Castro: Conservative MEP Slams Harman "Hero" Quote
Posted, February 25, 2008 @ 00:00
Mr Edward McMillan-Scott, Conservative Vice-President of the European Parliament and human rights campaigner, has attacked Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader, for describing outgoing Cuban president Fidel Castro as a "hero of the Left".
He said: "I am amazed that Harriet Harman - pin-up of New Labour - should still regard Fidel Castro, the tyrant of Cuba, as any sort of hero. Yet here she is telling readers of the Independent that he is a 'hero of the Left' although rightly she adds, it is time to move on.
"Fidel Castro has murdered many and imprisoned more to hang on to power. He has despoiled nature and desecrated the architectural heritage of what could have been an island paradise. His much-vaunted health service is decried by his enslaved people, many of whom prostitute themselves because of the degraded economy."
"The reality is it is time for Cuba to move on - to democracy and rule of law and prosperity which its depressed people so richly deserve after two generations of rule by the Castro brothers."
Mr McMillan-Scott had to leave Cuba when his November 2006 mission on behalf of the EU Democracy Task Force was halted when his meetings with Cuban reformists were uncovered by the regime.