The congresswoman of the Popular Party (PP), Belén Hoyo Juliá, delivered one of the most incisive speeches about Cuba this Wednesday in the Congress of Deputies of Spain, in response to a non-legislative proposal from Sumar urging the Government to lead the defense of the island within the European Union against the U.S. embargo.
A non-legislative proposal (PNL) is a parliamentary initiative through which a chamber, in this case, the Congress of Deputies, expresses its position on a topic or urges the Government to take specific action.
Sumar launched the initiative to urge the Government of Pedro Sánchez to lead the defense of Cuba in the European Union against the "economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States" on the island. The proposal did not pass; it received 163 votes in favor, 170 against, and 13 abstentions.
Belén Hoyo's speech on Cuba
The speech by the PP deputy from Valencia went viral on Cuban social media. The video was shared on Facebook by various opponents, including José Daniel Ferrer García, founder of UNPACU.
Hoyo Juliá began his remarks by pointing out that the Sumar initiative did not contain the words "dictatorship," "political prisoners," "censorship," "repression," or "persecution" even once.
"It is not a problem of misinformation; it is a problem of choice. And the choice you have made is to be with the executioners instead of standing with their victims," Hoyo stated before the assembly.
Addressing the Sumar deputy Enrique Santiago directly, the popular parliamentarian did not hold back on the irony.
"How easy it is to defend the Cuban Revolution from Spanish democracy. How easy it is to praise a one-party system from a seat that has been obtained in free elections."
The phrase directed at Sumar that encapsulated the essence of the speech was a devastating contrast: “For you, freedom; for Cubans, repression; for you, pluralism; for Cubans, a single party; for you, alternation; for Cubans, resignation,” said the Valencian.
Hoyo was direct in defining the nature of the regime: «Cuba is a dictatorship, a dictatorship that has denied entire generations democracy and freedom for more than six decades», he stated, also rejecting the appropriation of the concept of «Cuban people» by the promoters of the initiative.
The Cuban people are not the Castro regime. The Cuban people are those who have been persecuted and silenced by that regime. The Cuban people are those who remain there, on the island, living in fear, but they are also those who have had to flee and choose between their homeland or their freedom.
The speech included a direct criticism of the PSOE and its historical leaders. According to Hoyo, "Zapatero found in the complicity with certain Latin American dictatorships a way to do business," while "Pedro Sánchez has found a new way to govern, where anything goes if it helps to stay in power."
In the same debate, Santiago had argued that the Cuban people are "being slowly exterminated" by the embargo and that the United States is creating "a humanitarian crisis" on the island.
The debate takes place in a context of increasing international pressure on the Cuban regime. In June 2026, the European Parliament passed a resolution that called for individual sanctions against Díaz-Canel and leaders of GAESA, with 283 votes in favor.
Hoyo concluded his speech with a message of hope directed to both Cubans and Nicaraguans, as well as Venezuelans.
"There will come a day when Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans will be able to vote freely. And on that day, some of us here will be able to look them in the eye and tell them that we stood with them defending democracy and freedom, that we never justified, whitewashed, or glossed over the regime that oppressed them."
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