a dialogue/interview about Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08 and the struggle for democratic reform in China. When asked about the similarities between China today and Czechloslovakia in 1977 he explained that:

The similarities, I would say, are in the basic structure of human rights reflected in a democratic system, which of course the regime doesn’t want. The regime wishes for the dictatorship of one party. I think this is where Charter 08 and Charter 77 are similar: they have similar targets and similar messages to deliver to the [respective] regimes.

The lessons are clear. There is no end of history, and there are no permanent victories. Liberty and respect for human rights are fragile and require constant attention and care. The threat of tyranny whether through external or internal threats is a constant challenge that requires the vigilance and prudence of free peoples.

Oswaldo Payá and President Václav Havel (2002)

Sadly, these lessons and the legacy of Václav Havel are under assault in the Czech Republic.  In 2014, Czech deputy foreign minister Petr Drulák argued that a "foreign policy with its stress on human rights was wrong and harmful." This abandonment of human rights was not solely confined to Cuba. In February of 2015 the European Union lifted sanctions on the Robert Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. This was followed in February of 2016 with lifting sanctions on the Alexander Lukashenko regime in Belarus. 

The European Union's Common Position on Cuba was ended on December 12, 2016 when in a unanimous vote (including the Czech Republic) the European Union claimed to "open a new chapter" in relations with the Cuban dictatorship that dropped human rights as a condition of normalization.

Under the pretext of "normal relations" Cuban dissidents and independent civil society are no longer welcome at events at European embassies, as they were under the old policy. Incidentally in the rest of Latin America European embassies invite dissidents, members of the political opposition to their events. The Cuban government in Washington DC invites opponents of the US government to their embassy functions.

However, these dissidents have not been abandoned, Václav Havel is no longer physically with us, but his legacy and institutions such as Forum 2000 live on and continue to stress human rights and solidarity.

Dissidents and human rights defenders from around the world, including Cuba and China, will be heard at Forum 2000 by world leaders in a space that defends the values and promise of 1989, and seeks avenues for strengthening and expanding them.

True, this is a small moral act by a Czech NGO, but as Vaclav Havel demonstrated back in 1989, in both word and deed, they can change the world for the better.  Whether it succeeds or not  we must continue to hope. In 1990 in his book, Disturbing the Peace, Havel explained a powerful definition of hope that is rooted in truth.

“Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more unpromising the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is. Hope is not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

Tonight, we listened to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakkol Karman deliver a powerful speech at Forum 2000 that painted a negative, but accurate picture, of the challenges facing the international community today.

"Bad choices are made between tyranny and terrorism. We will fight both. Any war against terrorism is also a war against dictatorship. Every dictator is a terrorist and every terrorist is a dictator."

Freedom of expression, of thought, belief in the freedom of travel and solidarity with victims of repression are at the heart of Forum 2000 and are among the values to be defended to preserve and expand free societies.

Hope you will join us in attending Forum 2000, and sending them a donation.

Grito de Yara 151: Cubans' continuing call for freedom and democratic elections

151 years later, Cubans are still shouting for freedom in the island nation.

October 10, 1868 holds special meaning for Cubans. It is the day that Cubans issued a call for rebellion and independence from Spain in the town of Yara. This marked the start of the Ten Years War that forever marked both Cuba and Spain. Under Cuba's old democratic system it was the day that the democratically elected president would assume office.  

Today, a brutal sixty year old totalitarian dictatorship has organized a farce that it calls an election to legitimize its continued totalitarian rule. History says otherwise. This is the latest rebranding of the Castro dictatorship.

Cuba's last freely elected president, Carlos Prio Socarras, was elected by Cubans in free and fair elections on July 1, 1948 and assumed office 71 years ago today on October 10, 1948. He was not perfect, but he was a democrat who respected civil liberties and presided over years of prosperity and freedom for Cubans. On his watch Cuban diplomats played an important role in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. President Socarras warned Cubans not to be consumed by hatred, but his warnings were not heeded.

Carlos Prio Socarras, Cuba's last freely elected president

It has been sixty seven years without democracy in Cuba. On March 10, 1952 Fulgencio Batista carried out a coup and overthrew the democratic order. Fidel Castro and his guerillas promised to restore democracy obtaining the support of the United States, but transitioned Cuba from an authoritarian left wing dictatorship to a totalitarian communist dictatorship that continues to hold power in Cuba today.  Fidel Castro in a 1960 interview with a Brazilian journalist explained his disdain for elections:

"It never functioned in Latin America. Elections are a myth. The parliamentary system in Cuba reflected the old system, which we are now destroying. Elections now would be a step backward, with time and effort wasted in sterile discussions and theoretical considerations."

The only "elections" held in Cuba in recent years have been that of the dictatorship electing which opposition leader that threatens to be a political alternative will die under suspicious circumstances. On October 14, 2011 the founder of the Ladies in White, Laura Pollán and on July 22, 2012 the founder of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas each died under strange circumstances that point to Cuban state security's involvement.

Murdered by dictatorship: Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Laura Pollán Toledo.

Today we are concerned for the life of Xiomara Cruz Miranda, a Lady in White, whose health has been seriously deteriorating without a diagnosis of her condition by Cuban doctors. We are also concerned for the life of Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, who has been detained since October 1, 2019.

Now is the time to speak out and speak up for those who can no longer do so for themselves.

Note to His Admirers: Commandant Ernesto "Che" Guevara is still dead and his ideas are toxic

"I'd like to confess, at that moment I discovered that I really like killing." Ernesto "Che" Guevara, in a letter to his father after executing an unarmed man.  

Che Guevara dining with Mao Zedong in 1960 during the Great Leap Forward

Ideas have consequences and those ideas are sometimes represented in iconic images. This is the case of the image of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his toxic philosophy of political action that others seek to emulate.  He embraced hatred and dehumanization of the other as the means to carry out what he thought necessary actions.

“Blind hate against the enemy creates a forceful impulse that cracks the boundaries of natural human limitations, transforming the soldier in an effective, selective and cold killing machine. A people without hate cannot triumph against the adversary.”

Guevara's claim to fame was the role he played alongside Fidel and Raul Castro in installing a totalitarian communist regime in Cuba then attempting to spread this model using violent means in Africa and Latin America. 

Months after the world came perilously close to a nuclear holocaust in October 1962, Che Guevara was disappointed. Guevara declared in November 1962: "What we affirm is that we must proceed along the path of liberation even if this costs millions of atomic victims.”

Ernesto Guevara was executed  summarily on October 9, 1967 in La Higuera, Bolivia after he and his band of guerrillas were captured trying to overthrow the legitimate government there and install a Castro style dictatorship. His legacy at the time was already one of blood and terror that should be lamented not celebrated.

Guevara was an admirer and an ideological ally of Mao Zedong, who is the greatest mass murderer in human history.

Armando Valladares, the Cuban dissident, writer, poet and former prisoner of conscience who served 22 years in Cuban prisons starting in 1960 described him as follows: 

"He was a man full of hatred … Che Guevara executed dozens and dozens of people who never once stood trial and were never declared guilty … In his own words, he said the following: 'At the smallest of doubt we must execute.' And that's what he did at the Sierra Maestra and the prison of Las Cabañas."    

If one doubts the above observation by Valladares characterizing Guevara as a hateful mass murderer then one need only look to the Argentine guerrilla's own words embracing violence, armed struggle and "annihilating" capitalists in letters to his Aunt and parents. He was a communist who in 1953 in a letter written from Guatemala to his Aunt Beatriz reported on an oath he made, "I have sworn before a picture of the old and mourned comrade Stalin that I won't rest until I see these capitalist octopuses annihilated."

Anniversary of the death of murderous, sadistic, homophobe, racist Che Guevara.

Fidel Castro asked a crowd “What do we want our children to be” and they answered ”We want them to be like Che”.

Chilling. Horrific.

Photo of the two assassins together. pic.twitter.com/Fp5bsIFK8S

— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) October 9, 2019

Today, his views on race and homosexuality have not aged well. It is interesting that whereas Gandhi's views as a young man have been questioned and continue to be criticized Che Guevara gets a pass despite writing in his motorcycle diary:

"The blacks, those magnificent examples of the African race who have maintained their racial purity thanks to their lack of an affinity with bathing, have seen their territory invaded by a new kind of slave: the Portuguese. And the two ancient races have now begun a hard life together, fraught with bickering and squabbles. Discrimination and poverty unite them in the daily fight for survival but their different ways of approaching life separate them completely: The black is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink; the European has a tradition of work and saving, which has pursued him as far as this corner of America and drives him to advance himself, even independently of his own individual aspirations."

In the same diary he refers to homosexuality in a negative context:

"The episode upset us a little because the poor man, apart from being homosexual and a first-rate bore, had been very nice to us, giving us 10 soles each, bringing our total to 479 for me and 163 1/2 to Alberto."

Fidel Castro in a March 13, 1963 speech was clear in his distaste for the "effeminate" were he openly attacked “long-haired layabouts, the children of bourgeois families,” roaming the streets wearing “trousers that are too tight,” carrying guitars to look like Elvis Presley, who took “their licentious behavior to the extreme” of organizing “effeminate shows” in public places.  The Cuban dictator, and Guevara's comrade, warned: “They should not confuse the Revolution’s serenity and tranquility with weaknesses in the Revolution. Our society cannot accept these degenerates.”

Two years later in 1965, Fidel Castro spoke explicitly about the Cuban Revolution's views on homosexuals:

“We would never come to believe that a homosexual could embody the conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider him a true revolutionary, a true communist militant.” ... A deviation of that nature clashes with the concept we have of what a militant communist should be.” 

In 1964 the Castro regime began rounding up Gays and sending them to Military Units to Aid Production or UMAPs (Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción). These forced labor camps were for those suspected of or found guilty of "improper conduct."  Persons with effeminate mannerisms: what the Cuban government called "extravagant behavior" were taken to these camps.  

Admirers of Ernesto "Che" Guevara need to do some soul searching and ask themselves do they want dehumanize those they disagree with, in order to murder them without mercy?  This is what Che Guevara did in Cuba and sought to carry out in Bolivia when he was captured and executed. Why are you wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with image of a psychotic mass murderer? 

Finally, to those who introduce this individual to children, they should be charged with child abuse.

Che Guevara executed for trying to overthrow government of Bolivia on this day in 1967

EU’s failed ‘engagement’ with Cuba’s Castro dictatorship has ramifications for all of Europe

“The time is always right to do what is right.” - Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

Source: CubaBrief

The European Union (EU) and the Castro regime elevated whataboutism to the level of international agreements. The European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Union's diplomatic service's press release on the EU - Cuba human rights dialogue that was held on October 3, 2019 requires a suspension of disbelief to read it. The second sentence in the first paragraph states, "the dialogue provides a structured framework to discuss openly and in a constructive way the human rights situation in both Cuba and the EU and a platform to explore cooperation in multilateral fora on shared human rights challenges."

The EEAS press release also claimed that it "was preceded by a civil society seminar on 2 October, where representatives of Cuban and European civil society exchanged views in particular on the topics of combatting gender-based violence and on the protection of families."

This claim of the EEAS was contradicted by the Sweden based Civil Rights Defenders, a respected human rights organization that was founded in 1982 that over social media on October 2, 2019 reported: "Right now, a human rights dialogue between EU and Cuba is taking place in Brussels. All attending are approved by the Cuban gov, no independent civil society organisations present. Manuel Cuesta Morúa is going to Brussels despite not being invited."

Rosa María Payá in an open letter published by Civil Rights Defenders warned that "the position of the EEAS, combined with the fact that European governments abandoned their previous position, the EU Common Position on Cuba [brought into force] in 1996, that condemned human rights violations, demanded democratic reforms in Cuba and kept their embassies on the island open to opposition activists and members of independent civil society, but that [today's position] is used by the Cuban government to try to legitimize its actions."

Cuban dissident Cuesta Morua in a video posted by Civil Rights Defenders states that "since 2016 when the deal was signed between the European Union and Cuba the human rights situation has worsened." Interviewed in the Swedish publication, Aftonbladet, Manuel Cuesta Morúa explained that “this is the chance to demand democratic reforms, but it isn’t being taken.” The Cuban dissident also explained that Sweden will be missing an opportunity to demand democracy in Cuba, if the EU-Cuba deal is approved.

“This is the chance to demand democratic reforms, but it isn’t being taken” Manuel Cuesta Morúa @cuestamorua explains how Sweden misses opportunity to demand democracy in #Cuba, if the EU-Cuba deal is approved. @CRDLatin. IN SWE: https://t.co/31G2bFPRml

— Civil Rights Defenders (@crdefenders) October 3, 2019

Shared challenges work when values are shared, in this case democratic ones. This is not the case with the dictatorship in Cuba and the democratic community of nations of the European Union.

The European project is in crisis, and it is reflected today in its foreign policy and the values that it promotes that are in contradiction with those enunciated with its founding. The European Union’s fundamental values are supposed to be "respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law." Reinterpreting the communist dictatorship in Cuba as a "one party" democracy is a betrayal of those values.

Yesterday, the EEAS press release explained that "both parties explored opportunities for closer EU-Cuba cooperation in multilateral human rights fora, such as at the Human Rights Council and the United National General Assembly Third Committee." This ignores that the Cuban government has played an active and negative role in these fora over the years. Here are but a few highlights from the past 15 years at the UN Human Rights Council:

• On April 15, 2004, when the UN Human Rights Commission decided by a single vote to censure Cuba for its human rights record, a Cuban human rights defender attending the session, Frank Calzon, was physically attacked by a Cuban diplomat.
• On March 28, 2008, the Castro regime’s delegation, together with the Organization of Islamic Congress, successfully passed resolutions that turned the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression into an investigator into “abuses” of freedom of expression.
• On February 2, 2009, during the Universal Periodic Review of China, Cuban ambassador Juan Antonio Fernández Palacios recommended that China repress human rights defenders with more firmness.
• On May 28, 2009 amidst a human rights crisis in Sri Lanka the Cuban government's diplomats took the lead and successfully blocked efforts to amend a text to pressure Sri Lanka to improve humanitarian access to its camps.
• On March 17, 2014, at the UN Human Rights Council, Cuban diplomats defended the North Korean regime’s human rights record, and also negotiated with the European Union to guarantee that the North Korean dictator "would be off limits" before the International Criminal Court.
• On September 21, 2018, Cuban ambassador to the UN Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, during the Universal Periodic Review on Cuba at the UN Human Rights Council, stated that “our country will not accept monitors. Amnesty International will not enter Cuba and we do not need their advice.”
• On October 16, 2018, Cuban diplomats led an “act of repudiation” at the UN to prevent a discussion on political prisoners in Cuba.

Cooperating with outlaw regimes in a multilateral forum such as the UN Human Rights Council or the Third Committee is to undermine those forums and institutions. It also demonstrates that democracy promotion is no longer a top concern. This has led to the question raised in some important quarters of whether or not "democracy support" is a core concern that defines EU geostrategic interests? It was once and could be again, but it is an open question today.

The European project over the past sixty one years beginning with the European Economic Community in 1958 and the formal naming of the European Union in 1993 with the Treaty of Maastricht was a project of economic and political integration between democratic nations. For much of that time it also served as a politically and economically united front against the neighboring Soviet Union. The objectives of a common foreign and security policy were articulated in the Treaty of Maastricht and finally fleshed out in the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.

With respect to Cuba, as mentioned earlier, the European Union established a Common Position in 1996 that was consonant with fundamental EU values:

“The objective of the European Union in its relations with Cuba is to encourage a process of transition to pluralist democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as a sustainable recovery and improvement in the living standards of the Cuban people. A transition would most likely be peaceful if the present regime were itself to initiate or permit such a process. It is not European Union policy to try to bring about change by coercive measures with the effect of increasing the economic hardship of the Cuban people. The European Union considers that full cooperation with Cuba will depend upon improvements in human rights and political freedom”

This Common Position on Cuba was ended on December 12, 2016 when the European Union claimed to "open a new chapter" in relations with the Cuban dictatorship that dropped human rights as a condition for normalization. Under the pretext of "normal relations" Cuban dissidents and independent civil society are no longer welcome at events at their embassies, as they were under the old policy. Incidentally in the rest of Latin America the European embassies invite dissidents, members of the political opposition to their events. The Cuban government in Washington DC invites opponents of the US government to their embassy functions.

Under the old Common Position the European Union and its member states defended human rights and human dignity in Cuba creating spaces at their embassies where members of the opposition could engage regime officials, and the European Union recognized the efforts of Cuban democrats, awarding the Sakharov Prize to Oswaldo Payá in 2002 and the Ladies in White in 2005 while campaigning for the release of Cuban prisoners of conscience.

Under the old policy the Castro regime in Cuba could boycott government officials participating in European events where dissidents attended, and now with the new policy the Cuban government is boycotting both independent Cuban and European civil society organizations from participating in human rights dialogues and civil society seminars both in Cuba and in Europe. Things have gone in the wrong direction, and not only on Cuba.

In 2017, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, a high ranking center right politician, was not honoring one of the founders of the European project, individuals such as Adenaur, Churchill, and Mitterand, but was in Trier to honor Karl Marx, and celebrate the unveiling of a statue of the communist philosopher paid for by the communist regime in China.

There is a crisis in Europe, and it is both a crisis of values and actions. The European Union in honoring Karl Marx and his communist philosophy ignores the wisdom of one of the pioneers of the EU, Winston Churchill who in 1937 explained:

"There are two strange facts about these non-God religions. The first is their extraordinary resemblance to one another. Nazism and Communism imagine themselves as exact opposites. They are at each other’s throats wherever they exist all over the world. They actually breed each other; for the reaction against Communism is Nazism, and beneath Nazism or Fascism Communism stirs convulsively. Yet they are similar in all essentials."

The European Union needs to return to the ideas of the founding generation of the European project, and defending human dignity, human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law in both word and deed. Rosa María Payá, (daughter of the 2002 Sakharov Laureate) and promoters of the initiative Cuba Decide are calling on the European Union to once again do the right thing in Cuba:

"...Cooperate with the independent Cuban press and civil society as in any other country; that is, invite members of civil society to formal discussions on the implementation of the Agreement, contribute to the financing of civil society organizations, invite independent journalists to press conferences, and publicly denounce politically motivated human rights violations. The EEAS must also make it clear that there will be no financial contributions for Cuban official organizations or state agencies as long as the Cuban government does not publicly support [democratic reforms]."

Mohandas Gandhi observed that “happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony,” and it is time for the members of the European Union to embrace the values they claim, speak for them and act on them. Changing course on Cuba would be a good first step to turning the tide on this European crisis.