President Of The European Parliament Asks Fariñas Not To Endanger His Life

President Of The European Parliament Asks Fariñas Not To Endanger His
Life / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, 9 September 2016 – The President of the European
Parliament, Martin Schulz, has shown his support of peaceful protests by
the Cuban opposition to defend human rights, but is asking Guillermo
Fariñas to give up his hunger and thirst strike so as to "not put your
life in danger."

"Although I can assure you that peaceful initiatives to improve the
political situation and human rights in Cuba have my personal support, I
care about the health of Mr. Fariñas and ask him not to put his life in
danger," he says in a letter.

Schulz was responding to a letter that Berta Soler and Fariñas himself
sent him on June 29 demanding that the bilateral agreement signed in
March between the European Union and the Government of Cuba had human
rights as a priority.

According to the president of the European Parliament, the authorities
in Havana pledged to "improve the situation" during the first dialogue
on human rights held on the island on June 6, but since then no changes
have been observed.

"I regret the events denounced in his letters and for which he has begun
another hunger and thirst strike to protest ill-treatment received and,
above all, to call on the Cuban authorities to engage in dialogue with
dissidents," adds Schulz, who notes that the European Parliament is an
institution concerned with human rights and stresses the importance to
its members of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which both
Fariñas and Soler have received.

Schulz says he has sent the missives of Fariñas and Soler to the
relevant parliamentary committees on human rights and invites the
opponents to follow up the evaluation process of the agreement.

The President of the European Parliament indicates to the dissidents
that the institution may or may not consider the agreements between the
European Union and third countries, a process that has not yet begun in
the case of the island.

Cuba and the European Union signed an agreement on March 11 on political
dialogue and cooperation that ended the old "common position" adopted in
1996 which linked dialogue with Cuba to progress on rights and freedoms.

The new policy was agreed between Havana and representatives of the
European Commission, the legislative and executive body of the Union,
and is awaiting the ratification of the European Council. The
Parliament, chaired by Schulz, is independent of these agencies and is
the only one of the highest institutions of the EU directly elected by
citizens.

Source: President Of The European Parliament Asks Fariñas Not To
Endanger His Life / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/president-of-the-european-parliament-asks-farinas-not-to-endanger-his-life-14ymedio/