EU: Relations between the European Union and Cuba have hit a dead end over the communist-run island's human rights record, with little prospect for improvement in the near future, diplomats said yesterday.
President Fidel Castro, annoyed by European support for Cuban dissidents, lashed out at EU governments on July 26th and declared that Cuba would not accept any more aid from Brussels, alleging it was tied to unacceptable political conditions.
In June, the EU had announced it was cutting back political contacts with Cuba due to the mass arrest of 75 dissidents and the summary executions of three ferry hijackers trying to reach the US. The EU also invited dissidents to national day receptions of its 15 member-states in Havana.
European diplomats said they could not let pass the executions and the jailings of dissidents for terms of up to 28 years, even though their stance may affect EU commercial interests in Cuba.
"We are not going to sacrifice our principles, which are part of the founding principles of the EU, for the sake of good relations with any country," said EU representative in Havana Mr Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff.
"We would have been inconsistent with our policy elsewhere if we had not acted on the human rights issue," he said.
Dr Castro accused the EU of being servile to his arch-enemy the US and ganging up on Cuba with Washington, which has maintained economic sanctions against the island for over four decades. "We have a clearly distinct policy from the United States. The EU has voted every year in the UN for the Cuban-sponsored resolution condemning the US embargo," said Mr von Burgsdorff.