The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) signed an “exchange and cooperation agreement” on Tuesday with the Basque Sortu party, political heir to the ETA gang and among whose leaders and members there are numerous convicted of terrorism.
The agreement establishes mechanisms for “Consolidate friendship and political confidence between both parties”, “develop bilateral cooperation in the field of social communication and political training” and create “cooperation projects economic”among others, announced the Basque organization.
So far, the official Cuban press has not reported on the issue.
The general secretary of Sortu, Arkaitz Rodríguez, traveled to Havana for the signing and met at the PCC headquarters with the head of the Department of International Relations, Emilio Lozada García.
“We have signed a collaboration agreement so that our respective peoples continue to draw together the cartography of a world free of all oppression, exploitation and domination,” said the Sortu leader.
In this regard, the group of Cuban exiles Cuban-Basque Association Demokrazia Kubarentzatbased in Bilbao, told DIARIO DE CUBA that they will be “very attentive” to said agreement and “will take actions in this regard.”
Your coordinator, Frank Hidalgo regretted that Sortu “continues to validate in Basque institutions and media the narrative established by the Cuban dictatorship.” around their ‘social achievements’ and blaming the embargo for all the excesses of Cuban society, in order to that public money in cooperation continues to flow into the regime’s coffers“.
In July 2021, Sortu leaders called to mobilize in support of the Cuban regimeafter the massive popular protests on the Island. According to the heirs of ETA, the protesters intended to “destabilize” the country.
Sortu defines itself as “the party-movement that fights to promote the national and social liberation of Euskal Herria [territorios vascos de España y Francia]with “a strategy based on the democratic rupture and the accumulation of forces” to “overcome the capitalist system.”
It is one of the three parties that make up the EH Bildu coalition, winner of the recent elections in the Basque Country, although without a sufficient majority to govern. The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV, center-right) and the Socialist Party (PSOE, center-left) agreed this week on a government pact.
According to local media, Elena Beloki, former head of ETA’s international apparatus, was present at the signing in Havana. and currently head of the international area of Sortu.
