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PRESS RELEASE #14
CUBA IN ASSEMBLY
GENERAL RESOLUTION OF THE ASSEMBLY TO PROMOTE CIVIL SOCIETY IN CUBA
Support and Information Center, Miami, Florida, 22 May 2005, 6 PM – The
end of the General Meeting of May 20 is only the beginning of a new
stage in the Cuban people’s struggle for freedom and democracy.
This is the unofficial transcription and translation of the General
Resolution of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba, unanimously
approved by all delegates on May 21, 2005.
GENERAL RESOLUTION OF THE ASSEMBLY TO PROMOTE CIVIL SOCIETY IN CUBA
The General Meeting of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society, after
careful debate within its different commissions have drafted these
resolutions presented by the Executive Group, and agreed to the
following:
REGARDING POLITICAL PRISONERS:
§ Ratify the position that has always been sustained by the Assembly to
Promote Civil Society, which demands the immediate liberation of all
political prisoners, without lists, timetables, nor exclusions.
§ Claim that those liberations be truly unconditional and without forced
exile, which must be granted through an irrevocable legal order.
§ Consider that the issue of political prisoners must continue to be
first in the agenda of any activity of the APSC, and that until the last
prisoner is set free, monitoring of their situation must not cease. The
actions to demand their freedom and the protests for the abuses they
suffer must continue.
§ Start from the foundation, that in order to prevent the liberation of
actual political prisoners to become a mockery, it is essential that no
more citizen incarcerations are produced for the mere fact of peacefully
expressing their discrepancies with the ruling system.
CONCERNING DEMOCRATIZATION IN CUBA:
§ Proclaim that the regime that rules Cuba today, the one that
denominates itself as Marxist-Leninist, must be catalogued as Stalinist.
§ Recognize, this being the case, that it is a totalitarian and
essentially anti-democratic regime.
§ Consider that the same valorization can be applied to the so-called
Socialist Constitution, which is the cornerstone of the totalitarian
juridical system, and whose shortcomings appear very clearly when
compared with the last democratic Magna Charter that the Cuban people
gave themselves: the admirable Constitution of 1940.
§ Consider that the same totalitarian and anti-democratic qualifications
are applicable to the single-party regime and to the electoral system in
place today, where in both the national and provincial levels the ruling
principle is that of one sole candidate for each one of the positions
that must be filled.
§ Demand the immediate return of our Homeland to its democratic
traditions: pluralism for political parties, programs, ideologies and
candidates.
§ Reject any discrimination of citizens due to their political ideas, as
well as any disposition that implies the authority of one political
party over society as a whole.
§ Proclaim the full “Cuban-ness” of the exiled compatriots and their
inalienable condition as members of the Cuban nation and demand that
free access to active and passive suffrage, as well as the rest of
citizens’ rights as it pertains to residency periods or other
requirements be recognized.
CONCERNING HUMAN RIGHTS:
§ Proclaim the total support of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in
Cuba to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that Cuba
promulgated and signed, and demand that the Cuban government integrally
respect this international document with its thirty articles.
§ Support all efforts that are being made towards enabling the Cuban
people to gain a greater conscience of their rights, which are
systematically trampled upon by the present government and support the
publication of brochures with commentaries to the different precepts of
the aforementioned Universal Declaration, elaborated within the
framework of the APSC.
CONCERNING THE DEATH PENALTY:
§ Demand from the present Cuban government the immediate abolition of
the death penalty.
§ Request from the authorities the commutation of the death penalties
that have been hanging over many fellow Cubans for many years, and
demand the end of particularly bad treatments suffered by these persons,
which has prompted them to attempt against their own physical integrity,
through acts of self-mutilation of their hands, eyes, etc.
§ Denounce continually the innumerable abuses committed by this regime,
through the application of the death penalty, since the summary
executions that started on January 1st, 1959, to the ones perpetrated on
the “Black March” of 2003 against three fellow Cubans who, without any
bloodshed, attempted to flee the country by commandeering a vessel.
CONCERNING ECONOMIC OPENNESS:
§ Recognize that the Cuban economy today is in a clearly critical
situation, as a direct consequence of the inoperable economic system
implanted and sustained by the current regime, which is irrevocable
until the necessary changes occur. One of its causes is the fact that
there is no economic model to follow, so the prevalent attitude for the
government in its decision-making process is improvisation.
§ Reiterate that for the current regime, politics are more important
than the economy.
§ Proclaim the imperious need to bring about the deep economic changes,
capable of providing economic freedom to the citizens, which will have a
positive effect in the development of civil society and in the
democratization of the country.
§ Highlight especially within the changes that the country needs, those
aimed to foster immediate foreign investment, in order to support the
country’s sustainable development which in turn will help to increase as
fast as possible the country’s acquisition capabilities and its exports.
CONCERNING THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT’S POLICIES:
§ Proclaim that what the ruling regime has called the “battle of ideas”
is neither one thing nor the other. It is not a battle because anyone
who dares to dissent is disqualified beforehand and even the mere
possibility of contributing any initiative worthy of debate is denied.
And it does not refer to ideas, because the authorities, based on the
obsolete Marxist-Leninist theories, brandish one sole idea. It is the
only one to which the people have access.
§ Declare, in this context, that the alleged battle of the ideas is
nothing more than an intense propagandistic offensive, aimed
fundamentally to try to hide the total lack of political discourses in
which the regime has fallen since the fall of the late socialist camp,
as well as the undeniable demonstration of the lack of viability of
Marxist-Leninist ideas and the total inefficiency of the ruling
Communist-inspired system.
§ Notice the very intense propagandistic campaign unleashed by the
government against terrorism, and challenge it to demonstrate a real
rejection for this scourge of the present world, demanding the adoption
of the following measures:
-- Collaborate in a concrete manner with the efforts that are being
undertaken by other countries and by the international community as a
whole against terrorism.
-- Expulse from Cuba the members of the Basque terrorist organization
ETA, as well as any other foreign terrorists who have found refuge here.
-- Retire the monuments erected in honor of individuals such as Sergio
González “El Curita”, Ofelia Díaz Báez and others, who amidst other
activities against the Batista regime dedicated themselves to detonate
bombs in hotels, cinemas, streets, parks and other public places.
-- Recognize that, besides the referenced activities carried out before
the revolutionary triumph in January 1959, after that date the current
Cuban government has facilitated the training of thousands of people,
many of them foreigners, especially citizens of Latin American countries
– in activities such as the use of firearms, construction and placement
of bombs. This knowledge has been used, among other things, to carry out
attempts against the lives of individuals and other terrorist acts
committed by subversive organizations that have also had the protection,
financing and encouragement of Cuban authorities.
-- Offer public apologies to the relatives of those who died in the
sinking of the 13th of March tugboat… (long applause) and in the
shoot-down of the planes on February 24, 1996, as well as the relatives
of those who were executed in summary processes and other victims.
-- Recognize that the internal dissidence organizations totally
repudiate terrorist methods of warfare.
-- Declare that the disproportionate propagandistic offensive unleashed
as a result of the proposed sales to all the population of cooking pots,
sardines and chocolates… (laughter and long applause) as well as the
expectancies (long applause) that these promises have instilled in some
segments of the population, reflect the degree of under-consumerism,
generalized poverty and total dependency on the state to which the Cuban
people have been subjected to, a fact that enables the government to
manipulate the masses.
-- Declare, in regards to the increases made to social security
pensions, and to the ones that have been announced for salaries that,
those increases, even though they reduce modestly the meager nominal
income obtained by our fellow Cubans, will not allow those rents and
salaries to even reach the poverty limit recognized by the UN and other
international organizations. The increase “ad livintum” of the monthly
income, unless it is accompanied with an increase in the production of
goods and services- can only add to inflation and to worsen the
financial crisis, lack of provisions and other economic evils.
CONCERNING THE PAST WORK OF THE ASSEMBLY TO PROMOTE CIVIL SOCIETY IN
CUBA:
§ Reiterate the considerable efforts carried out to develop the work of
the Assembly to Promote Civil Society, since its beginnings in the year
2000, until the present day.
§ Approve in general terms work realized by the diverse groups of the
Assembly, especially the one carried out by its Executive Group, as well
as the support of fellow Cubans in exile.
§ Congratulate all representatives and members of the Assembly, who
carried out effective efforts to guarantee the celebration of the
General Meeting, and especially those who have been forced to affront so
many difficulties to travel to the site of this meeting.
§ Reiterate that the celebration in the city of Havana on the days 20
and 21 of May, 2005 of the General Meeting of the Assembly to Promote
Civil Society, with which the representatives of the great majority of
the dissident organizations have been directly involved either as
members or as invited guests, has proved most important for the cause of
the development of Cuban civil society, and the peaceful change to
democracy.
CONCERNING THE FUTURE WORK OF THE ASSEMBLY TO PROMOTE CIVIL SOCIETY
IN CUBA:
§ Declare that the General Meeting celebrated on the days 20 and 21 of
May of 2005, notwithstanding its undeniable importance, is only the
first step towards a new era of peaceful struggle that the Assembly to
Promote Civil Society in Cuba will initiate on May 22, 2005.
§ Proclaim that the insoluble union between Cuban democrats who live in
the island and those who live in exile, represents a fundamental element
in the joint peaceful struggle to bring about democratic change and
thus, the Assembly to Promote Civil Society will do all in its power to
further consolidate this union.
§ Create at local levels, the Community Civil Association as a
fundamental cell of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society, with the
purpose of promoting love for one’s neighbor, ethical principles and
patriotism.
§ Entrust the National Assembly and the Executive Secretariat to
undertake efforts at their disposal to obtain aid destined to promote
the work of the independent pharmacies and libraries, and extend them
throughout the Republic, facilitating access of the common citizen to
both entities.
§ Create a press agency and a magazine of the Assembly, oriented to the
general public, both in the country and abroad.
CONCERNING THE UNITY OF THE INTERNAL DISSIDENCE:
§ Approve in a special manner the line of conduct maintained by the
Assembly to Promote Civil Society as it relates to being an inclusive
coalition.
§ State that, both the General Meeting held on the 20th and 21st of May,
2005, as well as its preparatory stage have constituted an eloquent and
irrefutable demonstration of unity, dialogue and cooperation that the
Assembly to Promote Civil Society has maintained before other democratic
forces within the Cuban nation.
§ Maintain unity as the line of conduct of the Assembly to Promote Civil
Society regarding other organizations and groups that wish as well to
maintain links with the Assembly, which could imply the realization of
common activities, the creation of joint documents, mutual support,
concrete agreements and other unifying activities, without any other
conditions than the clear opposition to the totalitarian regime, the
support for all political prisoners, the development of civil society
and mutual respect, as well as the internal autonomy of each entity.
CONCERNING THE DOCUMENT “THE HOMELAND IS FOR ALL”:
§ Employ all means available to the Assembly to Promote Civil Society,
so the document “The Homeland Belongs to All” can be re-edited in
sufficient quantities to be distributed as widely as possible among the
population, bearing in mind that this document has been approved by the
different commissions of the Assembly who studied the issues, which
recognized on one hand the accuracy of the analyses and points that it
contains, particularly in political, economic, judicial, historical and
environmental issues, and on the other hand, the validity of its
stipulations.
§ Declare that the title of the aforementioned document, the sentence
“The Homeland Belongs to All” and the phrase “We will open the door” be
the guiding mottos of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society.
CONCLUSION:
The delegates to the General Meeting of the Assembly to Promote Civil
Society, in the presence of the symbols of the homeland that have
presided this event, the same symbols brandished by our heroes in the
struggle for the independence of our nation, and that have provided
guide and encouragement to all the Cuban people, solemnly proclaim our
firm commitment to continue in an unshakable manner our peaceful
struggle for the democratization of our homeland, united with
unbreakable bonds of love and fraternity with the part of the Cuban
nation that remains in exile. The lapidary phrase of the apostle José
Martí is valid and reinstated: “For Cuba, the Time is Now”. (Ovation,
shouts of “For Cuba it is already time”, chorused by all the present).
(This transcription has been made by the Support and Information Center
for the General Meeting of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in
Cuba)
Miami, Florida
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