2007-11-24.
Cuban Forum Campaign
WE THE CUBAN PEOPLE:
We want liberty.
God created all human beings free and as such freedom is an inalienable
right. Cubans want to be free. Free to express ourselves, to dream, to
create, to work, to travel, to elect, to create and to display our faith.
Cubans want to be free in order to live with dignity and brotherhood.
We are calling for all the rights of all Cubans, because we are entitled
to have all of our rights: civic, political, economic, social, and
cultural, like all human beings.
Cubans want a state with the rule of law in which the Constitution and
the laws guarantee rights with direct, transparent and unequivocal
expression, in such a way that neither the State, nor the government,
nor any other institution or individual could annul or restrict the
freedom of Cubans, nor partially or completely deny any of their rights.
There is no legitimate argument to deny the rights and fundamental
freedoms of Cubans.
We demand freedom of religion and respect for political pluralism and
the diversity of ideas that exist in our society.
The law should guarantee the right of association in social
organizations and political parties for all citizens, rights that today
are buried, because only the Communists can have a political party.
Many Cubans are not Communists and the right to organize themselves
legally and participate in political life according to their convictions
should be respected.
We reclaim the sovereignty of the people and their sovereign right to
elect, design, determine and change their political, social, and
economic system, to make it free, more humane, more fraternal, and more
just, and to have the right to choose leaders in free and democratic
elections.
We will struggle by civic means until right of the people to bring about
changes in the Constitution or to draft a new one, and to modify the
laws, is respected. We will present legal initiatives to obtain the
respect for all the rights of all Cubans and a better quality of life.
We defend popular sovereignty, national independence, and the
sovereignty of our Nation which, as Father Félix Varela taught us, are
inseparable.
The rulers of society must be the sovereign people and not a political
party. It is up to Cubans and only Cubans to define and decide the
future of Cuba freely and democratically, as a sovereign and independent
country, without interventions, nor foreign interference, from the
north, south, east or west.
This is why we do not accept foreign laws that pretend to decide on the
present or design the future of Cuba, or economic dependence, or also
political alliances that deny the independence, interests and vocation
of peace and liberty of the Cuban people.
We defend the dignity and honor of Cubans and reject the politics of
exclusion, exploitation, and humiliation against Cubans in their own
country to give advantages and privileges to foreign companies and
individuals that exploit workers and enjoy in complicity the lack of
rights that Cubans are subject to.
We want camaraderie and peace with all the nations of the world, with
all cultures, beliefs and races.
We proclaim that all Cubans are brothers and that Cuba is the Nation and
Homeland of all Cubans, whether they live inside or outside of Cuba,
because we are only one people and all the rights of all Cubans must be
respected.
The nation is our land, our skies, our seas, our history. The Nation can
not be confused with the revolution or with socialism, because the
Nation encompasses all that we have and all that we are as a Nation.
All Cubans comprise the Nation, those of us who live in Cuba and those
who live outside of Cuba.
We proclaim full rights as Cubans to all those who were banished, are in
exile, or emigrated for whatever reason, as well as to their children.
We denounce the official classification of "definitive exit from the
country," which is applied to those who emigrate as a cruel punishment
of dispossession and banishment.
We reclaim the right of all Cubans to freely exit and return to the
country, without conditions, nor impositions and also the right of those
who live outside the country to establish themselves once again in Cuba.
We call for the immediate release of all those who are imprisoned for
peacefully defending, promoting, and exercising universally recognized
human rights.
We also propose a dialogue among all Cubans, without exclusions, about
an ample and generous general political amnesty, on the basis of love,
goodwill, truth and forgiveness, in the search for justice and national
reconciliation.
We proclaim that this is the hour of dialogue and reconciliation and all
of us should work with good will for understanding, respect and peace
among Cubans.
An authentic participation of citizens in a national dialogue, in
political life, and in the decision on the changes that Cuba needs, is
only possible on the basis of legal recognition and respect in practice,
of freedom of expression and other civil and political rights.
Cubans want a new life and no one can deny us the profound changes that
we have desired and hoped for many decades.
Liberation is the term that completely expresses the changes that we
Cubans want. And liberation means freedom and rights, reconciliation and
justice, respect for life, brotherhood and progress, participation and
equality of opportunities.
If we can not be in agreement about the past, we can and should be in
agreement about the future.
The Cuban people and in particular the new generation, want to live in
peace, in an environment free of pretense, fear, hate and resentment,
without retaliation or revenge.
We reclaim trade union freedoms and justice for workers and peasants and
the right of Cubans to have economic freedoms, to work freely and to
have businesses and their own companies for the benefit of their
families and society.
We do not want to continue in this oppressive and inefficient system, in
which workers and the majority of Cubans suffer from poverty and can not
even say that they are poor.
Under the current regime, humble people suffer anguish and many times
persecution in their daily search to make ends meet and survive, while
institutionalized corruption has been established, in which some are
granted immense privileges and a life of riches because of their
positions in areas of political and military power.
We do not hate classes, nor do we hold any other type of hate. We only
want the people to be given what is theirs and for equal opportunities
to be available to all, as well as the right to a better life through
honest work.
We also do not want an extreme political or economic model in which
political power, market power, and other interests are placed above
human dignity, the rights of individuals, equality, social justice, and
the common good.
We oppose the situation in which Cuba, its resources and inhabitants,
are treated as private property as well as any unbridled process of
privatization in which our country might be plundered and parceled out
like a pie.
With economic freedoms and their own initiatives and creative labor,
Cubans can overcome poverty and progress towards strengthening the
solidarity of our society.
We are determined to maintain and hand down to our children all the
positive things that the Cuban people have achieved with love and with
their labor throughout the years.
We Cubans want to maintain and improve, as rights for all, free
education and public health and all that constitutes as a social benefit.
Education should not be an instrument of political domination, but
rather of the development of the individual in all aspects; educating
oneself for liberty. We demand respect for the right of parents to
educate their children according to their faith, beliefs and values.
We call for the cessation of political and ideological demands and
conditions on children, youth, and students, from the first grade level
through the university level, and respect for liberty of conscience,
expression and association.
We believe that it is time for true equality to exist and for all spaces
of participation in society to be opened without exclusions.
In Cuba there isn't a clash of generations, but rather that the new
generation is also deprived of the rights that their parents and
grandparents were denied. We demand the space and rights for youth to
live their own era and set their own course for society and also for the
elderly, adults, children, and all men and women, without discrimination
or exclusions against any individual, for being believers or
non-believers, nor on the basis of race, religion, age, political
opinions, ideas, sex, national origin, economic position, or other
detriments against human dignity.
The official politics and laws concerning housing have submerged and
maintained millions of Cuban families under a situation of true human
calamity, as there has been much more persecution, prohibition,
arbitrariness, corruption, favoritism, and dispossession than solutions.
For the good of the family, we Cubans are calling for a new housing law,
opportunities and plans to overcome this calamity, while at the same
time we confirm that no Cuban individual or family will be expelled from
the home which they inhabit, nor from their land, nor will they be
dispossessed of their property, nor do they have any debt to pay the
former owners.
The laws must guarantee freedom of expression and movement for all. The
methods of watching over and controlling the public as well as all forms
of oppression against citizens and interferences in their private lives
must cease, so that Cubans will no longer need to look to the side or
close their windows before opinionating and so that everyone can
publicly and freely demonstrate and express themselves with respect.
We want to overcome the culture of fear forever. The media is of the
people and is paid by the people and should therefore permit access to
all citizens and to all opinions.
The solution to inequality, and disparities among regions, is not
internal migration, but instead to achieve equal development in all of
Cuba. But the persecution, harassment, humiliation, and discrimination
against Cubans just for moving from one province to another in search of
opportunities and to escape misery must cease immediately.
Never again will Cubans be declared illegal in their own country, nor
will some Cubans be used to repress others.
Cuba is only one and is home to all Cubans.
Let us promote a civic and peaceful movement for liberation and reject
terrorism, violence, confrontation and hate among Cubans because we are
all brothers.
A movement that seeks personal and collective liberation, on the basis
of love and solidarity, that calls upon citizens to refuse to submit to
the oppression and lies and to be aware of their rights and their duty
to participate in the solution to the problems of our society.
Only by peacefully reclaiming our rights will we be protagonist of our
own history and achieve freedom and changes to the laws, so that they
guarantee these rights.
Liberation is not to pit some Cubans against others, but rather for all
to work together for the good of all.
And so victory will be for all.
Cuba will be reborn free and in peace and as our apostle, José Martí
prophesized, all of us will establish, "a new nation of sincere democracy."
This is the declaration of the people of Cuba.
Cuban Forum Campaign
For more information visit www.oswaldopaya.org or contact Francisco De
Armas and Julio Hernández, International Representatives, Christian
Liberation Movement, (787) 549-1805, fdamcl@cs.com, mcl2004jhs@yahoo.com
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=12745
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