The "Fariñas Amendment" does not exist, clarifies a European Parliament group

The "Fariñas Amendment" does not exist, clarifies a European Parliament
group
DDC | Madrid | 15 de Septiembre de 2016 - 09:18 CEST.

The alleged "Fariñas Amendment," which, it was claimed, ratified the
demands of the Cuban Sakharov Prize winner and spurred him to abandon
his hunger strike "does not exist," said the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats for Europe (ALDE), an EU Parliament group.

"Unfortunately, the news about an amendment voted on yesterday (Monday)
by the European Parliament is completely false," said Lucian Goleanu,
with said political group's press team, as quoted by Miami's El Nuevo
Herald.

Goleanu also denied that Alexander Lambsdorff, an ALDE MEP and
vice-president of the European Parliament (EP) had submitted such an
amendment, "so there is no document at all in connection to this," he said.

"We are aware that the information was spread by a page purporting to
represent the Information Office of the European Parliament in Spain,"
added Goleanu.

On Tuesday DIARIO DE CUBA contacted the EP Information Office in Spain,
where a press officer confirmed that the page that had published the
story about the amendment's approval was "false."

That page, from the Wordpress platform, was no longer available on
Wednesday.

Fariñas attributed the false page to a maneuver by the Cuban Government
to get him to abandon his strike.

"The Cuban Government created a fake page ... to force a decision.
Unfortunately we only found out later, " he told El Nuevo Herald. "That
is part of the regime's essence. They are incapable of debate. They have
to deceive people," he added.

However, Fariñas stated that the amendment in question is actually going
to be presented in the future. He explained that EP President Martin
Schulz invited him to meet with all the political blocs, and has
proposed his appointment as a "valid interlocutor" with regards to the
issue of human rights in Cuba, which "undoubtedly is a status given the
[Cuban] opposition within the European Parliament."

During Fariñas's strike, which lasted 54 days, his organization, the
Foro Antitotalitario Unido (FANTU), condemned the release of various
false stories.

The episode of the alleged amendment "must inevitably be related to the
discreditation campaign being carried out by the Cuban Government
against the dissident, as part of its commitment to misinforming the
people of Cuba and the international community," said the Cuban American
National Foundation (CANF) in a statement.

Source: The "Fariñas Amendment" does not exist, clarifies a European
Parliament group | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/derechos-humanos/1473923895_25323.html