The European Union decided yesterday not to restore diplomatic sanctions it imposed on the island in 2003, affording Mr. Castro a year of "constructive dialogue" before next reconsidering whether to ban high-level diplomats' visits to Cuba, open embassies in Havana to Cuban dissidents, and take other measures that have greatly irked Cuba's strongman.
Even worse, the EU imposed those sanctions in response to Castro's roundup of journalists and librarians who sought to exercise anti-Castro speech in March 2003. It lifted the sanctions when Castro threatened European economic interests on the island and head appeaser Jose Luis Zapatero (anti-American PM of Spain) convinced the EU to life sanctions for a six-month trial period to give Castro a chance to ease up on the imprisoned journos.
Upshot? About what any rational person should expect: the EU refused to reinstate those sanctions even though "the E.U. has determined that [ ] 'there was no satisfactory progress on human rights in Cuba.'"
What a crock.
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