Laima Andrikienė: ‘There should be zero tolerance for the crimes of the Cuban regime’
Press release, 1 July 2021
The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania has concluded its Spring Session by adopting several important decisions. The Resolution on the Republic of Cuba, the submission of which was supported by signatures of 35 MPs, is one of the kind. The document was signed, among others, by V. Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas; Viktoras Pranckietis, former Speaker of the Seimas; Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of Economy and Innovation; Emanuelis Zingeris, initiator of the Resolution, Laima Andrikienė, Deputy Chair of the Committee on European Affairs, and Laurynas Kasčiūnas, Chair of the Committee on National Security and Defence. The Resolution was passed with 82 MPs voting in favour, no votes against and 17 abstentions.
During the plenary debate on the Resolution, Laima Andrikienė from the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrat Political Group noted that ‘Cuba, which has a true potential of being an island, even of freedom in the 21st century, has been governed by the communist regime for 60 years now, with all the implications arising therefrom. Not only does the criminal regime disregard Cuba’s international commitments and the United Nations Universal Human Rights Declaration, but also violates, systematically and very gravely, fundamental human and civil rights’.
Ms Andrikienė took note of the high number of political prisoners in Cuba and the situation of their family members who are exposed to persistent persecution. She also voiced her concern that ‘the Cuban authorities act in concert with other non-democratic regimes, in particular Russia, Venezuela, and Iran. Terrorist groups, which are active in Columbia and financed from the proceeds of drug trafficking and abduction of people, are trained in Cuba, with the participation of Russian special service instructors. Venezuela is also one of the targets of the above alliance whose goal is to destabilise and consequently control the situation in the country, by maintaining the non-democratic Nicolás Maduro, successor of Hugo Chávez’s, in power. The Cuban regime poses a real and serious threat to the region as a whole.’
‘Our Resolution states in a well-grounded manner that political prisoners must be released unconditionally and that their persecution must be stopped. Our uncompromising stance is that there should be zero tolerance to brutal crimes of the regime,’ stressed the Member of the Seimas.
‘By adopting the Resolution, the Seimas has confirmed that the position of the Lithuanian state on the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Cuba remains unchanged. Lithuania will not ratify the said agreement unless the respective conditions are satisfied. The conditions, in fact, were spelt out to the Lithuanian parliamentarians in the previous parliamentary term by Cuban opposition members, including Guillermo Fariñas, political prisoner and laureate of the Sakharov Prize, who visited Seimas in December 2019. Release of political prisoners, freedom of press and speech, freedom of association, and freedom of establishment and activities for political parties represent the steps that are to be taken by the Cuban government without delay, if it wants full ratification of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Cuba,’ noted Ms Andrikienė, co-initiator of the Resolution.
Lithuania is currently the only EU Member State that has not yet ratified the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Cuba, which was signed on 12 December 2016.
Aldona Drėgvaitė, Assistant to Dr.Laima Andrikienė, Member of the Seimas, e-mail: [email protected]
Monika Kutkaitytė