Rosa María Payá and promoters of Cuba Decide meet in Westminster with members of the British Parliament

The activist for democracy and coordinator of the citizen platform Cuba Decide, Rosa María Payá, is in London to denounce the situation of the Cuban people before the British Parliament, brief them on the alliance of the dictatorship with the Putin regime, and request action on the part of the British government.

Today, she held her first meeting at the Palace of Westminster with various Members of Parliament.

Among the objectives of Payá and the group of promoters of Cuba Decide who are in Europe, is first to report on the precarious situation, on a humanitarian scale, that the island is facing and the intensification of repression. Highlighting the situation of the more than 1,000 political prisoners and the 14 children who are among them.

Payá warned about the relations between Cuba and Russia, which has threatened to send its troops to the island if the United States administration does not comply with Putin’s demands.

The Cuban delegation bases its proposals to the parliament and the government on the proposals of the opposition and civil society in the Pasos de Cambio initiative created in 2019. Specifically, Payá asked the UK to:

• Denounce the illegitimacy of the Cuban regime and support the Cuban people to recover their sovereignty.
• Stop impunity and hold the regime accountable for its abuses, through political, financial and diplomatic sanctions, directed at the high command of the regime and also at the judges and prosecutors of the trials against the protesters, using the sanctions mechanism that it has the United Kingdom
• Cancel Havin Bank’s license to operate in the UK (Havin Bank operations provide funds to the military conglomerate of the dictatorship).
• Put the Sullivan Principles into practice: require companies that still do business with the Cuban regime to adopt the global Sullivan Principles, so that companies work together to respect human rights.
• Cancel any existing contract in British Territories through the Cuban State for medical brigades, hire Cuban workers directly.

“Democracies in Europe should not negotiate with the regime. First, they must demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners; the end of the repression; respect in law and in practice for freedom of expression, association (including independent political parties), public assembly, and economic freedom,” the opposition leader stated.