© Reuters. European Union’s Particular Consultant for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, speaks throughout a gathering with Cuban authorities in Havana, Cuba, November 24, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
By Dave Sherwood
HAVANA (Reuters) -A particular European Union envoy stated on Friday that U.S. sanctions are worsening the human rights state of affairs in Cuba whereas reiterating the EU’s name on the communist-run authorities to launch prisoners detained throughout mass protests in July of 2021.
EU human rights envoy Eamon Gilmore stated bilateral talks with prime officers in Havana over two days had broached social and financial rights, but in addition, civil and political rights akin to freedom of expression and the correct to meeting, or protest.
Gilmore instructed reporters the U.S. sanctions on Cuba, which sharply curtail monetary transactions, tourism and commerce, had clear impacts on Cuba’s economic system and society.
“It’s hurting the human rights situation because it hurts people on the ground. The people who are impacted are ordinary Cuban citizens who have difficulty accessing food, medicines,” Gilmore instructed reporters earlier than departing Havana late on Friday following a packed agenda of conferences.
“That’s why the European Union, when we do impose sanctions, we target the sanctions at individuals and entities that abuse human rights, rather than at general populations.”
The U.S. says sanctions are crucial to carry the Cuban authorities accountable for rights violations and that it makes exceptions for humanitarian functions and packages to assist the Cuban folks and personal sector.
Gilmore stated Cuba had made some progress on girls’s rights and gender equality, however doubled down on the bloc’s earlier criticisms of Cuba’s dealing with of protests in 2021, the most important since former chief Fidel Castro’s 1959 Revolution.
The USA and the European Union have each critiqued Cuba’s response to these protests as repressive and heavy-handed. Rights teams say round 1,000 Cubans have been jailed for his or her political views following the demonstrations and a number of other subsequent protests.
Gilmore, who stated he met Cubans starting from President Miguel Diaz-Canel to family of jailed protesters, declined to touch upon whether or not he had mentioned a possible prisoner amnesty with Cuban officers.
“I don’t want to get into the detail of what we talked about in terms of the prisoners, other than to say the European Union has a long-standing call for the release of prisoners,” he instructed reporters.
Cuba denies it holds political prisoners and says these detained are responsible of assault, vandalism and sedition, amongst different crimes.
Tensions across the subject flared simply days earlier than Gilmore’s arrival after a prisoner died this week in Cuba, prompting a rebuke from the U.S. embassy, which stated it was “outraged” by the detainee’s demise.
Gilmore stated Cuban officers had offered some particulars to the EU delegation in regards to the case, including that there’s “an investigation underway and we will know the results in due course.”
Gilmore’s go to to Cuba, which concluded with a proper dialogue on Friday with prime Cuban officers on human rights, is a stipulation of a 2016 political and cooperation settlement between the bloc and the Caribbean island nation.
Gilmore described the European Union’s relationship with Cuba as “constructive but critical.”
