CNSNews.com, October
29, 2001.
Report predicts democracy will return to Cuba after Castro's death
By Jim Burns. CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer. October 29,
2001
(CNSNews.com) - Democracy will return to Cuba after the death of Fidel
Castro, not through the use of violence, but through the use of education,
according to a new report by the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate.
In the report titled "Steps To Freedom," Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat
wrote about "a struggle, taking place in Cuba," which he termed "a
peculiar kind of insurrection."
"Instead of kidnapping people, the insurgents seek respect for human
rights. These rebels do not blow up bridges. They open independent libraries.
There are neither car bombs nor assassinations.
"Members of the resistance meet to pray and fast in a coordinated
fashion throughout the country, organizing pilgrimages to religious sanctuaries
and to the forgotten graves of Castro's victims," said Gutierrez-Boronat, a
national secretary and program coordinator for the Directorate.
However, Gutierrez-Boronat believes the insurgents want to change Cuba now,
instead of waiting for the death of Castro, who is now 75 years old.
"They tend to be a younger part of the Cuban population. There are more
and more women involved in the opposition. There are more and more black Cubans
engaged in opposition activities. Many of them are older teachers and other
types of professionals," Gutierrez-Boronat said. We feel they provide the
best guarantee of a democratic leadership in Cuba after Castro and even while
Castro's alive."
Among the frustrations for Cubans, he said, is their inability to take part
in tourist activities on their native soil.
"Many Cubans just don't have access to tourism facilities that are
reserved for foreigners. Most resistance leaders I have spoken with in Cuba,
tell me that one of the main sources of irritation for the population is the
existence of these places where apartheid is practiced by Cubans on Cubans,"
said Gutierrez-Boronat.
The report did not predict when democracy would actually return to Cuba,
which has been under communist rule since 1959.
Among the major accomplishments of the Cuban civic resistance during 2000,
according to the report are: 444 civic non-violent actions, the establishment of
five independent newsletters, the opening of 26 independent libraries, along
with eight new student centers and 18 new civil society institutions.
But what the Cuban resistance needs, according to Gutierrez-Boronat is
international assistance and international solidarity.
"Sending the opposition writing supplies, medicine, and information is
as important as it was for the democrats of Eastern Europe in the '80s. But
moral support and political recognition of the Cuban civic resistance is even
more important. Building a sustained international consensus of support and
political recognition for Cuban democrats is essential to achieving change and
freedom" Gutierrez-Boronat said.
Last May, Sens. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.)
introduced legislation to help Cuban dissidents. The "Cuban Solidarity Act,"
would provide $100 million over four years to pro-democracy and human rights
activists in Cuba.
The money would be used to provide cash, fax machines, telephones, books,
food and medicine to critics of the Castro government.
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) has introduced similar legislation in the
House.
Castro turned 75 in August. When he dies, Cuban law mandates that his
brother Raul, commander of the Cuban Armed Forces, would take over as leader.
Cuba has angry words for Russia
By Jim Burns. CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer. October 29,
2001
(CNSNews.com) - Twice over the weekend, the Cuba's Castro government seized
an opportunity to blast Russia for deciding to close its Lourdes electronic spy
station near Havana.
The Cuban government not only criticized Russia's reasons for closing the
station, but it also warned the move would leave Russia "exposed and off
guard" in this hemisphere.
Granma, the official newspaper of the Castro government, said in an
editorial on Friday that the Russian military base has collected 75 percent of
the strategic information necessary to prevent U.S. "aggression," and
was the principle instrument for monitoring compliance with disarmament accords.
"Russia will now be without vital defense information," the
editorial said. The newspaper called it "laughable" that "Russia
now asks Washington to dismantle its similar electronic radar station in Norway,
just 40 kilometers from Russian borders."
Granma also refuted Russia's economic arguments for closing the base,
rejecting Russia's argument that it could launch 20 reconnaissance satellites
with the $200 billion in savings.
The Castro government didn't stop there. Another Granma editorial Saturday
denounced the reasoning behind Russia's decision to close Lourdes.
"An abyss separates our thinking from the opportunism, the egoism, and
the lack of ethics that today prevails in the decadent field of the imperialist
and capitalist system, or of those that aspire to it," said Granma's
editorial.
Granma said Cuba would incur "terrible damages" from the Russia's "abrupt
and total default" on all agreements that the former Soviet Union had
signed with the island,.
The Saturday editorial said beyond the economic damage, Russia has also
inflicted "moral damages."
Then, in an apparent contradiction, the Saturday editorial criticized both
the United States and Russia over the handling of the 1962 missile crisis. The
editorial said Cuba would have been happy to see both U.S. and Russian interests
leave the island in 1962.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in Moscow
that Lourdes was too expensive to maintain, given the state of the Russian
economy.
Putin stressed that the decision did not mean its relations with Cuba, a key
Cold War ally, were being scaled down.
Closing Lourdes would save at least $200 million a year in rent and
salaries, he said. That's $200 million less for Cuba - an economic and political
blow to Castro, according to the Cuban American National Foundation.
"They are clearly smarting and are hurt by this decision to pull out by
Russia for many reasons," said CANF spokesperson Mariela Ferretti.
During a trip to Cuba last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised
Castro that Lourdes would remain open, and Putin's reversal resonates on a
political level, Ferretti said.
"They obviously thought that they had a different kind of relationship
with Putin and were looking forward to that and it's very clear that they don't
have that. They cannot rely on that, they cannot bank on that relationship and
that's why they are stepping up the rhetoric," said Ferretti.
The decision, according to Ferretti, is a "slap in the face to Fidel
Castro at a time when he realizes that he's on the U.S. list of terrorist
countries and he's feeling extremely vulnerable right now. He's just been left
holding the bag by Russia. He is more alone than he ever was."
All original CNSNews.com material, copyright 1998-2001
Cybercast News Service. | 
