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Vicki Huddleston. The Miami Herald, May 7, 2003.
Following the Cuban government's recent crackdown on peaceful dissent, many
of that island's leading human-rights activists will be imprisoned for as long
as Fidel Castro remains in power.
Their voices and activities had been setting a legitimate, homegrown course
toward democracy. Their compulsory silence may sentence Cuba not only to a
continuation of the same repressive rule but also to a violent, undemocratic
future for its children.
Among the silenced are: Martha Beatriz Roque, a forceful but pragmatic
conservative and possible future Cuban president; Pedro Pablo Alvarez, a
courageous and determined fighter for workers rights who will no longer give
Cubans hope that they may earn a fair wage someday; Raúl Rivero, a
visionary intellectual and poet, the dean of Cuba's independent journalists,
whose articles were helping prepare Cubans for democratic change; and 72 other
political activists and independent journalists.
In the mistaken belief that their repression might somehow escape worldwide
condemnation, the Cuban government did not dare silence some of its
highest-profile opposition leaders: Osvaldo Payá, winner of the Sakharov
and Harriman Prizes; Vladimiro Roca, MiG pilot turned dissident; and the voice
of human rights in Cuba, Elizardo Sánchez. They continue the struggle for
a peaceful transition to democracy through the Varela Project.
Endorsed by former President Jimmy Carter, the Varela Project remains the
one true course designed and carried out by island Cubans to transform
peacefully the autocratic system from within. More than 30,000 Cubans have
risked their livelihood and freedom by lending their voices to Payá's
call for change.
Our principal task, then, is to support the expansion of the Varela Project.
We can do so by ensuring that the voices, plans and activities of Payá,
Roca, and Sánchez are known outside Cuba. Indeed, one reason why the
Varela Project has been so successful is because the international approval that
it received -- especially from Cuban Americans -- validated and strengthened it
on the island.
A commonly used aphorism about U.S.-Cuba relations is that ''Castro plays
chess while we play checkers.'' Whenever he fears that political openings are
widening to the point that popular aspirations might threaten his regime, he
manufactures a crisis to reassert his dominance over Cuban society. He knows
from long experience -- the Mariel boatlift, the shoot down of the Brothers to
the Rescue civilian aircraft, and previous repression of dissidents -- that his
contrived crisis will halt any further liberalization.
Appalled by the actions of Castro, we must be careful not to play to his
strength by responding in a manner that places more emphasis on U.S policy than
on Cuba's repressive machinery.
During a major speech last week, Castro described the recent repression and
executions as a preemptive response to potential U.S. military aggression,
attempting once again to discredit the dissidents by aligning them with an
alleged U.S. threat to Cuba. This is false. The dissidents speak for Cuban
people who long to earn a fair wage, invest in their own country and speak and
travel freely.
Our response should not help Castro by inadvertently increasing the Cuban
people's isolation and deprivation, adding to their hardship even as we attempt
to free them. We can best speed the long-awaited peaceful transition to
democracy by maintaining a balanced approach that empowers the Cuban people and
informs others about their plight.
Moral and material support from around the world for the Varela Project and
for all legitimate efforts inside Cuba -- politically right, left and center --
is the best response to repression. These tools will help Cubans prepare a solid
foundation upon which they can construct freedom, democracy and prosperity.
Vicki Huddleston was the principal officer of the U.S. Interests Section in
Havana from 1999 to 2002. She is currently the U.S. ambassador to the Republic
of Mali. | 
