Bolivian President Evo Morales condemned Monday the "return directive" planned by the European Union (EU) to repatriate by force millions of immigrants, according to information reaching here from La Paz, the administrative capital of Bolivia.
In a letter to the EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, Morales said the EU advocates the free circulation of merchandise and money around the world, but puts in prison "our brothers" (immigrants) without the right to a trial.
On June 5, the 27 member countries of the EU, backed a directive for the mass deportation of immigrants.
The initiative will be under approbation on June 18 in the European Parliament that has its major headquarters in Strasburg (France) and its alternative headquarters in Brussels (Belgium).
"If Europe repatriates Bolivians, Bolivia would request visas from European citizens and block the negotiations of a commercial agreement between the EU and the Andean Community of Nations (CAN)," Morales said.
The "return directive" is the "directive of shamefulness," Morales said and he urged the European authorities to respect the human rights of immigrants, especially those of Bolivians.
Morales said Bolivians sought better opportunities in Europe but did not compete with Europeans for work opportunities. Bolivians work in construction, services and hospitals, in jobs "that Europeans can't or don't want to do," contributing to the prosperity of Europe.
"Millions of Europeans came to North and South America without visas to exploit richness and transfer it back to Europe," he said," and Bolivians' money transfers to the EU have gone to over 10 percent of Bolivia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which have enhanced the development of Europe."
Morales said the EU has made immigrants the "scapegoats" of global warming and the disappearance of the energy resources, "however the problems of social cohesion in Europe are not the fault of the immigrants, but of the development policies of the rightist (conservative) world."
Source:Xinhua
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