Sympathy and Solidarity with the People of Cuba, Hasta la victoria siempre - Amendment
- Submitted by: Ross Thomson, North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.
- Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2016
- Motion reference: S5M-02902.1
As an amendment to motion S5M-02902 in the name of Elaine Smith (Sympathy and Solidarity with the People of Cuba, Hasta la victoria siempre), leave out from "sends its condolences" to end and insert "notes the death of Fidel Castro (1926-2016); understands that when he came to power in the 1950s the people of Cuba were promised a democracy but that, instead, Cuba became a one-party dictatorship; further understands that, as the festive season approaches, Castro banned Christmas from 1969 to 1998; believes that one million Cubans have gone into exile since the revolution and that many others have been shot in their attempts to flee; notes that, on 13 July 1994, there was the infamous 'tugboat massacre' at which, it understands, Castro’s forces killed 37 would-be escapees, most of them children and their mothers; further believes that homosexuality was declared a 'deviation incompatible with the revolution' by Castro’s regime; understands that in 1965, the regime established prison work camps known as Military Units to Aid Production, at which LGBT people, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other so-called 'undesirable' peoples deemed out-of-line with the Communist ideology were forcefully sent; further understands that LGBT students were expelled from university and gay people prohibited from having contact with children and young people; believes that, during the 1970s, young boys perceived as 'effeminate' were forced to undergo therapy in an attempt to change their behaviour; acknowledges that, for 40 years, the Castro regime was sustained by the Soviet Union, and believes that admirers of Fidel Castro around the world have one thing in common, that they never had to live under his dictatorship."
Related motion
Sympathy and Solidarity with the People of Cuba, Hasta la victoria siempre
Submitted by: Elaine Smith, Central Scotland, Scottish Labour, Date lodged: Thursday, December 1, 2016
Supported by: Colin Beattie, Neil Findlay, Richard Leonard, Richard Lyle, Alex Rowley, David Stewart
Current status: Taken in the chamber on Monday, January 1, 0001