Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-03-Speech-3-015"
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"en.20030903.1.3-015"2
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"Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, today’s debate on the situation in Cuba tells us one simple fact: it tells us how difficult it is to promote and support human rights and democracy when we are faced with a totalitarian regime and we have been trying everything for years: constructive dialogue, economic cooperation, humanitarian aid. We have tried everything and I feel that the answer is simply to take a harder line, so much so that a Socialist Member was prompted to say ‘We hope that Fidel Castro, who is 77 years old, will die, so that …’, for, quite frankly, Fidel Castro has been a thorn in our side for some time now.
Maybe we could reflect on another point, we could reflect on the fact that, when our democracies are divided over a dictator, we will not go far. The time may have come to talk about the World Organisation of Democracies, Mr President, Commissioner, in an attempt to adopt a more coherent attitude, a more coherent approach. Let us consider it, for we have tried everything. What is the point, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, of keeping a delegation open when we are dealing with an official who appears to be a hostage of the regime more than anything, and is certainly not a promoter or defender – or is a purely symbolic, certainly not genuine defender – of civil and human rights?
The frustration is real: constructive dialogue with a dictator is proving to have its limits and the real question is what to do. I believe that the World Organisation of Democracies is one of the instruments we should pursue with great, or rather immense determination."@en1
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