The leader of the Liberal Initiative, Rui Rocha, said this Friday that his party “does not make pacts” nor “kiss hands with dictatorships”, justifying his absence at the reception of the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in Assembly of the Republic.
“The Liberal Initiative took a position, and that is a position it takes whenever reception ceremonies for non-democracy countries are at stake. Cuba, to be clear, is not a democracy,” said Rui Rocha, speaking this afternoon at Continental’s industrial unit in Vila Real.
The party has decided not to be represented at the reception of the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, at the Assembly of the Republic, which took place this afternoon.
❌ What will exist today in the Assembly of the Republic, at 3 p.m., is a greeting session in Passos Perdidos to the leader of the Cuban communist dictatorship, followed by a photo with the leader of the Cuban communist dictatorship. Only that.
I reaffirm: the liberal initiative will not…
– Rui Rocha (@ruirochaliberal) July 14, 2023
“After the Castro brothers, we have Miguel Díaz-Canel as president. So more than 60 years in which Cuba has not had the opportunity to hold fair and democratic elections, it cannot be a situation in which they have not had time. It is more than 60 years since Cuba has this situation and we do not make pacts with dictatorships and we do not go hand in hand with dictatorships,” he stressed.
Rui Rocha said he was “very, very sure” that this is “the right position at the moment”.
Questioned by journalists about the intention to hire more Cuban doctors, he recalled that the IL exercised the potestative right to summon the Minister of Health to parliament with “possible urgency” to clarify the matter.
“What we know about these kinds of agreements that later entail the arrival of Cuban doctors is that there are several organizations that point to the possibility of facing forced labor and violation of fundamental rights, namely the right to free movement and the right to freedom of expression,” he said.
He added: “We cannot doubt these relationship models, namely with the Cuban state, with Cuban public companies, which apparently are the ones who then put these doctors in the service of different countries”.
Rui Rocha recalled that Portugal already had this model, “precisely with Manuel Pizarro, in 2009, when he was Secretary of State for José Sócrates”.
“Apparently there is an intention to repeat this relationship and we cannot agree. We want to know what the contract model is. When people come, whether they get their normal, current compensation, as it is due to Portuguese doctors and whether there is a situation of absolute necessity from the National Health Service (SNS), obviously we have nothing against strengthening the SNS,” he said.
But, he stressed, “but it must be done on the basis of clear, transparent relationships that respect human rights”.
“It doesn’t respect human rights, for example paying four-fifths of the fee to an entity and Cuban doctors keep one-fifth of that fee, something that apparently happened in the past. We don’t want this to happen again.” ,,We cannot admit that repetition”, he emphasized.
Regarding his presence in Vila Real, Rui Rocha was keen to highlight the “good example” of Continental, one of the world’s leading specialists and manufacturers of vehicle antennas and almost all of its production is exported.
With about 550 employees, this is one of the largest private employers in the Vila Real district.
“This is the path for Portugal, the path of innovation, the path of science, investment, in terms of more productive companies and that can also pay better wages later on,” underlined Rui Rocha,
Source: DN
