Cuba dictatorship an embarrassment, Spanish politician says

Madrid, Spain, Dec 7, 2012 / 16:08 pm

The president of the People's Party in Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, called on Spaniards to commit to the democratization of Cuba and "take on" the dictatorship of the Castro brothers.

"I want to say very loudly and clearly that for the citizens of the western countries, for all the citizens of the democratic countries that share the same cultural roots and the same moral and political values, the existence of the Communist dictatorship in Cuba is a reason for embarrassment and a call to our sense of freedom and responsibility," Aguirre said.

The Spanish politician made her comments during a ceremony on Dec. 4 at headquarters of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents honoring the founder of the Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba, Oswaldo Paya, and dissident Harold Cepero.

Both dissidents were killed in an alleged car accident on July 22 in Cuba. Paya's family has rejected the Cuban government's version of how the opposition leader died and continues to maintain that his death may have been intentional.

During her remarks, Aguirre announced she has joined a petition calling for an international investigation into the deaths.
 
The political leader also stressed that the "commitment against the Castro dictatorship needs be greater in Spaniards."

"Because it was the last republic to gain independence, Cuba is the American nation with the closest ties to Spain, and they are very strong," she explained. "Family ties, sentimental ties and emotional ties."

These bonds mean Spaniards have "more responsibility than anyone else when it comes to taking on the dictatorship, and when it comes to collaborating with the dissidence in order to achieve, once and for all, a return to a free Cuba," Aguirre said.

"So that once and for all, Cuba ceases to be a sinister anomaly among the nations of the West to which it belongs."