CUBA: Three Main Thrusts of Internal Opposition Movements

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Jan 7 2003 (IPS) - The internal opposition in Cuba is currently putting an emphasis on three initiatives that are disconnected, but which share the common objective of seeking democratic change through peaceful means, prominent dissident leaders said in interviews with IPS.

The Varela Project is requesting a referendum in which Cubans could vote on changes to the socialist system; the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba is aimed at bringing people together to multiply the forces of opposition; and the Reflection Panel of the Moderate Opposition is attempting to promote a broad public debate on a charter on citizen rights.

The three initiatives ”are not connected, but they share a common denominator: they disagree with the totalitarian model” of government, the president of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, Elizardo Sánchez, told IPS.

Vladimiro Roca, who served a prison sentence from 1997 to May, 2002 on charges of ”sedition” because of his calls for Cubans not to turn out for the country’s single-party elections, and his demands for political reforms, said ”the Cuban opposition is united in its diversity.”

”We all want change, but there is diversity regarding how it should be achieved,” Roca said to IPS. In 1997, the activist signed a document ”The Fatherland Belongs to Everyone”, along with Félix Bonne, Martha Beatriz Roque and René Gómez. The activists became known as the Group of Four.

The opposition proposals have been set forth by groups that lack legal status, although a certain level of tolerance by Fidel Castro’s socialist regime has enabled them to carry out their activities in recent years, albeit under close police surveillance.

”We have mushroomed in number. Fifteen years ago there were less than 10 of us, and now we number in the thousands,” said Roca, who defends the proliferation of groups as a form of survival. ”If we were all together, it would be very easy to destroy us,” he said.

Sánchez, meanwhile, said that Todos Unidos (Everyone United), an umbrella group that links over 100 dissident organisations, was the strongest opposition movement that had the greatest support in Cuba.

It was Todos Unidos that carried the Varela Project forward, he added, referring to the initiative that collected thousands of signatures to demand a referendum on changes to the socialist regime, and which has the strong support of the United States and the European Union (EU), which are loud critics of Cuba’s human rights record.

On Dec 17, the European Parliament emphasised its backing for the Varela Project by awarding the Sakharov Prize on human rights and freedom of thought to Oswaldo Payá, the driving force behind the undertaking.

The award was ”a recognition of the internal opposition, which up to now was known, but not recognised,” said Roca, who after his release from prison chose to join Todos Unidos, alongside Sánchez.

Roca said the fact that Cuban authorities granted Payá permission to travel to Strasbourg, the seat of the European Parliament in northeastern France, to receive the prize was a result of ”huge international pressure.”

The Varela Project, which was presented to parliament in May along with 11,020 signatures, called for a referendum to allow Cubans to vote on questions like freedom of expression and association, new electoral laws, general elections, and an amnesty for political prisoners.

”The initiative has not received the response that is established by law,” complained Sánchez, alluding to the constitutional clause that states that Cuban citizens can ask for a referendum if they collect a minimum of 10,000 signatures.

The Cuban government closed the door to the changes called for by the Varela Project through a constitutional amendment that declared Cuban socialism ”unalterable.”

The Varela Project took its name from Catholic priest Félix Varela y Morales, who was also a philosopher, politician, journalist, and one of the most prominent thinkers of the Cuban independence movement in the 19th century.

The other three members of the Group of Four, which in the past was led by Roca, are now involved in the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba, which they define as ”an idea of joining our efforts together to multiply the forces of opposition.”

Martha Beatriz Roque, one of the most visible heads of the group, said that more than 400 organisations in the country have come together in the Assembly with the aim of raising public awareness and ”teaching Cubans democratic habits.”

The structure of the Assembly is based on permanent working groups that deal with issues like labour and the environment, the compilation of historical information, the press, and information and culture. ”Our work is completely civic. We are not a political party,” Roque underlined in a conversation with IPS.

The Assembly-members survived their first acid test on Dec 10, when around 70 people gathered in Roque’s home to commemorate International Human Rights Day.

The meeting took place without interference by the police.

”This is a space that we have won through great sacrifice,” and which is due to ”the growing weight that the opposition has gained in the country,” said Roque at the end of the meeting, which was attended by a U.S. diplomat who was invited as a ”guest observer.”

Sánchez said that in the past two years, the government has accepted such activities, as long as they take place behind closed doors. ”It is a step forward, but it does not change the fact that Cuba continues to present the worst record on civil, political and economic rights in the western hemisphere,” he said.

A third endeavour, promoted by the Reflection Panel of the Moderate Opposition, is attempting to generate a wide public debate on a draft charter on the fundamental rights of Cubans, through polls carried out since mid-2002 among Cubans within and outside the country.

The organisers clarified that the proposal is not aimed at becoming an alternative to the Varela Project, and that the final objective is for ”all rights to be respected in Cuba.”

”Human rights have no ideology, and apply equally in the case of socialists, communists, liberals, Christian democrats and social democrats,” said the promoters of the ”civic” initiative.

The main groups represented by the Reflection Panel are the Democratic Socialist Current, Democratic Solidarity, the Movement for Democracy, and the Independent Nationalist Action Movement.

The first 35 clauses of the charter sum up individual, social, cultural and economic rights, while articles 36 to 45 refer to citizen responsibilities towards the nation, the community and the individual.

Defenders of the initiative said the document is only a draft version, which they have invited Cubans to comment on through surveys. ”Offering a definitive proposal to the citizens without consulting them first would be disrespectful of their capacity and individual autonomy,” according to the Panel.

”Mercenaries at the service of the empire” is the description given the dissident groups by the government of Fidel Castro, which accuses the United States government of financing them to foment ”internal subversion.”

However, Sánchez said the opposition seeks no support, but does appreciate the policy of international backing.

”Our proposals are public, and we cannot keep anyone from expressing their sympathy or support in whatever way, even if it is based on biased or heavily marked political interests, like in the case of Washington,” said the activist.