October 23 2010
The recent dismissal of Spain’s Pro-Castro foreign minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, the declarations of President Barack Obama, and the well-deserved award to the independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas have been the most important of recent events.
The exit of the La Moncloa official — Moratinos — was an event that had an impact if you bear in mind that it was only hours before the European Union met in full session to analyze whether or not it would maintain its Common Position on Cuba. The exit of Moratinos closes a black chapter of complicity and flirtation with the Castro regime leaders. We will see now if the Spanish executive, with its new foreign minister, assumes the role and listens to the demands for freedom of more than 11 million Cubans.
Let’s hope that going forward Obama continues to be faithful to the principles of the American nation. Just as with terrorists, one neither negotiates nor reaches agreements with tyrannical governments, save those agreements that would be to the benefit of freedom and transparency.
The awarding of the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Coco Fariñas represents a strong blow to the Ortega-Castro duo, since the releases from prison, understood to mean the exile of our imprisoned brothers, and the measures announced in the economic order have monopolized the attention of the press, the press which is in charge of protecting the image that if everything in Cuba is not exactly perfect, it is functioning about normal.
All Cubans are proud of this prize and we think that Fariñas’ contribution to the crisis that confronts the Castro regime represents a landmark in the struggle for democracy and respect for Cuban rights.
Many thanks to the European parliament for their just decision and a thousand thanks to Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas for his courage, altruism and perseverance maintained during his long years of struggle.
Translated by: D. Brazzell