Arenas explained to Prensa Latina that thanks to his experience as a social activist, “I know that when citizens mobilize, it is a very impressive force, particularly when there is a democratic crisis in which no one has a majority, as is the case in France,” he said.

The deputy offered himself as a bridge to bring the struggles or proposals of the associations of friendship with Cuba and of Cuban residents in France before the Parliament, because “no one knows better than them what citizens think, unlike the institutions that are disconnected from social dynamics and further from reality,” he added.

“What I am proposing are a method and a path,” he explained, committing himself to facilitate “the presence of associations that submit their petitions before the National Assembly and try to modify policies that were already thought out, because for the government this type of debate is a very strong pressure in the place where laws are voted on,” he explained.

For Arenas “the associations must take the floor and question their lawmakers, because many have preconceived ideas about the situation on the island, due to the propaganda that makes them not be objective regarding Cuba.” However, it is necessary for France to determine “what is the way to establish and maintain peaceful, cordial and normalized relations with Cuba,” he said.

“This pressure on the government works on the condition that it is a clear discourse, neither dogmatic nor propagandistic,” he warned, and in that line the basic thing is “to talk about the reality of Cuba, which is to talk about the impact of the blockade on issues such as the fight against climate change, access to medical supplies or financial obstacles to companies with a presence in Cuba or to individuals.”

In the opinion of the deputy, all these issues are actually part of a problem that has its origin in the policy of US extraterritorial interference and that affects “sovereignty, trade and relations between two countries like France and Cuba.”

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