The EU Must Stop Funding the Brutal Cuba Regime

With the drying up of Russian money,  the only thing keeping the racist, repressive regime of the Commies in Cuba alive is €s from the EU.  

From The European Conservative

By Anna Fotyga

Despite the well-known litany of human rights abuses, crimes, and intervention in Putin’s invasion, EU funding to Cuba has not stopped.

Most nations will come to accept that at some point they erred in their foreign policy. It is time that the European Union realises that it too can make mistakes. Recognise these mistakes, learn from them and rectify the problems they create.

Thus far, the EU has been able to avoid the worst consequences of its mistakes. Instead, Ukraine is quite literally taking the fire for us. There should be no doubt about this, the weakness and mistakes of the EU’s foreign policy has helped lead to Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion of our neighbour and potential future member.

The EU’s choice to invite Russian investment, to become dependent on Russian oil and gas and to look the other way as Russia bullied its neighbours. Russia’s so called “special operation,” in many ways, followed the same playbook that had played out all too many times in the past decade or so. This was a predictable invasion that the EU and the West were not prepared for. Unprepared despite clear Russian buildup and previous illegal seizures of land in Crimea, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. As a result, our response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine was slow, shambolic, and shameful. For too long, our leaders dithered and delayed and prevented much needed supplies from entering Ukraine.

That mistake is in the past, and our scramble to keep Ukraine supplied will be our efforts to atone for that clearly significant error. However, we must not assume that the EU’s failures to throw its support behind Ukraine will be our last. Russia has allies in its war against Ukraine, and by extension Europe and the West. Agreements that have seen weapons, supplies and support flow towards Putin’s regime from international outliers such as China, Iran and North Korea. For example, it has been estimated that North Korea alone has supplier more than 3 million artillery shells to the Russian frontline. Arms experts have also been able to confirm that North Korean missiles have been used in Russia’s terror attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine. This is despite the UN arms sanctions on North Korea.

Yet, these are not the only supporters of Russia’s bloody assault on Ukraine and its people. Cuba has been one of the closest allies to Putin’s Russia for quite some time. This may be a legacy of its shared values with the Soviet Union. However, all they share nowadays is a hatred of the West and a shared disregard and lack of care for the rights of their citizens. Cuba’s communist Castro regime is a legacy of the past. Its economic and military ties remain and are once again being strengthened. The recent joint naval exercises may have been a shadow of former provocations, but these old links are being renewed once again. Their alliance has led to Cuba sending troops to Ukraine to fight with the Russian army. At the last estimation, at least 5,000 Cubans have been on the front lines of Putin’s imperialist efforts to expand Russia.

So, where is the EU’s failure? We must follow the money. Over the past 40 years, Europe and the EU have been funding the brutal Communist dictatorship. More than 300 million euros have been funnelled into Cuba by the EU. As of right now, is estimated that the EU is currently funding 80 projects in Cuba at a cost of nearly 155 million euros. Every single one of these projects is run by organisations with close ties to the Raul Castro regime. Despite the well-known litany of human rights abuses, crimes and now, intervention in Putin’s invasion, this funding has not stopped. It is beyond ridiculous that we are still funding Cuba. It must end, and it must end now.