(AFP)
MADRID — Spanish artists and intellectuals, including Oscar-winning
film-maker Pedro Almodovar, Wednesday launched an initiative to press
for democracy in Cuba.
"The Platform for Spaniards for the Democratisation of Cuba" aims to
defend "the basic and essential human rights" of the people of the
communist-ruled island and help them choose between "democracy and
totalitarianism."
"We Spaniards well know that nothing can justify lack of freedom," the
manifesto said, referring to the 1939-75 dictatorship in Spain of
Francisco Franco.
The initiative came just days before an EU-Latin America summit in
Madrid during which the question of Cuba will be discussed.
Signatories to the platform called on the Spanish government of Prime
Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to drop its policy of
rapprochement with Cuba, which they said had led to "no result."
Spain, which holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, has been
at the forefront of efforts to boost relations with Cuba, a former
Spanish colony.
Spain's Socialist government wants the EU to modify its 1996 common
position on Cuba, which links dialogue to freedoms and human rights on
the island, arguing it has yielded few results.
The EU suspended ties with Cuba after a major roundup of 75 dissidents
in March 2003, but resumed aid cooperation in 2008. Spain and Cuba
renewed ties in 2007.
Besides Almodovar, other celebrities signing the manifesto were
Spanish-Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa and Spanish actress Victoria
Abril.
The new platform "may seem like a small gesture but for those who resist
the dictatorship in difficult, even heroic, conditions, it is something
very important," Vargas Llosa told a news conference called to launch
the initiative.
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