“Violence in Cuba is not a threat, it is a reality”: MEP responds to Pope Leo XIV

Spanish MEP Hermann Tertsch responded this Sunday to Pope Leon XIV, after the pontiff expressed his concern about the rising tensions between Cuba and the United States and called for dialogue "to avoid violence."

In a message posted on the X platform, Tertsch stated that "Cuba is not threatened by violence, but rather lives in a permanent, brutal, and massive violence exercised by the power against the people."

The politician denounced that this violence has been ongoing for 67 years, manifesting in the form of "murders, torture, imprisonment, hunger, misery, and terror," and insisted that any action aimed at ending this situation must be seen as an act of justice.

“Any action, even traumatic, that punishes the killers and takes away their power to harm will be welcomed and blessed by the Cubans, as was what happened on January 3 in Venezuela,” wrote Tertsch, referring to the capture of Nicolás Maduro during the military operation ordered by Donald Trump.

Pope Leo XIV had published a message hours earlier in which he expressed his "deep concern about the rise in tensions between Cuba and the United States," urging to "avoid any action that would increase the suffering of the Cuban people," appealing to the Virgin of Charity of Cobre as a symbol of national unity.

The pope's words provoked mixed reactions among the Cuban exile community and in international political circles.

Several activists and opposition members expressed disappointment that the Vatican did not acknowledge the systematic repression by the communist regime, describing its call for dialogue as "equidistant and unjust."

Tertsch, one of the most active MEPs in denouncing human rights violations in Cuba, recalled that Castroism has been “a constant source of destabilization and suffering on the continent.”

"That violence is not potential; it is daily, and it does not come from the people, but from the regime," he concluded.

Cuban boxer Yordenis Ugás also reacted, who directed a similar message to the Pope: “We have endured 67 years of suffering and pain. Any action that can change that suffering and pain for so many millions of Cubans will be welcomed,” he wrote on his social media.