To promote a nonviolent transition to a Cuba that respects human rights, political and economic freedoms, and the rule of law.
Cuban regime, together with ideological allies in Caracas & Managua, vetoes Zelensky EU-CELAC Summit invite. Cuban and Russian defense ministers met in Moscow. EU-CELAC Summit debacle. (Revised)
One of these is not like the others. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, European Council President Charles Michel, Cuba's hand picked president Miguel Diaz-Canel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Miguel Diaz-Canel, who should be in the dock at the International Criminal Court for giving the order of combat against unarmed and nonviolent Cuban citizens on July 11, 2021, was received in Brussels by European leaders at the EU-CELAC Summit.
This is a bilateral summit between a Latin American regional group and the European Union. Ukraine is not a member of either body, and thus needed an invitation. Havana led the successful effort to veto Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's request to participate in the EU-CELAC Summit. The communist dictatorship in Cuba was aided by both Caracas and Managua in this Pro-Putin effort. This is a far cry from what the Europeans wanted in the midst of a major land war in the heart of Europe, but it should not be a surprise.
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was proposed by Hugo Chavez on February 23, 2010, and formed on December 3, 2011, in Caracas, Venezuela, with the signature of The Declaration of Caracas. This regional bloc consists of 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean having five official languages. The purpose of this body is to create an alternative to the Organization of American States, that also excludes Canada, and the United States.
Embracing this regional body, founded by an autocrat, is not good for international human rights, much less democracy.
However, it is not just this regional engagement that is problematic, but also EU bilateral relations with Cuba.
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, the European Union's equivalent of a Secretary of State, traveled to Cuba from 25-27 May 2023 to represent the EU at the third Joint Council, co-chaired on the Cuban dictatorship's side by Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez. Borrell emphasized economic ties, while downplaying human rights concerns, but repeatedly called on the Cuban government to take a more responsible position on Ukraine.
During his May 25-27 visit Borrell highlighted that one third of Cuba's foreign trade was with the European Union, versus only 8% with Russia, and he claimed the relationship was based in "mutual respect." Someone should tell Havana.
Josep Borrell, and Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana in May 2023.
Despite this strong trade relationship, since the start of this second phase of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 the Cuban government, together with their ideological allies in the region, including Managua and Caracas, have sided with Moscow.
Havana is translating Russian propaganda to Spanish, engaging in diplomatic efforts to back Putin's illegal war. In early June 2023 evidence appeared that Havana is escalating its involvement sending "volunteers" to fight both in the Russian army, and the Wagner group.
Havana has signed an agreement with Minsk to send Cuban soldiers to Belarus for "military training". Minsk has sided with Moscow in the Ukraine war.
On June 28, 2023, Cuba and Russian defense ministers met in Moscow to discuss joint 'technical military' projects.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu hosted Cuba’s Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Gen. Alvaro Lopez Miera meet in Moscow.
It is worth reviewing what Havana has been up to prior to the visible presence of troops fighting in Ukraine.
The UN General Assembly on September 16, 2022 voted to allowUkraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to deliver a pre-recorded address next week at the UN General Assembly, reported the Associated Press. Normally, all leaders need to speak in person, but an exception is being made because of the ongoing Russian invasion. 101 countries voted for Zelensky to be able to deliver the pre-recorded statement. 19 nations abstained, and seven voted no. Cuba was one of the seven countries voting "no" together with Belarus, Eritrea, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria, and Russia.
On October 12, 2022 at the UN General Assembly Cuba was one of the 35 countries that abstained, and its ally Nicaragua was one of the 5 that voted against a resolution condemning the Russian Federation’s annexation of four Eastern Ukraine regions.
On September 16, 2022 Cuba was one of seven countries voting "no" at the UN General Assembly together with Belarus, Eritrea, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria, and Russia. This "no" vote was to silence Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky from delivering a pre-recorded address at the UN General Assembly.
On September 15, 2022 "Russian top propagandist Vladimir Solovyov urged for the establishment of an international coalition with countries" that included Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria, Serbia, and Venezuela for its war against Ukraine.
On April 7, 2022 Cuba, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Vietnam, were among those who voted against suspending Russiafrom the UN Human Rights Council ( 93 voted to suspend, 24 against, and 58 abstentions.)
On March 2, 2022 Cuba and Nicaragua abstained from the vote condemning the Russian invasion at the United Nations General Assembly. ( 141 votes to condemn the invasion, 5 against and 35 abstentions).
Euronews reported on February 24, 2022 that "only Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Syria supported the Russian recognition of independence for the occupied regions in Luhansk and Donetsk."
The Cuban government is spreading Russian propaganda both domestically and internationally defending Putin's invasion, and repeating Moscow's talking points.
Cubans dissenting from this official line on the island have been arrested.
Cuba has taken part in Russia’s International Military Exercises that in 2022 were held in Venezuela and Iran.
What is taking place on the international scene today is the maxim and corollary expressed by the late playwright, dissident, and former Czech president Václav Havel, in a August 1969 letter to the overthrown Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubček: "Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance."
The corollary was expressed by him in The New York Times on October 13, 2009 in an article titled "Vaclav Havel, Still a Man of Morals and Mischief": in an interview that was supposed to be about the revolutions that overturned communism 20 years earlier, President Havel asked if it was true that President Obama had refused to meet with the Dalai Lama? Havel responded:
“It is only a minor compromise,” Mr. Havel said of the nonreception of the Tibetan leader. “But exactly with these minor compromises start the big and dangerous ones, the real problems. “This is actually the first time I really do mind something Obama did,” Mr. Havel said. He minded it “much more” than Mr. Obama’s recent decision not to station elements of a missile-defense system in the Czech Republic, a move that several Central European politicians criticized but that Mr. Havel noted was ultimately “an internal American decision.”
Europe’s policy toward Cuba ignores the reality that Cuba is a communist regime that sponsors terrorism, and is allied with Beijing, and Moscow in their shared objective of destroying the existing international order, and replacing it with one overseen by autocrats.
On September 21, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called out Cuba, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Russia, and Syria for their failed attempt to prevent him from addressing the UN General Assembly in a video speech. Based on the warm response Mr. Diaz-Canel received at the EU-CELAC meeting, the Ukrainian President's observation had little impact on European leaders.
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