Open Letter: It is Time to End the PDCA and Stop Financing the Cuban Regime   

The Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) between the European Union and the communist regime in Cuba was signed on the 12th of December in 2016 and was approved by the Parliament on the 5th of July in 2017. After that, all EU member states, except Lithuania, have ratified the agreement. 

The agreement has not led to improvements of the situation of the human rights in Cuba. On the contrary, there are today over 1,400 political prisoners in Cuba. The communist dictatorship in Cuba has denied its people the most basic civil liberties and rights for over six decades. This same regime has served as an enthusiastic Soviet and Russian proxy, actively participating in foreign interventions from Angola to now Ukraine. In addition to this, the Havana regime has actively worked to undermine democracy in the entire region, having a direct role in propping up dictatorships in Venezuela and Nicaragua. 

The European Union also funds various development projects, which are supportive of repression and flawed totalitarians institutions. Currently, the EU is reportedly funding 80 projects in Cuba to the value of 155 million euros. The funding is directed to organizations linked to the regime. However, most of the EU’s support goes through the UN, which brokers the funds. This is happening while the Cuban dictatorship doesn’t allow special rapporteurs for human rights to travel to Cuba, to visit political prisoners, activists, or self-employed Cubans. UN aid is also accused of being used by the regime against the population. 

In 2023, during its presidency of the European Council, the Swedish government stated that it views with concern the continued negative developments in Cuba and the repressive actions of the Cuban state. The Swedish government said that “it can be stated that the PDCA [Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement] has now been applied provisionally for just over five years and the government’s assessment is that there are reasons for a review of the EU’s engagement policy and the PDCA, including the EU’s aid to Cuba.” Despite this, no action was taken. 

The Swedish government was later asked why no measures were taken to initiate a review of the  PDCA during the Swedish presidency. The answer from the minister for international development cooperation and foreign trade, Mr. Johan Forssell, was: 

As EU chairman, Sweden’s role was to work for cohesion and coordination in the EU’s common foreign and security policy. It would therefore have been difficult to pursue a line in this role that goes against the EU’s common line. I firmly believe that a review of PDCA is warranted. Sweden has now handed over the presidency of the EU to Spain and will therefore work to ensure that a review of the PDCA takes place. This is done by raising the issue for discussion within EU cooperation and by gathering support from other member states for the line that a review is now warranted.

The fact is that the EU financing of tyranny in the largest Caribbean Island has served only to embolden repression. The billions poured by Europe through the PDCA with the Cuban regime and the Club of Paris credit lines and loan forgiveness has not reached the people of Cuba. It has financed the regime that represses them. 

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Cuban regime has declared full support for the Russian aggression and deepened its cooperation with Russia as well as the Russian allies Belarus and Iran. On the 18th of May in 2023, Belarus deputy defense minister for international military cooperation, Valery Revenko, said on Twitter that Belarus would train Cuban troops and that military cooperation between the two countries would take place “in a planned manner.” On the 24th of May, six days after Belarus’ announcement, news outlets in Russia’s Ryazan region reported that “several Cubans” were taken to the “special military operation” zone (that is, Ukraine), as well that Vladimir Putin would grant them citizenship and pay them monthly wages of $2,545 for a year and a one-time payment of about $4,933. The day after, on the 25th of May, a Russian TikToker shared a video where alleged Cuban citizens, wearing the Cuban flag, were fighting in Ukraine. 

On the 5th of September in 2023, a Russian high-ranking military officer confirmed to The Moscow Times that international battalions on the frontlines in Ukraine were made up mainly of Cubans and Serbians. Several Cubans, including two 19-year-old citizens and their relatives, have denounced that citizens in the island are signing contracts with the Russian military. The mother of one of the enlisted young men explained that Russian officers have threatened her son with imprisonment for 30 years in Russia or Cuba if they don’t fight in Ukraine. 

In March, before Cuban troops were sent to Europe, Raul Castro and Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the security council of Russia, met in Havana to align their military priorities with each other. They concluded that there was a need for greater cooperation between their armies on issues like “threats from the West” and counteracting “color revolutions” in Cuba and Europe. 

The European Union says that it stands up for Ukraine against the Russian aggression, but it has an  agreement with and finances a regime that cooperates and supports the Russian and Belarusian  dictatorships and deploys soldiers to engage in the war against Ukraine. This is hypocrisy. 

For the sake of the freedom and life of Cubans, for the sake of democracy in Latin America, in further support for Ukraine, the EU should review its misguided policy towards the totalitarian state ruling the island nation.  

We, the undersigned members of parliaments in Europe and in Latin America, urge the EU and the  governments to take action to end the PDCA and stop financing the Cuban regime.  

BJÖRN SÖDER, Sweden 

MARKUS WIECHEL, Sweden

ANGELICA LUNDBERG, Sweden 

ANN-CHRISTINE FROHM UTTERSTEDT, Sweden

BEATRICE TIMGREN, Sweden 

CAMILLA BRODIN, Sweden 

CHARLIE WEIMERS, Sweden 

CHRISTIAN CARLSSON, Sweden 

ERIK HELLSBORN, Sweden 

FREDRIK MALM, Sweden 

GUDRUN BRUNEGÅRD, Sweden 

HANS EKLIND, Sweden 

LARS WISTEDT, Sweden 

NIMA GHOLAM ALI POUR, Sweden 

MAGNUS BERNTSSON, Sweden 

MATHEUS ENHOLM, Sweden  

MATS ARKHEM, Sweden 

MONA OLIN, Sweden 

PATRICK RESLOW, Sweden 

RASMUS GIERTZ, Sweden 

JESSICA STEGRUD, Sweden 

PATRICK RESLOW, Sweden 

SARA GILLE, Sweden 

SARA-LENA BJÄLKÖ, Sweden 

STAFFAN EKLÖF, Sweden 

ULF LINDHOLM, Sweden 

VICTORIA TIBLOM, Sweden 

FATMIR MEDU, Albania 

MARTIN GRAF, Austria 

ERKIN GADIRLI, Azerbaijan 

ADELINE BLANCQUAERT, Belgium 

BOB DE BRABANDERE, Belgium 

MARK DEMESMAEKER, Belgium 

ELLEN SAMYN, Belgium  

CHRISTOPH HOFFMANN, Germany 

MALTE KAUFMANN, Germany

DOMENICA SPINELLI, Italy 

ELISABETTA GARDINI, Italy 

EMANUELE LOPERFIDO, Italy 

ESTER MIELI, Italy 

FABIO PIETRELLA, Italy 

LUCREZIA MANTOVANI, Italy 

MARCO SCURRIA, Italy 

BOB VAN PAREREN, Netherlands 

AUDRONIUS AŽUBALIS, Lithuania

EMANUELIS ZINGERIS, Lithuania

LAURYNAS KASČIŪNAS, Lithuania

ŽYGIMANTAS PAVILIONIS, Lithuania 

GRZERGORZ BIERECKI, Poland 

IWONA ARENT, Poland 

RADOSLAW FOGIEL, Poland 

SORIN-TITUS MUNCACIU, Romania 

GABRIEL MATO ADROVER, Spain

HERMANN TERTSCH, Spain 

JOSÉ MARIÁ SÁNCHEWZ GARCIÁ, Spain 

IGOR KRYVOSHEYEV, Ukraine 

MARYAN ZABLOTSKYI, Ukraine

OLEKSANDR MEREZHKO, Ukraine

OLEKSII GONCHARENKO, Ukraine

OLENA KHOMENKO, Ukraine 

SERHII KALCHENKO, Ukraine 

SMYATOSLAV YURASH, Ukraine

YAROSLAV YURCHYSHYN, Ukraine 

EDWARD LEIGH, United Kingdom

IAN LIDDEL-GRAINGER, United Kingdom

JOHN HOWELL, United Kingdom

RICHARD KEEN, United Kingdom

ROYSTON SMITH, United Kingdom

SALLY-ANN HART, United Kingdom

SHERRYLL MURRAY, United Kingdom

SIMON RUSSEL, United Kingdom 

ELI FEINZAIG, Costa Rica 

GILBERTO CAMPOS, Costa Rica 

JOHANA, OBANDO, Costa Rica 

JORGE DENGO, Costa Rica 

KATTIA CAMBRONERO, Costa Rica

LUIS DIEGO VARGAS, Costa Rica 

ANA MARÍA ORTIZ, El Salvador 

IZABEL ARGUETA, El Salvador 

JAVIER PALOMO, El Salvador 

LISSETH PALMA, El Salvador 

RICARDO GODOY, El Salvador 

SILVIA OSTORGA DE ESCOBAR, El Salvador 

ALVARO VIVIANO, Uruguay 

ELSA CAPILLEIRA, Uruguay 

MARTIN ELGUE, Uruguay 

RODRIGO GOI, Uruguay