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Yahoo! News.
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer. Thu Dec 19.
HAVANA - Increased salaries and pension payments, the right to own a home
and vehicle, and the chance to open a private business were among reforms
leading government opponents proposed Thursday as ways to resolve Cuba's
problems.
The list of 36 proposed reforms were fashioned "taking into account the
horrible economic, political, social and human rights situation the immense
majority of our people suffer," said leaders of the opposition group "Todos
Unidos," or "Everyone United."
"These proposals do not constitute a simple enumeration of desires, but
the basis of a permanent campaign to mobilize national public opinion in the
face of the necessity for urgent reforms," the group's statement said.
The proposals were announced by Vladimiro Roca, a veteran activist and
former political prisoner.
Roca said the proposed reforms were drawn up to "strengthen the people
around the Varela Project," a nationwide petition campaign. Volunteers
delivered 11,020 signatures in May asking the Cuban parliament for the voters'
initiative on human rights.
Along with freedom of the press and electoral reform, the Varela Project
seeks amnesty for Cuba's estimated 200 political prisoners.
There has been no response to date. The Cuban constitution requires 10,000
signatures to put a referendum on the ballot.
The project attracted international attention this week when its lead
organizer, Oswaldo Paya, went to Strasbourg, France, to receive the European
Union (news - web sites)'s top human rights prize, the 2002 Sakharov Award.
The Cuban government initially denied Paya permission to travel.
A last-minute appeal by European Parliament President Pat Cox and Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to President Fidel Castro reversed the decision.
But Paya, a former political prisoner, said his family received death
threats and their house was vandalized before he left for France.
Roca said the proposals announced Thursday include the right by Cubans to
travel freely outside the country and return.
The list of reforms also call for eliminating obligatory military service,
improving the prison system and legalizing independent labor unions with the
right to strike. | 
