Brussels, 03/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 July, the European Parliament officially awarded the 2010 Sakharov Prize in person to the Cuban dissident Gillermo Farinas.
Deputy President of the European Parliament Gianni Pittella (S&D, Italy) paid tribute to this “freedom fighter”, whose “strong convictions and political activity” have cost him over 11 years in prison and seen him go on 23 hunger strikes. “There are men who write history, men who read history, and men who make history”, he said, quoting Martin Luther King. Pittella told Farinas: “Through your example, you are making history of this inalienable right for the respect of dignity and freedom”.
“This clenched fist represents the strength of hope in democracy that will one day come to Cuba”, Farinas stated. “Cuba will be free through the resolve of its citizens”, he said. He added that his hunger strikes have brought about the freedom of 140 political prisoners.
In Farinas' view, “all Cubans are subject to the arbitrariness of a government that considers the declaration of human rights as enemy propaganda”. He listed the arrests, the threats, the physical blows and the imprisonments that continue to go on. Pittella recalled that in 2012 over 6,600 people were arrested arbitrarily - in other words, a 50% rise compared to 2011. “I have risked my life for this cause, and I will not hesitate to do it again because I believe that what is at stake in our destiny is not just a political or economic equation, but the basic foundation of life and human coexistence, which is freedom”, Farinas stated.
Belarus is Europe's disgrace. Farinas also pointed out that a dictatorship still exists in Europe - Belarus. “There is still a disgrace in Europe, and that's Belarus”, he said, to the applause of MEPs. “I call for the international community's solidarity and aid for these human beings who hit against the last Communist dictatorship on this continent”, Farinas added. “I have heard about Realpolitik but the most real politics, in the most authentic sense, is the human being as an object and subject to all social order. If it is not possible to express oneself freely and if people's rights are not above the rest, then this exercise is neither real nor political”, he commented (our translation). (CG/transl.fl)