No change
One of Cuba’s best known dissidents, Oswaldo Paya, has launched a new campaign to reform the Constitution.
Paya, who leads the Christian Liberation Movement, is best known internationally for proposing the Varela Project some years ago, which aimed to use the existing legal framework on the island to usher in democratic reforms.
To that end, Paya and his supporters spent years gathering the signatures needed under the Constitution to ask the National Assembly for a referendum.
It was all above board and legal.
But much as expected, the Castro regime merely ignored the request – and the signatories.
This time around, Paya won’t bother collecting signatures. Instead, he has called on Cubans of all political stripes to demand free elections for a Constituent Assembly.
"It is time for Cubans to open the doors of the future, using legal and peaceful means," he said in a statement distributed to foreign media correspondents in Havana on Monday.
Well, wish the man luck.
As Reuters reports, few Cubans will even know of Paya’s efforts because opposition groups do not have any access to the official, State-run media.
Besides, in true Stalinist fashion, the Castro brothers have made it clear that there will be no changes of a political nature to the Constitution – regardless of what their own Constitution says.
Paya, who leads the Christian Liberation Movement, is best known internationally for proposing the Varela Project some years ago, which aimed to use the existing legal framework on the island to usher in democratic reforms.
To that end, Paya and his supporters spent years gathering the signatures needed under the Constitution to ask the National Assembly for a referendum.
It was all above board and legal.
But much as expected, the Castro regime merely ignored the request – and the signatories.
This time around, Paya won’t bother collecting signatures. Instead, he has called on Cubans of all political stripes to demand free elections for a Constituent Assembly.
"It is time for Cubans to open the doors of the future, using legal and peaceful means," he said in a statement distributed to foreign media correspondents in Havana on Monday.
Well, wish the man luck.
As Reuters reports, few Cubans will even know of Paya’s efforts because opposition groups do not have any access to the official, State-run media.
Besides, in true Stalinist fashion, the Castro brothers have made it clear that there will be no changes of a political nature to the Constitution – regardless of what their own Constitution says.
posted by Luis M Garcia at 9:44 am
2 Comments:
Not only did they ignore his efforts, they rounded up and arrested many of his collaborators while leaving him free. This combined with negative statements he has made in the past make him to like some sort of a chivato.
Who knows the truth?
Have you seen this?
Extraña muerte de un opositor cubano que estaba bajo custodia policial
Manuel Acosta falleció el pasado domingo en una unidad de la policía, donde esperaba para ser enjuiciado
EFE - La Habana - 27/06/2007
La ilegal Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional (CCDHRN) denunció ayer la muerte en circunstancias "poco claras" del opositor Manuel Acosta mientras se encontraba bajo custodia policial.
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Extrana/muerte/opositor/cubano/estaba/custodia/policial/elpepuint/20070627elpepuint_2/Tes
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