June 19, 2026
Assoc. of Friendship between Cuba and Italy condemns the European Parliament in Rome
The National Association of Friendship between Italy and Cuba (Anaic) condemned the resolution against the Caribbean nation approved this Thursday by the European Parliament, which it describes as an act of political aggression, according to a statement released in Rome.
In this statement, Anaic explains that the resolution is a manifestation of the subservience of European right-wing forces to the dictates of the United States, an action that contravenes the most basic norms of international law, which prohibit interference in the internal affairs of nations.
The solidarity association regrets that the European Parliament has adopted such an anti-Cuban stance, “precisely while the US administration is tightening the criminal economic, commercial, and financial blockade that has been illegally strangling the Cuban people for more than sixty years.”
They consider it “an intolerable act of hypocrisy” that right-wing MEPs ignore in their resolution that the economic hardships suffered by the Cuban population today are the direct result of a ruthless and asymmetric economic war waged by the United States against that country.
With its most recent measures of this kind, the US government “is expanding secondary sanctions to affect even European companies that trade with the island,” the document, titled “Don’t Touch Cuba,” emphasizes.
By calling for a review of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement with Cuba (PDCA), which establishes the legal framework for bilateral relations, the resolution “chooses to align itself with the dictates of the White House instead of defending the economic autonomy of our continent and international law,” the text points out.
“The Europe that today presumes to lecture on democracy and calls for the end of the ADPC is the same Europe that forgets Cuba’s extraordinary international solidarity,” they stated, citing as an example the Cuban medical brigades that supported Italy during the darkest months of the Covid-19 pandemic, and those currently serving in Calabria.
The ANAIC reiterated in the statement that “Cuba’s sovereignty, self-determination, and social model belong exclusively to the Cuban people” and that no foreign parliament has the right to interfere in the internal political processes of a sovereign state.
In this regard, the statement continued, “we urge the Italian government and the European Union to reject the sanctions contained in that resolution, maintain their firm commitment to bilateral dialogue and mutual respect, and demand the immediate end to the US blockade, the true and sole cause of the Cuban people’s suffering.”
Bruno – Rodriguez
Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, affirmed on Friday that his country will continue to commit to maintaining ties with the European Union based on equality, reciprocity, and mutual respect.
On the social media platform X, the foreign minister defended Cuba’s position in favor of implementing the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) with the European Union, agreed upon in 2016 and put into force in 2017, and emphasized that the mechanism preserves equity in addressing issues of common interest and differences.
Referring to a new resolution against Havana approved this Thursday in the European Parliament, the top Cuban diplomat commented that right-wing political forces in that legislative body prefer to join the US narrative designed to justify the energy blockade, the extreme economic war, and the White House’s military threat against the Cuban people.
They don’t even dare to invoke European sovereignty, jurisdiction, and interests in the face of US interference and pressure against their companies and citizens.
According to the foreign minister, this omission violates both EU and national laws and regulations, in particular Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96 of 22 November 1996, which protects against the effects of the extraterritorial application of legislation adopted by a third country and actions based on or derived from it.
This doesn’t surprise us, commented Bruno Rodríguez, and he recalled “the silence and complicity of these same groups in the face of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.”
In a press release published this Thursday, the Cuban Embassy in Belgium stated that the resolution constitutes yet another exercise in political manipulation, double standards, and subordination to the most extremist and hostile political agendas of the United States against the island.
It denounced the fact that the approved text insists on requesting the suspension of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) between Cuba and the European Union, ignoring the legal nature of said instrument, as well as the institutional competencies within the European Union itself.
According to the statement, the agreement is political, comprehensive, and bilateral, encompassing the areas of political dialogue and cooperation, and governing relations between Cuba and the European Union and its Member States, based on principles of sovereign equality, reciprocity and mutual respect.
Source: ACN, translation Ed Newman, Radio Havana Cuba