POLITICS-CUBA: Dissident Initiative Seeks Vote on Rights for All

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Mar 19 2002 (IPS) - A coalition of 119 political opposition groups in Cuba are near their goal in collecting enough signatures to convene a referendum on freedoms of expression and association, a new electoral law, general elections and amnesty for political prisoners.

The promoters behind what has been dubbed the Varela Project are wielding a right established by the Constitution in order to demand “rights for all Cubans, including for those who are linked to the government, who have privileges and power, but not rights,” opposition leader Oswaldo Payá told IPS.

The Fidel Castro government has not issued any statement about the initiative, though officials have repeatedly stated that the internal opposition consists of “miniscule groups” and that their actions are part of “the counterrevolutionary strategy of the United States” against the Cuban government.

“They are directed by the SINA (U.S. Special Interests Office in Havana), which convenes them, pays them, in one and a thousand different ways,” said Castro earlier this month.

Article 88 of the Cuban Constitution allows citizens to present legislative bills, but requires the support of at least 10,000 Cuban citizens who have the right to vote. The list of signatures and the bill are then presented to the National Assembly, the island’s unicameral parliament.

Payá stated that the Varela Project organisers would soon have the 10,000 signatures necessary to officially present the bill before parliament.

“We are now in the verification process, in which each one of the signatories ratifies his or her signature. No one has more at stake in their authenticity than we do,” said Payá, leader of the Christian Liberation Movement.

Internal National Assembly rules govern the presentation of citizen initiatives, and “we are working diligently to comply with all possible requirements,” he said.

The initiative was named in honour of Catholic priest, philosopher, politician and journalist Félix Varela y Morales, one of the greatest thinkers of the Cuban Independence movement of the 19th century.

Payá says the citizen-led procedure, which also seeks greater space for private economic activity, is “unprecedented” on this socialist-run island, and that the signatures will be presented “with all the documentation needed to facilitate the immediate location of any petitioner.”

The activist said signatures were gathered in all provinces, with support from the various dissent organisations. “It has been a citizen campaign, shoulder to shoulder, with very few resources. In spite of the repression, it has continued growing,” he added.

The Castro government rejects any questioning of its official policy on human rights and assures that the socialist regime in place for the last 40 years respects the rights to life, health, education, employment and social security “like no other country.”

The proposal to collect signatures in order to foster changes through constitutional means was introduced in April 2001 by 119 organisations, but they do not include some groups that are considered moderate, such as the so-called Panel of Reflection.

“We do not believe conditions exist for achieving movement towards democratic transformation and opening through Constitutional means,” said former coordinator of the Panel, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, of the Cuban Democratic Socialist Current party.

Cuesta Morúa maintains that formulating a concrete project for political transformation requires, above all else, “institutional recognition” of the dissident organisations “as interlocutors inside Cuba.”

“We do not believe that the government is going to accept the legitimacy” of the initiatives coming from organisations “that it does not recognise, that are not legal entities in political terms,” he added.

But Payá insists that the Varela Project “seeks rights for all and even respects those who do not agree with it,” though he complains that some of the opposition groups criticising the initiative have been “disloyal”.

“They have behaved – I don’t know why – as a complement to the (official) repression in order to confuse, provoke, sow doubt” about the project among the Cuban people, he said.

The Panel also does not agree that the current reality is favourable for holding free elections, because the political scenario is complicated by the ongoing tensions between Cuba and the United States.

“We are not seeking to make change in Cuba dependent on improvements in Cuban-U.S. relations, but the fact is that they play a role in the internal political debate,” said Cuesta Morúa.

Payá stated that “the greatest challenge has been to reach the citizens,” whatever their political position. “Most of those who have signed have demonstrate understanding and hope,” he said.

The impact of the proposal in the foreign media contrasts with the attitude of the state-run Cuban press, which excludes any mention of the dissidence that does not originate from the official ranks.

Residents of Havana who were asked about the Varela Project varied in their opinions, ranging from outright rejection, because of its “counterrevolutionary” nature, to indifference or ignorance about the initiative.

“I have never heard of this project. I only know that Varela was a Cuban priest in the 19th century,” commented a university student who gave his name as Juan Manuel.

Retiree Josefina Salazar said that in her neighbourhood “someone spoke about the project.” But she quickly added, “I’m not interested.”

Among other well-known dissidents, the petition has been signed by Héctor Palacios, of the Centre for Social Studies, Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz, of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, Raúl Rivero, of the Cubapress agency, and Gustavo Arcos, of the Cuban Pro-Human Rights Committee.