|
Editorial:
Petitioning for a change in Cuba
Support dissidents and democratic change
on the island
Posted on Tue, Oct. 07, 2003 in
The
Miami Herald.
Growing criticism from within and outside of
the island is the best hope for hastening an end
to Cuba's Stalinist dictatorship. This chorus
of critics works to weaken the loyalists that
prop the Castro brothers in power. At the same
time, an increasingly popular internal opposition
is laying the groundwork for democratic changes
to take place sooner rather later.
Even the Cuban regime's vicious crackdown on
dissidents this year has been unable to snuff
out the opposition. Oswaldo Payá made that
remarkably clear last week by turning in 14,384
additional signatures on the Varela petition,
which seeks democratic changes via a constitutional
referendum. In a testament to their courage, thousands
of Cubans dared put their names and identity numbers
on this petition even after 75 dissidents, including
42 Varela activists, were sentenced to prison
terms of up to 28 years this spring.
LOSING FEAR
Despite the repression -- perhaps because of
it -- more Cubans are fed up and losing their
fear of the police state each day. That is the
danger that Fidel Castro fears most. It is what
has caused him to organize a massive counter-petition
drive to declare the totalitarian system ''untouchable''
just after Mr. Payá turned in the first
11,020 Varela-petition signatures last year. Yet
the Varela petition, which requests an island-wide
vote on such reforms as free elections, civil
liberties and the release of political prisoners,
hasn't been officially acknowledged.
Mr. Payá, a contender for the Nobel Peace
Prize, rightly notes that change cannot be stopped
in Cuba. It's only a matter of time. The issue
isn't the U.S. embargo, but the regime's stranglehold
on power and brutality toward its own people.
Now, as never before, there is an international
consensus on the need for democratic reform and
human rights in Cuba. Thus, to the extent that
the international community pressures the regime,
it will support Cuban dissidents and encourage
reformers among the ruling elites.
GLOBAL PRESSURE
The pressure is building. Among these efforts
is the recent vocal call for a pro-democracy fund
for Cuba by former presidents Vaclav Havel of
the Czech Republic, Lech Walesa of Poland and
Arpad Goncz of Hungary. Then there was the extraordinary
event organized by Reporters Without Borders in
Paris last week under the motto "Cuba Yes,
Castro No.''
Among the prominent leftist politicians and intellectuals
there were people as diverse as French actress
Catherine Deneuve, Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar
and Spanish writer Jorge Semprún. All joined
in condemning the Cuban dictatorship and in supporting
Cuban political prisoners such as Raúl
Rivero, a poet jailed for publishing articles
abroad. Latin America's leaders need to be just
as supportive of Cuba's democrats. These leaders
should be ashamed of coddling the region's only
remaining tyrant.
|
