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The Opposition
CubaPress
The independent media is a new phenomenon in Cuba. CubaPress is a reputed,
independent bureau, founded in the middle of the Nineties. Raul Rivero, its
Director, was formerly a well-known journalist of Prensa Latina, the unofficial
newspaper. For Rivero, to report the news from outside the boundaries of state
propaganda, the change has meant having much more honesty in his life, but also
endless more difficulties. Many fellow workers have landed in jail, for either
short or long terms. In Cuba, freedom of press often means intimidation,
blackmail, interrogation, unfair dismissal, house arrest, travel bans,
repercussions on family members and exile ('Havanapress', for example, has fled
for a great deal to Spain). Rivero finds it reasonable that many embassies are,
in principle, suspicious of dissidents shouting strange things before their
gates. From the tone used, you can often hear when people are trying to engineer
their own asylum. If they shout "Fidel is crazy!", you know which way
the wind blows.
Raul Rivero is a courageous man. He could go abroad - which is where the
Cuban government would prefer to have him - but he wants to continue the
struggle in Cuba. As recently as last year, an 'acto de repudio' (a repudiation
act) was organized against him (purported to be spontaneous, but orchestrated,
in reality, by security services as a 'popular demonstration'). Part of his
family now lives in the U.S. He misses his dear ones sorely. His threatened wife
also wants to leave as soon as possible. This does not make things any easier
for him. Furthermore, his health is not good. He had just received the
'Journalists Without Frontiers' Prize, which, apart from providing some
financial support, means more international recognition and thus, in practice,
protection. Rivero has been arrested more than once and life and work for him
and for his fellow workers are made as difficult as possible.
CubaPress now has 18 staff members throughout the country, mostly
volunteers. Cash hardly ever flows in; there are some 'special envoys' in some
countries, who are compensated for their work mostly in kind. The authorities
have confiscated and continue to confiscate the typewriters and fax machines
donated by foreigners. These are dispatched to rural branches of 'Committees for
the Defense of the Revolution'(CDRs). The telephone is constantly interrupted or
cut off and always tapped. Security forces from the Cuban PTT even dare to give
and take interviews in Rivero's name on his line, just as it happened during our
stay. His colleagues are permanently on stand-by, for when the moment comes to
go into hiding or stop carrying out their activities from Cuba completely.
A young colleague, Eduardo, whose task is to follow up Church activities,
barely survived a nine-month jail stay not long ago. He was more dead than alive
when he left, say his colleagues. His weak state is still apparent in his
demeanor: he is skin and bones. Ever since the roof of his house collapsed and
the temporary 'hostel' that the city assigned to him also fell, three years
later (Caritas offered to repair it but the authorities did not authorize it),
he has no permanent home and has been moving from place to place for over a
year.
In spite of much skepticism, the press correspondents are happy with the
Pope's visit. Raul Rivero recounts how the authorities had already announced the
visit was a success before it was even concluded. They anticipated the Pope's
favorable intervention with respect to the embargo and blind Capitalism.
Whatever else the Pope had to say in Cuba, was less important for them: 'We'll
overcome that also...' Internationally, the regime also meant to 'coopt' or
exploit the event. Political upheaval was not really to be expected, but surely
some spiritual consolation, CubaPress says.
About the conference that Pax Christi organized in November in Rome: "A
brilliant move, the public encounter between Father Loredo and famous ex-fighter
Benigno! Your activities have definitely contributed to a change in the European
climate with respect to Cuba. 'The Gringos' (like US citizens are called in
South America) refer to this event as a 'turning point'. affirms CubaPress.
Raul Rivero encourages Pax Christi to make use of CubaPress services: he
says if specific questions are raised, he will go after the answers and publish
them in an article. For the time being, the modest office equipment brought over
from Holland fulfills a bit of the news agency's immediate basic needs. 'Radio
1' from the Netherlands has come along with us and tapes a quick interview with
him. We propose CubaPress for the yearly 'Guillermo Cano Award', which is
awarded by Unesco for courageous journalism. International recognition means
protection, that is a fact confirmed from experience. 'It is an injection
against repression! Especially recognition from Europe; the one stemming from
the US., tends to do more harm than good'.
In spite of the possible risks, the team remains bravely willing to receive
foreign visitors and to have them make international reports on its activities.
Other opposition groups are to express the same opinion in the following days.
About U.S. visa policy, they have this to say: 'They are willing to give the
'lesser gods' among dissidents permission to go to the U.S. But those from whom
the U.S. expects essential contributions to internal changes in Cuba, are
refused entry. This is completely opportunistic.' 'The U.S. has to deal with the
limitation that it cannot verify the story told by a candidate for migration
with the Cuban government: they just have to believe people. Migrants who want
to leave the country simply have to be taken at their word'.
Every year the U.S. awards 20.000 visas, 6.000 of which are issued via the
'lottery system'. According to Raul Rivero, 'at the end of 1995, a moving drama
took place: a policeman won the U.S. raffle. He was not authorized to leave by
the Cuban authorities (they alleged he knew sensitive information). His family
could leave, so they left. Eventually, the former cop (he lost his job when he
asked permission to leave), decided to take the risk and leave in a raft.
Tragically, he drowned. Many Cuban families have had to undergo similar bitter
experiences.'
The following days we were to meet regularly with CubaPress, unexpectedly so
just the very next day. On Sunday, January 25, during the Pope's mass in the
'Plaza de la Revolución', we suddenly ran into our friends, among the
30.000 people crowd. 'Providence!', they shouted. Thanks to Pax Cristi's mobile
phone, they were able to conduct a number of live interviews with people abroad,
without being disturbed or disconnected. A godsend opportunity! Little by
little, some professional eaves-droppers gathered near. Simultaneously, a safety
belt of true believers also surrounded us, not letting the intruders get
through. Women embraced me spontaneously and praised the international attention
given to the Pope's visit in their suffering land. 'Juan Pablo, amigo! El pueblo
está contigo!' (John Paul, friend, the people are with you!), the people
voiced loudly; a variation on the well-known slogan of the Revolution, 'El
pueblo, unido, jamás será vencido!' (the people, united, will
never be defeated). Only a Cuban can know what this apparently innocent change
of text means.
During this last mass, held on January 25, the Pope spoke in his most
forceful way until then. He asked for the release of political prisoners and for
the protection of human rights, referring to the urgent need for legislation
guaranteeing freedom of opinion. He promised the faithful that the truth shall
set them free and that the Church will undertake their own struggle for justice.
He condemned Atheism and the 'blind powers of Liberalism and Capitalism that
determine people's fate'. To conclude, he called for dialogue and
reconciliation.
What we did not see during the Pope's last mass was that, a bit further, a
women carrying a banner proclaiming 'Away with the dictatorship of the Castro
brothers!' was arrested. She was taken in by security agents disguised as
National Red Cross volunteers and driven away in an ambulance. A child that had
been with her was left behind. 'The Red Cross always does such things', people
assured us. 'It is an instrument of the security forces'. This particular case,
and arrests made in other cities, were later investigated by CubaPress. When we
returned to The Netherlands, we contacted the International Red Cross Federation
(IRCF), with headquarters in Geneva. This intervention came at the right time:
Red Cross personnel was about to leave on an unofficial visit to Cuba. They had
heard about this case and, in general, about the role played by the Cuban
National Red Cross. They promise to investigate the case.
Movimiento Cristiano Liberación (MCL)
Oswaldo Payá, founder and leader of the Christian Liberation Movement
(MCL), is a determined human-rights activist and a well-structured philosopher,
who has thought deeply about the course the inevitable transition period after
Castro should follow. The peaceful transition he advocates, is structured on
grounds already present in the Constitution. With the help of volunteers,
signatures were collected in order to register a candidate of the people for
municipal elections, permitting popular participation in government (this was
already a right guaranteed by the Constitution, but the actual law has to be
modified so civilians can choose their own representatives in place of Party
favorites). Fidel Castro has been re-elected by 98.5% of the population for
almost forty years now.
The most recent example of the Cuban people's struggle for participation in
government is a specific alternative: the 'Proyecto Varela'. The MCL is in the
process of gathering signatures to force a referendum in order to modify the
law. The 'Proyecto Varela' makes proposals involving electoral and penal law,
political prisoners, individual, economic and social civil liberties, private
enterprise and foreign investment, etc. In short, it is an exercise designed to
prepare the citizens for a transition. Payá: 'Society is in decay and
corruption has been institutionalized along the way. The new economic powers
(belonging often to military circles) are now allying themselves with
international capital: they are full-blooded Capitalists, although they were
still shouting, only yesterday, 'Socialism or death!'. The new developments can
well be compared to those taking place in present Russia'.
The MCL now has a few hundred supporters throughout the whole country,
according to Payá. It is a well-known and appreciated group, forming part
of a larger opposition movement. Different recognized opposition leaders support
the 'Proyecto Varela'. It also seeks support from abroad: 'That also increases
solidarity at the internal level!'. The EU must insist with more force and
clarity before the Cuban authorities, in favor of free elections. The Socialist
International and Pax Christi can play an important role in rallying
international support for the 'Proyecto Varela', also with regard to the
Vatican, says Payá.
'The Pope literally used sentences take from our texts in his speeches. We
have managed to make ourselves heard', says Payá. But Cuba's national
church continues to keep its distance. The Church 'Justitia et Pax' Commission
has not functioned like it was meant to function, since the very beginning. Its
former chairman, Bishop Carlos Baladron, was removed and appointed new Bishop of
Guantanamo/Baracoa. A new chairman has not yet been elected'.
The MCL was the first opposition group to take up the struggle to lift the
US embargo (food and medicines), in 1996. Payá is broadly trusted in
Cuban society, as far as his personal integrity and his independence are
concerned. He is also the first to appreciate the merits of his dissident
colleagues. The popular 'divide and reign' method used by the Cuban regime has
never managed to affect Payá. The secret police has followed him for
years. They have harassed him at his home, at work and via different 'acts of
repudiation'. Also during the Pope's mass at the Plaza de la Revolución,
the secret service never left him unguarded.
Payá identifies the MCL as a clearly Christian movement; it was
founded at the end of the Eighties by lay people inside the Church. Their first
clandestine meeting was held in the Sacristy of the Jesuit Church. This
protection was desperately needed, since threats are constant: threats of
imprisonment, having 'an accident', repercussions on family members, etc. Pax
Christi first met Payá and his followers in 1991 in secret, under the
cover of night and at the seashore, so that we could not possibly be overhead.
Gradually , though, fear has given way to a more daring attitude. 'Away with the
culture of fear!', says the MCL. Actually, this increasing openness holds true
for almost the whole of Cuban society.
The official Church holds Payá and his colleagues at arm's length,
which is the case for all other civil opposition groups. The official stand of
the Church hierarchy is viewed with more and more bitterness. MCL believes that
the Catholic Church should not let itself be intimidated by the regime. 'In a
way, the Church seems fascinated by this power. The Church, the MCL believes,
must pronounce itself on the side of those who fight for human rights and
democracy. It must try to shake off its bonds. Even several Catholic priests
have been left in the lurch in the past by the Church. The Church is adverse to
civil opposition. It does not acknowledge it; it does not refer to it and, worse
still, it completely ignores it.' 'It is a question of rivalry', says Payá.
'Instead of trying to unite every force in society, the Church fears having to
share anything with independent lay organizations'. Payá believes this to
be a historical mistake that the Church will be forced to pay dearly, in the
long run. As far as the Church gets more room for maneuver through the Pope's
visit - something it has timidly been asking the regime for - this is bound to
mainly benefit the elite and not the believers.
Payá: 'Nobody from the opposition was included in the program for the
Pope's visit; they were not even allowed to receive communion from John Paul's
hands (50 lay people and members of religious orders were selected for this
honor in each mass). Long before the visit, Cardinal Jaime Ortega was approached
about having some opposition presence in the official program, to no avail'.
Different international organizations (Pax Christi included) have proposed Paya
for a personal interview with the Pope, but the Vatican had so far not reacted
to the suggestion. During the press conference held by the Church shortly before
the visit, only diplomats and journalists were admitted. Asked by a press
correspondent why the MCL had not been invited to take part in any act, Cardinal
Jaime Ortega simply ignored the question. The Pope has never received the letter
sent to him by Payá (via Ortega and addressed to the Nunciature). The
experiences MCL has had with respect to the Church, show that the Church
automatically regards all civil opposition as a rival. 'The Church strives to
monopolize international solidarity'.
Payá: 'The Church's policy is comparable to the one held by the
Party. Elites appear to display similar behavior. One single Bishop is the
exception to this practice.' Bishop Maurice of Santiago de Cuba is undoubtedly
made of sterner stuff: he is well-known as the fearless Bishop who constantly
stimulates and protects his flock. When the Pope was in Santiago de Cuba to
celebrate mass, Bishop Maurice was the most outspoken. He pronounced himself
clearly, concerning the decline and inner conflict of Cuban society, referring
to 'false Messiahs', deception and injustice. Afterwards, his speech was not
broadcasted in Santiago itself (a local 'power failure', said the media). Right
after the Pope left, the Bishop was called by the Security Police for
interrogation. At the same time, Minister of Defense Raul Castro again gave
speeches over the Revolution's principles to regional party cadres. All this
took place within the context of the 'despapificacion' effort. Television
viewers were treated to many hours of watching Fidel Castro's brother following
the papal visit.
Payá and his group have regular contact with the diplomatic
representatives of the EU and with different Embassies. They are wel informed of
statements made by the EU 'human-rights group' in Havana. They also get
logistical support from some Embassy representatives. The Netherlands is
involved in this endeavor (not only backing MCL but other dissident groups), and
so are Spain (in spite of its investments) and Germany. International investors
are kept closely under watch. People are overwhelmingly of the opinion that
foreign investment, not bound by any code of conduct at present, is of no use to
ordinary Cubans. It only benefits the country's totalitarian regime, according
to Payá.
MCL: 'In this respect, a country that unjustifiably disregards taking a
moral stand on Cuba is its largest foreign investor: Canada. They say they
encourage 'dialogue' through investment and exchange, but that is absurd: they
will never force the regime to improving conditions for workers, as long as that
puts their profit at risk. They will never demand that independent trade unions
exist or that Cuban workers be paid legally in dollars. These workers are
currently chosen and hired by the authorities, depending more on their political
loyalty than on their professional expertise. The State reaps in the costly
salaries in dollars paid by the investor distributing about 10% among the
workers, in worthless Cuban pesos. Workers for foreign investors in general
profit from a limited amount of dollar (under or above the table), that are
payed to motivate them. Canada's so-called 'quiet diplomacy' policy lacks
credibility and is harmful, because it only serves to perpetuate the regime'.
Together with other members of the opposition, Payá met with U.S.
Congressman Rangel and other Democrat Congressmen and their Advisors, who were
in Cuba for the Pope's visit. Also present were Republicans Ranneberger ('Cuban
Affairs Chief' at the U.S. State Department) and some Advisors of Senator Jesse
Helms. The Cubans did not waste time launching a joint appeal against the
embargo (food/medicines). 'The vicious circle must be broken and the momentum
taken advantage of, in order to take unilateral steps before Castro gets a
chance to prevent them by provocations! Do not let Castro define your policy,
surely not through a boycott that should never have taken place. The Pope's
message has appeal but the US response is what really counts for Cuba's future'.
Payá was certainly satisfied with the receptivity shown by Ranneberger
and Helms' Advisors. He expressed more doubts concerning the Democrats, fearing
that they might seek to use the opposition in Cuba for domestic consumption.
Senator Jesse Helms (driving force behind the present embargo) later
willingly suggested trying to use non-governmental channels in Cuba (Caritas for
example) for the shipment of medicines. The likely-to-be-expected negative
reactions from the 'radicals' in Miami were immediately heard.
Pax Christi will promote the Proyecto Varela in Europe and other forms of
cooperation with MCL. One suggestion is to bring Payá (and other
dissidents who are not seeking asylum) on a tour through EU countries.
Solidaridad Democrática/Apal (Artist Association in Havana)
Solidaridad Democrática is a coalition of opposition groups dedicated
to human rights, democracy and the support of political prisoners; Apal (an old
acquaintance) forms part of it. The same story is to be heard everywhere: the
leaders of these groups have been fired from their jobs and marginalized
completely from society. They are subject to imprisonment, intimidation,
blackmail and harassment. In order to survive, a great deal of fantasy has to be
summoned. Hunger and poverty are constant. Miserable housing conditions abound.
No matter how dangerous a European visitor might be for them, in the short term,
these dissidents crave solidarity and attention for their country's plight. The
division that increasingly paralyzes human rights groups is a permanent tragedy.
It is often the result of an effective infiltration policy from above.
Movimiento Cívico Máximo Gómez, in Pinar del Río
A spontaneous gathering of a dozen leaders from the local section of a
civil-rights movement, named after a famous general, a national hero, from Santo
Domingo, in Cuba's independence struggle against the Spaniards, in 1868. The
group has approximately 100 members. Members of the Antonio Maceo Movement,
named after a black General from the same war of independence, also work
alongside it. MCMG's headquarters are in a large house, which was formerly a
mansion, but is now an extremely fire-hazardous installation; it is where Ona, a
CubaPress contributor, and a numerous number of her relatives live. In some
places, the foundations of the house show through. The day before, the group had
had an unexpected visit from U.S. Congressmen in Cuba for the Pope's visit, who
had been accompanied by someone from the U.S. Interest Office (U.S.
'representation'). For the first time this year, the movement's leaders were not
arrested at the act of remembrance they hold at the statue of forefather José
Martí each year. 'Contra-revolutionaries should not lay flowers by the
symbol of our revolution', was always the argument used against them, and the
legal infraction quoted was labelled 'desacato' or disrespect for the
authorities. This was punished by several months in prison, often in solitary
confinement. Last year, chairperson Blanca was held three months in a police
cell.
Ill-treatment of prisoners is a common occurrence. Most members of the group
have had similar experiences. Eduardo (from CubaPress, he also belongs to this
group) was jailed nine months last year, for his international activities and
contacts (among others, with Journalists Without Frontiers, Amnesty
International and the Committee of the New York Journalists Association). After
he was released (mainly due to the pressure exerted by Journalists Without
Frontiers) the intimidation, blackmail and harassment continued, in the form of
house searches and confiscation of properties. However, 'great progress' was
observable this year (the undisturbed laying of flowers at the José Martí
monument took place on the National Remembrance Day of January 28. The only
thing was that the city's two flower shops were forbidden to sell flowers to the
'counter-revolutionaries').
The Pope's interventions left some people in a slightly euphoric mood. After
so many years in Pinar del Rio of solitude and pain, his presence was a big
comfort for the inhabitants of the dilapidated provincial city. 'Don't be
afraid', said the Pope. 'But', they added, 'now, it is the regime that fears
us!'.
Towards the end of last year, during preparations for the papal visit,
posters were plastered on buildings in Pinar del Río bearing the Pope's
image. Asides from glasses, a mustache and a beard, he also wore a swastika on
his sleeve. Pictures of the posters taken by a member of CubaPress were
confiscated along with her camera. She was declared guilty of 'espionage' and
'relaying information to an enemy country' and imprisoned for months, although
no official charges were filed against her. The local Church and the 'citizen
center', run by lay man Dagoberto Valdez and supported by the well-known
Cardinal Ortega, were fully briefed about the situation, but their voices would
not be heard. Everybody in the city knew that the blasphemous posters were the
work of the Cuban authorities. This is why many people found Castro's seemingly
reverent attitude during the Pope's visit simply unbearable.
Universitarios sin Frontera (Students without Frontiers), founded in
1996
The Movimiento Cubano Jóvenes por la Democracia (Cuban Youth
Movement for Democracy), founded in 1991
Cuban students learned about Perestroika in the Soviet Union and were
influenced by it. Since then, many have been put in jail (the current
chair-person has been in prison during the past 18 months) accused of various
crimes, such as disrespect for the authorities','disobedience' or 'endangerment
of the law' (suspicion of anti-revolutionary sympathy is enough), 'instigation
to crime', 'distribution of enemy propaganda' (another member was imprisoned for
one- and-a-half years for this crime) or 'illegal association'.
At CubaPress we meet with the mother of the chairman of the youth movement,
Nestor Rodríguez Lobaina, a highly educated scientist who was arrested on
the street and harshly beaten in the presence of this family. He is still in
prison. With his mother is the Vice-President of 'Students without Frontiers',
condemned to pay the exorbitant fine of 1000 pesos for organizing a protest.
They are two very vulnerable people. After a day and night journey in a
prehistoric, slow-crawling train, they arrived in Havana from the Province of
Oriente. They look malnourished and exhausted. They come prepared, however, to
take up the struggle for the young students in Oriente who have been arrested
and imprisoned for years, fired from their jobs, undergone endless criminal
processes, been placed under house or city arrest. The victims have no rights;
independent legal help simply does not exist. People under these conditions must
seek help from clandestine human-rights organizations. It is impossible not to
feel dejected hearing such stories. It is obvious that the regime's brutality
and arbitrary behavior wreak special havoc among young people.
However, dissidents like these confirm that international pressure does
help: more than once, prisoners have been released depending on the amount of
weight of the international organization or person that asks for the release.
'It is a bartering process', they say. 'We are the raw materials of Cuba's
industry of political prisoners. If a couple of us is released, due to
international pressure others of us are bound to be arrested a while from then'.
CubaPress has a broad view of its own journalistic work. It does not only
bring these cases into the open abroad; it also attempts to provide what little
help it can summon locally, even though there is an absolute shortage of means.
The movement around the 'Remolcador', the ferry '13 de marzo' sunk by Cuban
coast-guards on July 13, 1994, a catastrophe in which 41 refugees were drowned.
This disaster, that brought so much grief and rage to the people of Havana,
has never been investigated by the regime, although members of the community
have insisted upon this time and again up to the present. The authorities speak
of 'an accident' that the high-jackers and the numerous families aboard brought
upon themselves. The 'remolcador' was not an adequate sea-faring vessel, they
claim. The version given by the survivors is quite different. They allege that
when the ferry was already quite far from the coast, it was followed by the
coast-guards, who sank it by water cannons. The drowning victims (mainly women
and children) were left to drift in the water, screaming for help until the
waves engulfed them. Halfway through the operation, the orders changed and some
survivors were rescued. Immediately afterwards, some male survivors were forced
to appear on television, declaring that the incident had been caused 'by a
technical failure'. Apart from this public appearance, everyone was ordered to
keep silent. Five women who survived the ordeal, however, dared to tell the
truth before the international mass media. The authorities did not dare to act
further against the survivors, persisting in their version that it had been 'an
accident'. The official press and former Minister of Justice Carlos Amat
(current representative to the UN in Geneva) hushed everything up, although the
authorities promised to investigate 'accidents' in general.
Even the Church was forbidden to hold memorial services for the drowned
family members. The list of victims, which was pinned at the entrance of the
Church, was removed by the police. A mother who lost her husband, her daughter
and her grandson and asked for a memorial service, was threatened on more than
one occasion. The security agents intimidated her by saying that they would
'certainly be able to find' her only surviving son. The only thing she was
determined to do was to honor her loved ones with a memorial mass. During the
ensuing years, when she went to cast flowers into the sea at the site where her
family disappeared (a Cuban custom), she has been followed and harassed. Even
during her visits to the Church she says she has been harassed by the Security
Police.
A former marine captain who was familiar with the vessel and was deeply
moved by the incident, decided to write a report, asking the authorities for
clarifications. He tried to involve the authorities, even up to Fidel Castro,
but to no avail. Nevertheless, for this man and his wife, this has meant a
painful journey that has lasted for years and still continues. The Captain has
been arrested, interrogated, threatened and blackmailed. His pregnant wife was
put in prison (officially for a misdemeanor) and had to give birth without any
medical assistance in her prison cell. The government's approach has ranged from
making threats to bribes and promises of release and leaving the country if he
would stop his activities. The former captain is now obviously unemployed and it
is friendly opposition groups who offer him some protection. He has not given
up, though. Pax Christi presented the report prepared by him and others in 1997
(including as many photographs as possible of the passengers) in Rome; it was
distributed internationally. Due to the former role of Carlos Amat as Public
Prosecutor during the trumped-up trails of the Sixties and Seventies, Pax
Christi Nederland is lobbying to have Amat declared 'persona non grata' in
Geneva. That was also one of the results of the meeting of the 'European
Platform' in Rome, held on November 29, 1997.
In general, it is believed that the drama involving the 'Remolcador' led
directly to the uprising that took place in Havana shortly after the disaster.
The population's fury and sense of impotence looked for a way out. In Havana, we
tried to track down one of the survivors, an artist. When we finally found out
his address, it seems he had gone away months before. After the murder hunt in
the Remolcador, he tried to escape once more, by raft, to Florida. He managed it
but died days later of an intestinal illness.
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