Posted on Sun, Oct. 07, 2007
BY LUISA YANEZ
lyanez@MiamiHerald.com
In a new Cuba, the Communist Party is banned. The wrongs of Fidel
Castro's almost 50-year regime will be set right with Nuremberg-style
trials. And as the island's future is carved out, Miami exiles would
have a spot at the political table.
Those are among the mandates issued by Unidad Cubana, a group that
largely promotes the conservative ideals of South Florida's ''historical
exile'' -- the long-time Cubans whose lives were derailed by Castro's
rise to power.
''This is a plan for democratic action for our country,'' popular Radio
Mambí 710-AM host Armando Pérez-Roura told hundreds of exiles who packed
into Manuel Artime Community Center in the heart of Little Havana on a
recent rainy night.
Dubbed ''The Declaration from Miami,'' the guide for a free Cuba is the
first to emerge since an ailing Castro handed power to his brother Raúl
last year. It cautions that its goal is to prevent ''last-minute''
mistakes when -- not if -- Cuba's government collapses.
First and foremost, the declaration denounces any idea that a
monarchy-like succession from Fidel to Raúl would be tolerated by exiles
as a green light to negotiate with Raúl's government. ''That will not be
allowed,'' Pérez-Roura said.
Raúl Castro said recently he was willing to meet with Cubans who have
left the island -- a strategy the Cuban government has employed before,
courting liberals and some moderates open to dialogue with Havana.
The declaration's other proposed legal and constitutional reforms include:
• That Cuba's democratic 1940 Constitution, considered the island's most
ambitious, be re-adopted.
• That all political prisoners be immediately released.
• That no Cubans on the island be removed from their current homes -- a
position that addresses Castro's claims that returning exiles would want
to reclaim their property by force.
• The formation of tribunals to bring to justice military commanders,
interior ministry officers and others responsible for the ``Cuban
national tragedy.''
• Establishment of an electoral process for municipal, provincial and
national elections leading up to a presidential election.
• Rebirth of political parties that favor a multiparty democratic system.
• Ban of the Communist Party.
Some Cuba watchers say those steps echo a United States plan for when
Castro dies, but it's anyone's guess if such a plan would work in Cuba.
Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American
Studies at the University of Miami, said Unidad Cubana's suggestions
might be premature.
It's yet unclear if the end of Castro will mean the end of the communist
dictatorship in Cuba, a la Eastern Europe following the Berlin Wall
collapse, he said.
''There are several models Cuba may follow,'' Suchlicki said. ``If Cuba
is like a typical Eastern European country, it calls for a total
collapse of the ruling party in place. But if the Cuba model is more
like Vietnam or China, where the end of communism will be gradual, then
that may take some time.''
Suchlicki said Castro already has passed power to his brother and the
Cuban military is firmly in place. That's more akin to the transition
model from father to son in communist North Korea, he said.
Closing the door to the Communist Party doesn't always work, he said.
``Some Eastern European countries banned the Communist Party, but . . .
[the party] just reinvents itself as some other type of social democrats.''
Other exiles praised Unidad Cubana's mandate, as they prepare their own
position papers.
Huber Matos, once a guerrilla leader for Castro who was later jailed by
Castro's government for 20 years, said the decade-old umbrella group
Accord for Democracy has also recently been meeting with leaders from
Hungary and Poland. The group is trying to anticipate what may be next
for the island. They have incorporated their findings into their
long-standing ''plan for a new Cuba'' paper, he said.
Matos, head of Cuba Independent and Democratic, said the umbrella group
is working closely with organized dissidents inside the island and
military officials.
''Those two groups will be the key to bringing about real change in
Cuba,'' Matos said. ``They know that Marxism and Lenism have failed and
that Cuba is a disaster and something needs to be done.''
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