The Spanish MEP Hermann Tertsch intervened in the Plenary of the European Parliament to harshly denounce the situation in Cuba and demand the end of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and Havana, stating that the Cuban dictatorship is "closer than ever to collapse".
"This dictatorship is now closer than ever to collapse, due to its brutal and abysmal general failure that generates nothing but misery, fear, hunger, and death," declared Tertsch, a Member of the European Parliament from the Patriots for Europe group, to which the VOX party belongs.
The parliamentarian described it as "frustrating" that, after 67 years of communist dictatorship, the European Union continues to maintain an agreement that, in his view, has provided the regime with "an assumed legitimacy and millions of euros from the European taxpayer."
Tertsch directly questioned the commissioner present at the debate about whether the European funds actually reach Cuban civil society: "Who do you really know from Cuba to believe that any of that money truly goes to civil society, rather than to the party organizations that terrorize the people and to the mafia groups at the top of the dictatorship?"
The MEP also denounced that the agreement has provided "precious oxygen to a regime in agony, allowing it to continue extending its tentacles of violence, crime, and subversion throughout Ibero-America."
In his speech, Tertsch recalled that both the opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer and the writer Zoe Valdés have appeared before the European Parliament and that both called for American intervention to end the regime, a request that the MEP described as the only stance with "common sense" and "compassion" for the Cuban people.
Ferrer, exiled from Cuba in October 2025 after a hunger strike in the Mar Verde prison, appeared before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on May 5 and described Cuba as being in "the worst crisis of its modern history," labeling the EU-Cuba agreement as "an aspirin for a terrible cancer."
Tertsch's intervention is part of a parliamentary debate in which the head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, also participated, who warned Cuba that "today a negotiated reform is preferable" before the country "collapses tomorrow."
This parliamentary pressure is not new. On May 11, Tertsch had already announced that Patriots for Europe would present a formal resolution to immediately suspend agreements with Cuba, an initiative promoted by VOX within the group.
In January, the Plenary of the European Parliament had already approved an amendment with 331 votes in favor to review and suspend cooperation with Cuba, citing the presence of over 1,076 Cuban fighters in Ukraine and the use of European funds in repressive structures.
According to the organization Prisoners Defenders, Cuba had 1,260 political prisoners as of the end of April, of which 785 are currently serving time in prison.
The European Parliament is set to vote in June 2026 on a resolution regarding Cuba stemming from this debate, with Tertsch hoping to push for the definitive end of an agreement that, in his own words, turns those who uphold it into accomplices: "Everything else is complicity with crime."
Filed under: