The European Parliament’s left-wing cannot let the Cuban regime go

The Cuban regime’s crackdown on protesters partaking in the mass demonstrations that erupted in the country in July 2021 was brutal: Authorities have reportedly beaten Cuban citizens and detained them arbitrarily. Consequently, the European Parliament approved a resolution condemning Havana’s anti-democratic measures and calling on the Council to sanction officials party to human rights abuses in the country. The text was supported by nearly two-thirds of MEPs casting a vote.

• The majority of MEPs sitting in S&D abstained on the proposed text, while most representatives from the Greens voted against it – despite the fact that both groups generally condemn autocratic steps by regimes similar to that in Cuba. It is less surprising that the vast majority of the far-right The Left’s MEP rejected the text.
• This is not the first time that the left-wing of the European Parliament did not support a resolution criticizing the Cuban far-left regime. S&D was even clearer on an earlier text denouncing the state of the rule of law in Cuba: the majority voted against it. In some cases, the S&D and Greens were similarly ambivalent on matters related to Venezuela.
• On the debate on 16 September 2021 concerning Cuban governmental crackdowns, S&D’s speaker revealed that the group did not think sanctions affecting citizens would help the situation. However, the resolution mentions no such thing, the proposed sanctions would only affect officials party to human rights abuses in the country. The Greens’ speaker said that the Cuban government did need to implement reforms, and then called on the Biden administration to lift the American economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba.

 Share of votes within the political groups of the EP