Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas believes EU recognition is important in the continued fight for freedom in Cuba after finally collecting his Sakharov Prize in Strasbourg.

Interview: Perseverance is key - Guillermo Fariñas

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16356862/n003-0256-en.srt

You were awarded  the Sakharov Prize in 2010.

Yet you could not come  to receive the prize then.

I feel reaffirmed that the most  important thing is to persevere.

In the face of injustice,  perseverance is essential.

A significant change took place  a few months ago

and now it's possible to leave  the country with a passport.

What do you think of this measure?  Is it an opening-up?

It's a sign of the manipulation  and desperation of the Cuban regime

of a Neo-Stalinist system  that is obsolete

and the left-wing supporters  of the Castro regime themselves

find it impossible to defend it  under the circumstances.

You were on more than 23 hunger strikes,  one of which lasted 135 days.

Is there a message there?  Do you believe in non-violent struggle?

I think wars are the biggest absurdity  there is in the world.

I believe God gave us life  and only God can take it away.

Taking part in a war  on the continent of my ancestors

opened up my eyes to the fact  that never again should I exert violence

Hunger strikes are important as a method  because they show the world

the striker's desperation  in the face of a flagrant injustice

against his or her person  as a human being.

in the Press Freedom Index  done by Reporters without Borders.

As a journalist,  do you think anything has changed,

that people are less censored  and can express their opinions better?

The essence hasn't changed. The regime  wants to monopolise information.

However, new technologies  are against this monopolising.

New technologies have made so popular  a number of people

who disseminate unofficial information  inside Cuba,

that the regime has decided  it cannot pay the political price

of any kind of open repression  against these social communicators.

Therefore it is not a question  of improvement,

since the laws are still intact  on enemy propaganda,

So we can say  there has been an improvement...

But it comes from the people.  It doesn't come from the regime.

We'll be able to say things have improved  when these laws are abolished.

When the situation is favourable to the  government, they will be applied again.

To conclude, what has changed  after receiving the Sakharov Prize?

You see it as a sign of support  by the European Union, I take it?

The prize makes me feel compelled  to try and be a better objector,

to make fewer mistakes  in this struggle.

and it is important that a block  such as Europe and its Parliament

lend their support and commitment  to the cause of Cuba's freedom.

does not fall for the complicity that all  dictatorships need to hold on to power.

I think this is the biggest message we get

as members of the rebel Cuban people  who have not yielded to Castroism.

Thank you very much, Mr Fariñas.  -Thank you.