EFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 25 November 2023 — The repression of dissent, the violation of political rights and the situation of prisoners sentenced for the protests of 11 July 2021 (11J) were the main complaints from Cuban civil society to the delegation of the European Union (EU) who visited the country this Thursday and Friday.
EFE spoke with three of the up to eight members of civil society that it has identified who met privately with the head of that community delegation, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore.
In addition to Gilmore’s official meetings, in which he met with representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Justice, the EU diplomat’s agenda included interviews with relatives of prisoners, independent journalists, LGBT activists and critical intellectuals.
Professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández told EFE “I found him impressed with what he saw. If you will, alarmed. Hopefully he has positioned himself well,” she said, after having had a telephone conversation with Gilmore because she could not travel to Havana due to a medical condition.
“I found him impressed with what he saw. If you will, alarmed. Hopefully he has positioned himself well”
This Marxist historian and editor, who defends “socialist ideas” and is against the blockade (embargo), will be tried next Tuesday for an alleged crime of disobedience. López could be sentenced to one year in prison.
López Hernández told Gilmore that her case is due to her “deep criticism of the single-party system,” “the State ideology,” the Government’s constitutional breaches, “the repressive attitude” of the authorities an
