The European Parliament approved a resolution calling for the immediate suspension of political dialogue and cooperation agreements with Cuba. File Photo by Orestis Panagiotou/EPA
June 18 (UPI) -- The European Parliament approved a resolution Thursday calling for the immediate suspension of political dialogue and cooperation agreements with Cuba unless the government moves toward a multiparty democracy and releases all political prisoners.
The measure passed with 283 votes in favor, 199 against and 85 abstentions. It also calls for targeted sanctions against Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel and senior members of his administration.
In the resolution, lawmakers said that after more than five decades of communist rule, Cuba is at risk of becoming a failed state. They argued that the country's humanitarian crisis, which they said has left 89% of families living in extreme poverty, is "not the result of any external embargo, but the direct consequence of the regime's model and failures."
The initiative responds to what lawmakers described as the continued deterioration of human rights conditions on the island and the systematic persecution of dissenting voices.
