Grupo de Apoyo a Concilio Cubano, Inc.
1405 S.W. 107 Avenue Suite 301-P
Miami, Florida 33174
Phone: (305) 220-3316
Fax: (305) 220-3866
E-Mail: Gacc24Inc@aol.com
Miami, August, 1996
Dear friends:
The economic, social and political conditions in Cuba can only be described as extremely difficult. Far worse, however, is the situation of activists and dissidents, who oppose the regime. Brutally repressed, invariably lacking means of subsistence, sick and hungry, frequently imprisoned by the political police they manage to continue their fight towards democracy, liberty and freedom for Cuba. These are the reasons that have prompted the creation of Grupo de Apoyo a Concilio Cubano (GACC) and have motivated this request for economic assistance for our organization.
At end of this letter, we have included a series of documents for your information.
Over 100 civilian organizations in Cuba form part of Concilio Cubano. Supporting these groups is to support the association most feared by the Castro regime, united, despite their diversity, they seek, through Concilio Cubano, a peaceful solution to Cuba's problems.
Funds received by our organization will be employed to promote the efforts of Concilio Cubano in general and specificaly to lend humanitarian and economic assistance to its members.
Grupo de Apoyo a Concilio Cubano will make a difference. Should you have any questions or require further information about GACC or Concilio Cubano, please feel free to contact our office. Your support is essential and will promote the final realization of the long awaited return of freedom, respect of human rights and democracy in Cuba.
Sincerely,
Rodolfo Gonzalez Gonzalez
General Director of GACC
Prior to presenting Grupo de Apoyo a Concilio Cubano, its mission and purpose, below please find a brief sypnosis on Concilio Cubano, as well as its initial declarations.
WHAT IS CONCILIO CUBANO ?
Concilio Cubano is the union of a large majority of independent groups and organizations existing within Cuba. This unification is born out of the critical situation Cuba is undergoing. Concilio Cubano was founded on October 10th, 1995 with the sole purpose, from its inception, of directing all efforts towards one common goal; to free the people of Cuba from the totalitarian regime that has reined in the island for over 37 years. The political, humanitarian, professional and labor organizations that form Concilio Cubano have indicated, thru public pronouncements and written declarations, that they have not formed a super organization, but rather, a forum that will work towards the solution of the most urgent problems facing Cuba.
The original Official Declaration of Concilio Cubano explains the mission and rationale for it's creation:
OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY THE CUBAN CONCILIUM
The Cuban people, determined to play a leading role in their own history, have come to that inescapable point in which only urgent and profound changes will prepare them to confront, in a mature fashion, the rights and challenges demanded by civilized society. Our people want those changes to be peaceful, in order to open a new historical chapter with freedom, national independence, democracy, solidarity, and social justice.
This urgent need for change has produced Concilio Cubano (Cuban Concilium), the deliberate result of a compelling need to find a consensus by all democratic forces, inside and outside the island, who are anxious to raise Cuba to the level demanded by our historical circumstances. Concilio Cubano's immediate goal is a precise one: to create an appropriate framework for debating and designing common strategies.
Therefore, Concilio Cubano is not established as a suprapartisan organization, but rather as a permanent forum where all participating organizations, can fashion joint political proposals while still maintaining their own identity.
Our initial joint efforts have resulted in the assumptions and purposes stated below, which we are now bringing to the attention of public opinion, both national and international.
FIRST: The determination to work for a totally peaceful transition toward a democratic society under the rule of law, devoid of any vindictiveness, and equally comprising all cubans.
SECOND: Obtaining unconditional amnesty for all political prisioners.
THIRD: Launching a series of legal transformations that will provide the necessary framework, within the law, to secure absolute respect for all universally recognized human rights, as well as equal participation by all cubans in an opening process that will lead to economic independence.
FOURTH: The belief that in order to harmonize the peaceful transition we are advocating with the principle that Cuba is the motherland and the home of each and every cuban, it is essential to provide such conditions as will guaratee participation for all cubans with no exclusions whatsoever.
Havana, October 10, 1995
Immediately following the creation of Concilio Cubano, with its first forty independent civilian organizations, many other groups taking part in the struggle in favor of democracy within Cuba, joined this project. When news of this event reached the United States, thirty cuban exile organizations signed, on November of 1995, a Declaration of Support to Concilio Cubano. The creation of a joint effort under a provisional task force called Grupo Provisional de Trabajo y Coordinación served to organize and coordinate the efforts of the various organizations that signed the declaration. Throught periodic meetings where official representatives of these exile organizations participated, some ways and means of support were proposed and implemented.
WHAT IS GRUPO DE APOYO A CONCILIO CUBANO, INC.?
In presence of the wave of repression unleashed by the Castro regime against the activists of Concilio Cubano during February of 1996, the meetings held in exile for the purpose of aiding and supporting this forum were inefficient. Decisions took too long and eventually the Provisional Group, "Grupo Provisional de Trabajo y Coordinación" was dissolved in order to create a new and more complex structure. Due to this situation, the idea of establishing a small group that, legally registered under United States Laws and Regulations, could operate in a practical and efficient way towards meeting the urgent needs of Concilio Cubano, was born.
Grupo de Apoyo a Concilio Cubano was organized the fifth of April, 1996 in Miami, Florida, taking into account the need of lending regular and neutral support, directly and effectively to this valiant project of the cuban opposition, taking into consideration suggestions made from Cuba by several activists members of the civilian organizations that form this forum.
The inhumane conditions in which political prisioners and their families live, the merciless and continuous repession of the Castro regime against the activists of Concilio Cubano as well as the lack of basic necessities for subsistence and regular means of comunication to denounce the aggression of which they are victims, are some additional reasons for the creation of this organization which without self interest and directed initially by four directors has, as its principal mission, meeting the following objetives:
MISSION:
I. Denounce on a continuous basis, through all possible means, the abuse and violence perpetrated by the cuban totalitarian regime against activists belonging to the independent civil organizations that form part of Concilio Cubano.
II. Support, promote and strengthen those activities of Concilio Cubano that adjust to their Official Declaration, through:
III. Humanitarian aid on a temporary basis to ex political prisioners, independent journalists and activists of Concilio Cubano that leave Cuba.