Message to the People of Cuba and the
International Community
More than four decades ago, hundreds of Cubans chose to raise their voices in
the name of thousands of their countrymen who desire and hope to live in
freedom. Hundreds of them lost their lives in the pursuit of this task; hundreds
of them languish today unjustly jailed in Castrist dungeons for defending
complete and just democratic principles that concern the inherent freedom of
human beings; others have had to emigrate and live with the pain of living in
exile.
The people of Cuba deserve to live in freedom not only because they are citizens
of that country but also because we are human beings.
The people of Cuba have faith in God and in all the men and women who, despite
the repression and imprisonment under long-term sentences in subhuman
conditions, have not lost their dignity and decency in the struggle that leads
to freedom and to the complete dignity of men, as Jose Marta dreamed.
We Cubans are convinced that we are one people, and as a radiant dawn that will
bring us all happiness and the blessed freedom we so dream for becomes a little
clearer, we want our democratic principles to be made know with only one
purpose: With all and for the well-being of all, so that all those people,
institutions, and countries that so desire, will be able to defend them in a
peaceful and civilized manner.
This is our purpose. We ratify that we respect the different democratic
trends/movements that already exist in our country even if we do not see eye to
eye in the ways to obtain total freedom for the people of Cuba.
We wish to make public the Declaration of Principles of the Lawton Foundation
for Human Rights which was outlined by its president, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet,
who at present is unjustly jailed and sanctioned to 25 years in prison in
inhumane conditions, for peacefully defending the right to life and to freedom
for the people of Cuba. With his approval, from the heart of his dark cell, he
bestowed upon me the privilege of announcing to the Cuban people and the world
this Declaration, reaffirmed and bequeathed by him in the few days that he saw
sunlight in November, 2002.
For refusing to renounce these principles, Dr. Biscet is being subjected to
psychological and physical punishment in a underground cell without visits from
his relatives and forced to cohabitate with an inmate who has been jailed for
murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Justice exalts a nation; sin is the ruin of people."
Proverbs 14: 34
Lic. Elsa Morejon, wife of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and member of the Board of
Directors of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights.
Declaration of Principles of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet
1. We demand the unconditional freedom of the people of Cuba under a multi-party
system of government democratically elected at all levels and with complete
guarantee of freedom of expression for all, including the governments€™
detachment from the country€™s means of communication.
2. The repeal of the illegitimate communist Constitution of 1976 and the
establishment of a sovereign Constituent Assembly to draw up amendments to the
democratic Constitution of 1940, including the absolute adhesion to the
Universal Declaration of Humans Rights of the United Nations and the abolition
of the death penalty.
3. The establishment of a state of law that guarantees the equality to all
citizens before the Law, without discrimination based on race, sex, ethnic
group, or religion or beliefs, putting an end to the system of oppression and
apartheid established under the communist regime.
4. The dissolution of all political, propagandistic, and repressive
organizations created by the communist regime since January, 1959, with a
renewed emphasis on the development of independent civic institutions that will
forge a new democratic society.
5. Unconditional and immediate amnesty for all political prisoners.
6. Free access to Cubans and their children who live outside the country to
enter and leave the country at will with the same citizen's rights as those who
live inside the country.
7. The commitment to pay for a first-rate free educational system without
political orientation as well as a basic health system accessible to the most
needy.
8. The recognition of private property and free enterprise as the main pillar to
foster the economic well-being of the country together with a full guarantee to
all workers of their right to organize independent labor unions that will
promote collective interests.
9. The restructuring of the armed forces and their strict isolation from the
economic and political activities and responsibilities of the country.
10. Once democracy has been established, lobby for the elimination of the U.S.
trade embargo and for the opening to foreign economic assistance until Cuba can
establish a base for its economic recovery.
Joint Declaration
We, the undersigned, in our roles of pro-democracy leaders residing in Cuba, and
with the purpose of publicly divulging the essential points upon which we
mutually agree, we have decided to sign and submit the following declaration:
1. We proclaim that our common objective is the unconditional freedom of the
people of Cuba and the establishment of a state of law that guarantees the
equality of all before the Law. In that manner, the oppressive system of virtual
apartheid established by the communist regime against Cubans will come to an
end.
2. We declare that the existing constitution, now in its 2002 version, is the
angular stone of the totalitarian system, which we hope to peacefully replace.
Consequently, we consider that a process of real democratization should start
with a substantial change in the constitutional norms now in existence, and we
think that that change should be inspired by the democratic principles of the
1940 Magna Charta.
3. We believe that upon initiating the democratization process, free elections
should be held. To guarantee that these elections will really be pluralists and
competitive, it should be established that any citizen who has reached adulthood
and can present the signatures of 25 electors residing in the corresponding
jurisdiction could become a candidate. Elections should be democratic at all
levels and should take place under international observation, and all candidates
should have access to the massive means of communication. Our position about
this matter is very clear: we support elections that offer the real possibility
of peacefully effecting the substantial change that Cuba needs; and we would not
agree to a political farce that, due to the conditions in which it takes place,
would only represent a cosmetic change to the totalitarian system.
4. We demand the immediate amnesty of all political prisoners, without any
exclusion.
5. Convinced that THE FATHERLAND BELONGS TO ALL, we recognize that the Cuban
nation is only one, and that all its citizens without distinction of sex,
religious beliefs, political ideology, race, or country of origin, have the
right to participate in the solution of the Cuban problem without any kind of
discrimination.
6. We respect the different ideologies of all our countrymen that also respect
the ideologies of those that do not think like them, and we ratify our provision
to join forces with them as we have repeatedly shown in order to work against
totalitarianism. However, we want to make it clear here that we do not support
the ideas of socialism that have had disastrous results in our country.
7. We start from the basic idea that human rights are unalienable. Thus, we
demand the recognition and immediate unconditional application in our country of
each and all of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
without any limitations or previous negotiation. In this context, we want to
highlight the right to life, to enter and leave the country at will, to own
property, as well as the right of freedom of opinion and expression, the right
to assemble and to associate, but without this implying a loss or reduction in
the rest of those human rights recognized in the Universal Declaration.
8. We are convinced that the existence of a free-market system constitutes the
ideal means to take Cuba from the profound economic crisis in which it finds
itself and guarantee its future prosperity; for that reason, we plead that such
a system be instituted without unfair limitations. Equally, we demand guarantees
so that the workers can organize independent labor unions that will promote its
legitimate interests.
9. We think that the future Cuban democratic state, without prohibiting other
options, should guarantee the existence of a national health and education
system for all. At the same time, we consider it of utmost importance to
guarantee that none of these state activities will be used as a propaganda tool
for political indoctrination.
10. We are convinced that the courts, the offices of public prosecutor/district
attorney, the armed forces, and in general all the government entities in charge
of maintaining public order should act in behalf of the entire country guided by
technical and non-partisan criteria.
11. We believe that based in a process of true democratization, Cuba should have
normal relations with the rest of the world.
12. We declare that once the democratic change has started, we will plead for
the lifting of the U.S. economic embargo and travel ban to Cuba, as well as for
increased economic aid that our country needs to come out its current economic
crisis and initiate the process of recovery.
Havana, November 24, 2003
Felix Antonio Bonne Carcace
Rene Gomez Manzano
Lic. Elsa Morejon Hernandez
Statements made from Havana to Radio Marti in the radio program of Juana Isa.
Also present in the program were Cary Roque, ex political prisoner, M.A.R. por
Cuba activist and member of the Lawton Foundation, Dr. Angel Garrido and Paul
Alcazar, both members of the Executive Committee of the Lawton Foundation.
November 24, 2003
Traslated by: M.A.R. POR CUBA
www.marporcuba.org
Document sent by Elsa Morejon via fax from Cuba on Monday, November 24, 2003 to
Laida Carro/Coalicion de Mujeres Cubano-Americanas/Miami, USA
Email: Joseito76@aol.com/English translation edited by Tanya Wilder
English translation: M.A.R. POR CUBA (www.marporcuba.org)