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HAVANA, May 9 (Reinaldo Cosano Alén / www.cubanet.org) - Former U.S.
President Jimmy Carter's upcoming visit to Cuba has generated some comments from
Cuban dissidents, not all of them favorable.
Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, director of the Institute of Independent Cuban
Economists, said "I would have preferred that former President Carter not
come, but since he is coming, since there is no way that he won't come, I think
we have to try to obtain whatever is positive from the visit, and this is a
challenge for the opposition. The language dissidents use with Carter will be
crucial."
Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique, another economist and deputy director of the same
Institute, said "I think Carter's visit to Cuba is important. He is an
influential visitor, and so he is bound to have an influence on the Cuban
situation. The Cuban government, as usual, will try to make use of any possible
consequences of the visit. Time will tell. When Castro has an important visitor,
he moderates his rhetoric."
General Secretary of the Independent Cuban Labor Federation, Aleida Godínez
Soler, said "I remember other visits by relevant people in government, such
as those of Richard Nuncio, in 1995, and Ann Patterson, that came before this
one by Carter.
All these visits are relevant, although they shouldn't be seen as
breakthroughs. In any case, he always brings a message of hope for the people
and for the dissidents. There will be a softening in the government's stance
while he is here."
Rafael Ernesto Ávila, the president of the Young Cuba Popular Party,
said "The Cuban regime badly needs this visit. Having been recently
condemned in Geneva for violating citizens' fundamental human rights, the tyrant
Castro is under pressure to convince the people and international public opinion
that the condemnation is the result of a 'dirty maneuver of the American
government and its lackeys' and not that he keeps hundreds of political
prisoners, and that he represses and marginalizes civil society, whose
components he calls counterrevolutionaries at the service of a foreign power."
For many dissidents, meeting with Carter will mean obtaining legitimacy
inside Cuba, after meeting Mexican President Vicente Fox and Mexican Foreign
Minister Castañeda, when for the first time a head of State met with a
group of dissidents in defiance of Fidel Castro.
Versión
original en español
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