European Union signs onto Bush's campaign against Cuba

["Jose G. Perez" <jg_perez@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I guess Bush must have bought or extorted this at the G8 summit.

José

-----Original Message-----
From: 
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 12:47 PM
To: 
Subject: EU declaration on Cuba. 


EU declaration on Cuba. 

EUROPEAN COUNCIL OF MINISTERS PRESS RELEASE: 9961/03 (Presse 157) 

DOCUMENT DATE: JUNE 5, 2003 

Declaration by the Presidency, on behalf of the European Union, on Cuba

Following the recent deplorable actions of the Cuban authorities aiming
not only at violating fundamental freedoms in Cuba, but also at
depriving civilians of the ultimate human right, that of life, the EU
regrets that the Cuban authorities broke the de-facto moratorium on the
death penalty and wishes to inform the international community that on 5
June it addressed the following demarche to the Cuban authorities: 

"The EU, deeply concerned about the continuing flagrant violation of
human rights and of fundamental freedoms of members of the Cuban
opposition and of independent journalists, being deprived of their
freedom for having expressed freely their opinion, calls once again the
Cuban authorities to release immediately all political prisoners. 

While expecting a favourable response from the Cuban authorities, the
EU, mindful of increasing reports about poor detention conditions of
prisoners with serious health problems, appeals to the Cuban authorities
that, in the meantime, the prisoners do not suffer unduly and are not
exposed to inhumane treatment." 

Furthermore and vis-`-vis the current situation in Cuba, the EU has
unanimously decided to: - limit the bilateral high-level governmental
visits - reduce the profile of member states' participation in cultural
events - invite Cuban dissidents at national days celebrations - proceed
to the re-evaluation of the EU common position. 

The Acceding Countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, the
Associated Countries Bulgaria and Romania and the EFTA countries,
members of the European Economic Area align themselves with this
declaration.