|
By Madeline Baró Diaz.
Sun-Sentinel, Miami Bureau. Posted
January 14 2003
MIAMI · Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá told Cuban-Americans on
Monday that his Varela Project to bring democratic reforms to Cuba is a first
step toward change in Cuba, but he failed to reassure some Cuban exiles, who
think Payá's plan is flawed.
"I accept the fact that there are people today who are not in agreement
with the project or are not in agreement with some part of the project,"
Paya said. "It is necessary for us to listen because, speaking as a good
Cuban, nobody knows everything."
Payá, who last month picked up the Sakharov Prize, the European
Union's highest human rights prize, has met with the pope, Secretary of State
Colin Powell and European leaders. In Miami, however, Payá faced a
divided Cuban-American community, with some embracing him as a positive agent of
change and others dismissing him as someone trying to keep the Fidel Castro
regime in power rather than dismantling it.
During a two-hour meeting with about 200 Cuban-Americans on Monday at la
Ermita de la Caridad, a shrine that is the spiritual center of Miami's Cuban
exile community, the audience greeted Payá with a standing ovation and
sang the Cuban National Anthem. Audience members later asked Payá
questions about segments of the Varela Project, a petition seeking a referendum
on electoral reform, the right to own businesses, civil rights and amnesty for
some political prisoners.
The petition with more than 11,000 signatures was delivered to Cuba's
National Assembly last May.
Before taking questions, the soft-spoken Payá told his audience that
he might not have answers for all of them, and he was true to his word,
sidestepping some of the questions and giving indirect responses to others.
That frustrated some of his questioners, among them Laida Carro, a member of
the Coalition of Cuban-American Women who asked about the Varela Project's
language on amnesty for political prisoners. The petition proposes amnesty for
political prisoners who have not participated in attempts on people's lives.
Carro asked how that would apply to two Cuban prisoners whom the Cuban
government could characterize as having committed violent crimes even though
their crime, she says, was to stand up for human rights.
Payá said the Varela Project does not exclude anyone and that "reality
is very complex." That did not satisfy Carro.
"This is honoring the accusations of a criminal government," she
said after the meeting. "I cannot see that anyone has to be excluded from
amnesty. It's the Cuban government that determines they committed a criminal
act."
Payá's toughest critics, however, were not part of his public
schedule. Some attended a private meeting with Payá on Monday afternoon.
Others, among them Sylvia Iriondo of Mothers Against Repression, opted to
stay away. Iriondo said she turned down the invitation to meet with Payá
because she thought the gathering was selective and excluded Cuban exiles who
deserved to be heard.
"I had hoped that a necessary and adequate democratic debate would have
taken place between Oswaldo and many of us," she said.
Iriondo's organization was among those that signed a declaration against the
Varela Project. Among the issues they cited is that the Varela Project seeks to
work within a system that activists say must end.
Opponents of the Varela Project also are unhappy with a provision that
requires Cubans to live in Cuba for at least a year prior to elections to
participate in the electoral process -- which critics say would exclude Cuban
exiles.
"We do not believe it is a viable instrument to bring about democracy
in Cuba," Iriondo said. "Project Varela seeks to work within that
Constitution which is the instrument that has been used to deny all fundamental
freedoms and rights of the Cuban people."
In response to criticism, Payá repeatedly said Monday that his effort
does not legitimize the Cuban Constitution or system of government, but simply
seeks the basic rights Cubans are entitled to.
"The freedom that God gives, no one can take away," he said.
Among Payá's strongest supporters in Miami are a group of
Cuban-American religious leaders who make up the Task Force of Spiritual Leaders
in Exile. Members of the group had breakfast with Payá and praised Payá
for taking a peaceful path toward change. Payá is Catholic and heads up
the Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba.
"This project is seeking peace, and not just any peace, but Christian
peace which is rooted in truth, justice, love and freedom," said Catholic
Bishop Agustin Roman.
Madeline Baró Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or
305-810-5007.
| 
