Cuba, the Commission fails to comment on Trump’s embargo: “No comment”

Brussels – The normalisation of relations between the European Union and Cuba can wait. Compared to ten years ago, everything has changed, and support for the Castro regime is no longer a priority. The priority now is not to upset the new American administration and its leader, President Donald Trump, too much. The tycoon has  threatened tariffs on anyone who tries to supply the Caribbean island with oil, with the aim of weakening the government and causing it to collapse. But at the cost of a humanitarian crisis for civil society, which will be left with nothing to live on. Faced with this, the European Commission has nothing to say, and what little it does stammer seems to justify Trump’s actions. 

“We have no comment at this time,” was the initial reaction from Paula Pinho, head of the Commission’s spokesperson service. However, this was followed by a response from Anour el Anouni, spokesperson for the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, who spoke about other matters. “The situation in Cuba remains worrying in terms of respect for human rights,” she began. She then added: “As the European Union, we continue to urge the Cuban authorities to respect and protect the rights of all citizens.” 

Brussels’ reaction to Donald Trump’s announcements, therefore, seems to confirm the legitimacy of the actions taken by the White House and establish that it is acceptable to starve a population. This is despite the fact that Kallas, in response to a parliamentary question on the matter, expressed “the need to end the US embargo and related issues concerning Cuba, such as the inclusion of the island on the list of states that support terrorism.”.The Commission, therefore, ends up contradicting itself in order not to antagonise the current US president.