|
Cuban urges unity
against Castro
EFE News. Posted January
30 2004 in the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Madrid · The head of the Cuban Committee
for Human Rights, Ricardo Bofill, on Thursday
called on the international community to
show solidarity with those suffering "severe
repression" at the hands of Fidel Castro's
regime.
Bofill, who is in Madrid to participate
in a three-day International Congress on
Cuban Culture that began Thursday, highlighted
the important role Spain's "leadership"
plays in "keeping interest in Cuba
alive." "Spain's interest and
its perseverance ensure that the suffering
inflicted by the Castro dictatorship on
the Cuban people is not forgotten,"
Bofill told EFE News.
The rights activist also described the
work his organization is doing to prepare
for next week's meeting of the U.N. Human
Rights Commission in Geneva.
According to the 70-year-old dissident
and former Communist Party activist, the
current makeup of the rights commission
-- headed by Australia, with Costa Rica
occupying the vice presidency -- "could
be very favorable to our interests."
The commission will analyze the complaints
drawn up in Cuba by Castro's opponents,
"many of whom are in jail," he
said.
The activist also described the "subhuman
conditions" in which the dissidents
are being held and his own sufferings during
the 15 years he was jailed in Cuba.
"The Castro repression is attempting
-- through the use of torture and repression
-- to force its opponents to abandon their
position and ask for forgiveness, like in
the Soviet model," Bofill said, referring
to authoritarian practices in the former
Soviet Union.
The Cuban dissident, alluding to Fidel
Castro's age of 77 years, said "the
dictatorship will not disappear with the
dictator. Castro will be perpetuated with
his ideological heirs, who are perfectly
organized to continue with the repression
after his death."
Anti-Castro resistance in Cuba, as well
as abroad, "is civilian" and,
for this reason, the conditions necessary
to stage an armed revolution to overthrow
the dictatorship do not exist on the island,
he alleged.
Copyright © 2004, South
Florida Sun-Sentinel
|
