Condemn Castro
regime's abuses
By Colin Powell, www.state.gov.
Posted on Fri, Mar. 19, 2004 in The
Miami Herald.
One year ago this week, Cuba's notorious
secret police fanned out across the island
to arrest dozens of Cuban citizens for the
''crime'' of thinking and acting independently.
Some of the arrested had compiled information
about human-rights abuses.
Others were independent librarians and
journalists. Many had worked to obtain signatures
for the Varela Project, a grass-roots effort
to urge a national referendum on basic rights.
All shared a commitment to peaceful, democratic
reform in Cuba.
Within three weeks, Castro's kangaroo courts
had convicted 75 Cubans to an average of
nearly 20 years of imprisonment. Their trials
were a travesty of justice, utterly lacking
due process. Independent observers and even
family members of the accused were excluded.
Amnesty International considers all 75 activists
to be ''prisoners of conscience.'' That
brings the number to a total of 89, making
Cuba the country with the world's highest
per-capita percentage of political prisoners.
These selfless men and women are serving
out their Draconian sentences under inhumane
and highly unsanitary prison conditions,
where medical services are wholly inadequate.
As a result, some have developed serious
health problems or have experienced a worsening
of preexisting problems. In November, Oscar
Elías Biscet was confined for 21
days in a punishment cell for encouraging
other prisoners to demand better treatment.
The large-scale arrests last March clearly
were calculated to cast a pall on the development
of an independent civil society in Cuba,
but they have not stopped determined Cubans
from casting aside their fears and following
the example of such valiant democracy activists
as Biscet, Raúl Rivero, Víctor
Rolando Arroyo and Oswaldo Payá,
winner of the 2002 Andrei Sakharov Prize
for Freedom of Thought.
As Payá so eloquently puts it: "We
Cubans also have rights to our rights. I
appeal to you in the name of the spiritual
unity of free men, that has as its North
Star the right to life, liberty, justice
and self-determination of the people. I
appeal in the name of those who support
the peaceful struggle.''
Indeed, today within Cuba's emerging civil
society we see the same determination to
stand up for human rights that we saw in
the Helsinki movement in the former Soviet
Union and in the Charter '77 effort in Czechoslovakia.
And the Cuban independent-library movement
reflects the same resilience and determination
that characterized Poland's "Flying
Universities.''
The crackdown in Cuba over the past year
has generated a growing international consensus
on the need for change on the island. The
European Union has expressed its deep concern
about the continuing flagrant violation
of the human rights and fundamental freedoms
of members of the Cuban opposition and independent
journalists. To demonstrate their rejection
of the Cuban regime's repressive actions,
the European Union member states have taken
a number of steps, such as suspending high-level
government-to-government visits, reviewing
the appropriateness of cultural and other
exchanges and inviting pro-democracy activists
to diplomatic functions.
The Inter-American Democratic Charter,
adopted by every single country in our hemisphere
except Cuba, states that "The peoples
of the Americas have a right to democracy,
and their governments have an obligation
to promote and defend it.''
In fulfillment of that solemn obligation,
President Bush remains strongly committed
to supporting the efforts of Cubans to build
an independent civil society and free the
flow of ideas and information to, from and
across the island. The U.S. Commission for
Assistance to a Free Cuba, which I chair,
will explore ways we can help Cubans peacefully
prepare for the inevitable democratic transition
and help them hasten its arrival.
The current meeting of the U.N. Commission
on Human Rights in Geneva presents and important
opportunity for the democracies of our hemisphere
and for free nations worldwide to join in
condemnation of the Castro regime's abuses.
We who cherish liberty must seize this opportunity
to send a powerful message of solidarity
to the courageous men and women in Cuba
who champion democracy's cause.
Colin Powell is secretary of state.
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