Speeches

Mr President, we have come very close to the two biggest nuclear powers going into open conflict using Europe as their game board. And I speak in the past because the United States and its military arm, NATO, have run out of arguments, but they have never really needed them to start their wars. The United States continues to mount wars far from its territory and many European governments have acted irresponsibly, pouring gasoline on the fire. NATO is using Europe, and especially the borders with Russia, as a huge military base serving commercial, military and geostrategic interests other than those of Europe. Mr Borrell, we have many differences, but that does not prevent me from considering you a man of peace who seeks to resolve conflicts politically. I ask you not to allow the European Union to become a troop, a military base, a game board in the service of this decadent empire that is endangering the very existence of the planet.

Madam President, we always welcome the fact that this Parliament is discussing human rights. But you will agree with me that today is not the best day to do so, after the person responsible for a brutal repression against his people, responsible for hundreds of murders of Colombian leaders and social leaders, of hundreds of signatories of the peace agreements, has intervened from this lectern. Yes, as Commander Chávez said, here it smells of sulfur. Mr. Duque can be blamed for many things, but not that he is breaking one of his electoral promises: tearing the peace accords to shreds. We have tried countless times for this Parliament to debate the constant murders in Colombia, the repression of the young people who have participated in the national strike, the more than eight hundred disappeared who are appearing in pieces floating down the river or the women raped in police stations. We wanted to talk here about the links between the army, the police, the paramilitaries and the narcos under the protection of the narco-president Duque and Uribism, but it has not been possible because the right wing of this Parliament acts as their squire. Now they want us to believe that they care about human rights, when this morning they were part of an electoral act of a president with bloodstained hands. Your presence here has been a humiliation for this House. We will continue to stand up for peace agreements and human rights and work tirelessly to make criminals pay for their guilt.

Mr President, some groups are again using this Parliament not to improve people's lives, but as an appendix to the United States: a weapon to implement its national security directive, which, in no way hidden, has targeted China and Russia and is pushing for a new version of the Cold War; They do not seem to have digested yet that Hong Kong ceased to be a colony twenty-five years ago and was once again an integral part of the People's Republic of China. The European Union should not play the role of the United States troops in this war, but should build bridges of understanding; It should not be an interfering agent in China's internal affairs, but respect its sovereignty and work in a spirit of cooperation in search of mutual benefit. Continuing with the current policy of confrontation, provocations, condemnations and sanctions would be detrimental to the citizens of our states: Both workers and businessmen are paying dearly, they are suffering in their flesh and in their pockets, this confrontation with a world economic power that is not filling the world with military bases or generating wars, but establishes with the other countries commercial development relations from which both parties benefit. This policy of subordination to the interests of the U.S. government is losing our peoples important economic opportunities, leaving us isolated from projects as important and inclusive as the Belt and Road. I sincerely expect nothing from those who put their seats at the service of Washington, but I do call on the European Commission, the European Council and Commission Vice-President Borrell to reconsider what role the European Union should play in this scenario: whether it must remain subordinate to the dictates of the White House or whether, as I suggest, it is committed to its own foreign policy based on peace, cooperation, mutual gain, multilateralism, and respect for human rights and the sovereignty of peoples.

Madam President, honourable Member who is the driving force behind this resolution, as good servants of the United States they bring this resolution under the mandate of their boss and as advantaged students of Goebbels, they repeat the same lies a thousand times hoping that they will be considered in truth. There are no arbitrary arrests, torture or disappearances in Cuba. Those who are in prison are in prison for having committed crimes, as in any rule of law. The only violation of human rights that Cuba suffers are the more than 60 years of a criminal blockade imposed by the United States and that you do not even mention in your Resolution. The Cuban Government, the fruit of the heroic Revolution, places the human being at the centre of political, social and economic action. It does not commodify with rights, as it does from this side of the world, especially during the pandemic. This makes Cuba an example of respect for human rights, even if the Honourable Members are not allowed to admit it. Cuba has the lowest infant mortality rate in the Americas. There are no children sleeping on the street or starving, and with their own vaccine they have protected 90% of their population: the best vaccination in America and the second in the world. Far from what their bosses tell them, Cuba is a participatory democracy, with deep roots. Citizens propose different candidates and in free and secret ballot elect their representatives, who each year are accountable in assemblies of neighbors, who can revoke them if they have lost their confidence. This town knows what it's like to be the casino of the YankeesNow that they have their sovereignty and independence in their hands, they will continue to defend it with the cry of "Homeland or Death! We will win! And they will do it until victory always. Cuba lives.

Mr President, Mr Borrell, we already know the formal reasons for this resolution, but I want to get to the real ones: the promoters of this resolution are upset that Ortega has won the elections and that Nicaragua continues to have a government at the service of the people and not at the service of multinationals; are annoyed by their support for a process of regional integration that is at odds with the objectives of the United States; they are upset that he has won for the fourth time in a row against five opposition candidates and that in each election he has won more support - 75%, with a turnout of more than 65% in these last elections - and they are upset that this support is not the result of fear. In Nicaragua, people have not voted threatened by the São Paulo Forum or the Castro-Chavista dictatorships, but by data such as these: Nicaragua ranks fifth globally in gender equity this year; since Ortega's arrival in the government, general poverty has been reduced by almost half, and extreme poverty by more than half; investment in free education at all levels has grown by 381%; investment in free and quality health has increased by 476% ... And these are not data from the São Paulo Forum or the Sandinista Front, they are from people as unsuspecting as the IMF, the World Bank or the United Nations. Ladies and gentlemen who are driving this resolution, there have just been displeasures in Peru, Honduras, Nicaragua, and it is possible that they will soon be in Chile, Colombia or Brazil. I only suggest one thing: that they learn to accept the decisions of the peoples even when they do not like them.

Madam President, one day we will have to see that our main enemies are within NATO and not outside. I'm telling you because if anyone has jeopardized our democracies with their practices in recent years, that has been the United States. Last time, last June: The NSA, thanks to Denmark, atoned for the German government. It wasn't the first time, but it's okay here. You don't even have to look at NATO. We have the threats at home: the extreme right and its satellite companies use social networks daily to manipulate elections, influence consultations such as the Brexit or spread hoaxes. They do it every day, but it's okay. Meanwhile, you are committed to strengthening NATO and serving the United States in its clash with China and Russia. They are pursuing a very dangerous militaristic career. Of course we need a European cybersecurity strategy, but to defend the interests of our people, not to fuel obsolete military structures or conflicts that only interest the United States.

Mr President, frankly, it is going to be difficult for me to talk about the human rights situation in Belarus with which there is a conflict on the border with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. We have three Member States of the European Union blatantly flouting international law and suspending the right to asylum since last summer. They have deployed their armies, declared states of emergency and made hot returns to Belarus of asylum seekers, which has cost them a reprimand from the European Court of Human Rights. To this deployment is added that of Frontex thugs. And, of course, one may think that they are trying to make Belarus the new Turkey, Morocco or Libya, that is, a buffer country, another externalized border. The fact is that the people who are trying to reach the European Union through Belarus come mainly from Afghanistan and Iraq. You will agree with me, Mrs Johansson, that they are not paradises precisely. I believe that Europe should sometime assume its responsibility in these conflicts. Whosoever sows war collects or must collect refugees. You can keep talking about hybrid warfare, encouraging NATO to put pressure on Belarus and so on, but the only solution is to demand that our partners respect human rights. We are talking about dignified reception, respect for the right to asylum, and one thing that Poland loves: solidarity sharing of refugees and migrants. It is not bad that for once some of the most unsupportive countries of the European Union see what it means for cities like Ceuta to be the external border of the European Union.

Madam President, the human rights of the Cuban people have been constantly violated since, more than sixty years ago, the United States imposed a criminal blockade that limits and almost eliminates access to their basic goods. In 1960, President Eisenhower's Secretary of State said that in order to overthrow Castro, the Cuban people had to be suffocated. Obviously, for the promoters of this debate, the rights of the Cuban people are the least. As good stewards, they seek to satisfy their boss by trying to overthrow a government that is at the service not only of its people, but of other peoples of the world, and that does not abide by orders of the empire. You bring us a fictional story in which you denounce a brutal repression against peaceful demonstrators. They talk about arbitrary detentions, disappearances, torture and I don't know how many other things. It seems that they are talking about Colombia, Guatemala or Honduras. But you guys don't talk about them, do you? Does it not seem strange to you that, in the face of such brutal repression, there are no images of the Cuban police repressing the protesters and that, in order to try to set up their story, their media friends have had to resort to images of Egypt, Argentina or Catalonia? Unlike other countries in the region, the rights of all detainees are respected in Cuba. There are no missing persons, no extrajudicial executions, no false positives, no crematory furnaces. Ask Uribe what I'm talking about. Moreover, the opposition manifests itself with absolute freedom and, like any citizen, is only prosecuted when it violates current legislation. This is what happens in all democratic states of law, right? Maybe you expect the Cuban government to let a group of criminals take advantage of peaceful protests to loot shops and attack police stations or hospitals. I repeat, in what democratic rule of law is this allowed to happen? Doing this in Europe is considered terrorism. At this point I do not aspire for you to respect the sovereignty of this example of dignity that is the Cuban people. I would be content if they stopped plunging this Parliament into disgrace. Finally, I would like to tell the Cuban people that they are not alone, that we are with you, that we send you our love and our solidarity, and that we will be with you until victory, always.

Madam President, Mr Borrell, the United States and NATO have led us to twenty years of war in Afghanistan. Twenty years ending with the Taliban back in power, now armed with the arsenal that Washington and its comparsa have left in their flight. The population is at the mercy of the terror of this group created by the United States in the middle of the Cold War. Women and girls will suffer the most from this situation, and we hope that the European Union will take responsibility and facilitate the reception of those fleeing the country. But we must not lose sight of the fact that Afghanistan's problems do not begin now. Mr Borrell, you pointed this out in your opening statement: The United States was going to liberate and democratize the country. Not only have they not done that, but they leave more than 76,000 civilians killed by their humanitarian bombs. Biden himself has acknowledged that all they sought was to defend the interests of the United States and not the lives of Afghans and Afghans. I don't know what else it takes for us to reflect and realize where this policy of subordination to the interests of the Pentagon and the United States leads us. Mr Borrell, in our opinion, the solution is no more armies. The solution is a defense system that is defense and not military intervention... (The Chair took the floor from the speaker).

Madam President, Commissioner, it is really moving to see the suffering and concern that certain groups in this House express about the closure of a newspaper in China, but it would be more credible if those concerns were not expressed only when the facts happen in countries that the United States has in its target. This resolution, in our view, is a new excuse to pour more gasoline into this new version of the cold war unambiguously announced by the United States. If this Parliament were to express the same concern about such acts when they are carried out by EU-friendly countries, then we could begin to believe it. In the meantime, this is nothing more than a crude new interference against a sovereign state, which will undoubtedly help us to have the United States pat us on the back, but which, of course, will only generate losses for the workers, for the companies of the member countries of the European Union. Once again, I insist: Let us leave subordination to the United States and engage with other States with an unequivocal vocation for horizontal cooperation, respect for sovereignty and mutual benefit.

Madam President, Mr Borrell, I would sincerely like to believe that this debate stems from a concern about the illegitimate persecution of some governments of the opposition. But I don't think so. I do not believe it because there are reasons that support me not to believe it. In Colombia, not only are opposition leaders being persecuted, they are being killed. And this European Parliament has said nothing. The same thing that has not said anything or has applauded when President Lugo in Paraguay, President Zelaya in Honduras or President Dilma in Brazil have been removed. We sincerely believe that this is due to a persecution, once again, of one of the ALBA countries, because the ALBA countries maintain a type of integration or promote or promote a type of regional integration that does not coincide with what we would like or with what this Parliament would like. I believe that this Parliament should sincerely care, really care, about democracy, care about the sovereignty of the peoples, support democratic processes and recognize, even if the majority of Parliament does not like it, when there are legitimate elections in which a legitimate president is elected, such as Mr Maduro in Venezuela, instead of supporting self-proclaimed puppets. Then we'd gain a lot of credibility, and we could trust that you're worried about this and you'd have us by your side. You would have us by your side because we certainly will not support persecutions of dissidents, we will not support persecutions of opponents, and we will support democratic processes wherever they occur, even if we do not like the results.