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Heike Hänsel

Improve Relations with Cuba; Support Peace in Guatemala

“In view of the America summit starting today in Panama with Cuba participating for the first time, the federal government must eventually end its ideological blockade against normalisation of relations with Cuba and instead acknowledge the social successes of the country,” says Heike Hänsel, spokesperson for development policy of the DIE LINKE group in parliament, currently residing in the Cuban city Havana as part of a parliamentarian delegation. Hänsel further:

“The socialist government of the Carribean state maintains bilateral cooperation agreements with 16 EU states. Now, the federal government has to follow, being already outpaced by the U.S. which are already negotiating a renewal of relations and has numerous further items on the agenda.

I am glad that we have the opportunity to visit the Latin-American medical school (ELAM) here in Havana. This university, founded by Fidel Castro in 1998, qualified thousands of doctors from the countries of the South, which then returned to their home countries to help the people. It is good that a delegation of the German Bundestag has the chance to experience this example of Cuba’s practical humanitarian foreign policy offering the potential for trilateral development cooperation.

The delegation of the development committee will travel from Cuba to Guatemala. In Guatemala it will be crucial for the German delegation to deal with the implementation of the peace agreement. In this context I expect new insights from talks with representatives of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).”