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NEWS
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Julio Hernandez, Francisco De Armas
International Representatives, Christian Liberation Movement
(787) 549-1805
www.oswaldopaya.org
Declaration in response to the Communiqué of
the Second Session of Dialogue between Cuba and Spain
The Spanish Embassy has kindly sent me the text of the joint communiqué
released after the Second Session of the Dialogue on Human Rights between
the governments of Spain and Cuba . We thank them for this gesture which is
not uncommon given the respectful and amicable relations that the Spanish
mission has had with civil society, including our movement, for many years.
Within Cuba we are promoting a dialogue founded on respect for the dignity
and rights of all Cubans as a path towards reconciliation and to achieve the
changes that Cubans want.
With regards to the joint communiqué, though it was not the intention of the
authors, it sounds truly ironic to cite the visit of the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Right of Food as an example of collaboration between the
Cuban government and the human rights mechanisms of the United Nations.
This Special Rapporteur never met with any human rights activists in Cuba
who, like the majority of Cubans, have much to say about the right to food
in our country. What was sadly notable were the flattery and justifications
the Rapporteur rendered to the Cuban government, demonstrating great
partiality and superficiality.
Visits to prisons by Cuban officials and foreign visitors have not included
meetings with political prisoners who are in prison precisely for defending
human rights and continue to defend the rights and dignity of all prisoners
and denounce the cruel treatment and degrading conditions which the majority
of common and political prisoners suffer.
Recently we denounced the sadism of the guards and state security agents of
the prison of Guayabo, on Pinos Island , where the lawyer Rolando Jiménez
Posada, a former antidrug official of the Interior Ministry, is unjustly
serving a twelve year sentence.
At the time of his imprisonment he was a civilian and member of the Varela
Project. Rolando Jimenez made a statement by telephone from prison denying
reports made by Lazaro Barredo, a journalist from Granma, the official
newspaper, in which he presented a deformed version of the judicial process
in which Rolando was condemned.
In response, the guards of the prison took Mr. Jimenez out of his cell and
placed him in a galley where common prisoners that had been criminally
prosecuted for drug trafficking by Mr. Jimenez personally awaited him.
One of these prisoners attacked him savagely with a stick while others held
him and guards disappeared after locking the galley. We point out this
event, which is not isolated, not because we are appealing to political
positions or prejudices but to defend real people and to bear witness to
actual events. These events are indisputable. Beatings and cruel treatment
are systematic in Cuban prisons.
Although the joint communiqué mentions collaboration between the Cuban and
Spanish governments with regards to the human rights mechanisms of the
United Nations let us recall that these actions have not improved human
rights for Cubans and it would be shameful to use the dialogue between the
Cuban and Spanish governments to conceal or justify the real and continuous
violation of the human rights of the Cuban people.
The development of relations between any state or organization with Cuba are
only beneficial to the Cuban people and morally admissible if Cubans can
participate with full rights, liberties and dignity in these relations and
the life of their own country.
The communiqué mentions that the Cuban government will finally ratify, at
the latest by the end of March, the United Nations Conventions on Civil and
Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In light of this,
what would be coherent and a true advancement would be to liberate Cubans
jailed for defending these rights, publish the texts of these conventions so
that the Cuban people are familiar with them, and to modify laws so that
these rights may be guaranteed in law and in practice. The Varela Project
and the proposed Law of National Reunification which we have presented
before the National Assembly of the Popular Power affirm these ideas. (The
texts are available at
www.oswaldopaya.org ).
The mentioned joint communiqué states “the Spanish side reiterated that it
will continue to work for the normalization of relations between Cuba and
the European Union based on principles established for such an end.” We
would like the governments of Cuba and Spain to explain publicly which
principles these are.
Speaking of principles, let’s speak about what is important to the people of
Cuba and Spain: if the development of relations between the European Union
and Cuba is not based on the respect of all the rights of Cubans, it will
impose or accept as a matter of fact the condition and situation of
exclusion of Cuban citizens in those relations, just as they are excluded
within Cuba through the denial of civil, social, economic and political
rights.
If there is a dialogue with Cuba , it should support dialogue between Cubans
and the changes that Cubans seek: changes that will open the doors to
rights, liberty, peace and reconciliation.
That would respect the national sovereignty and self-determination of all
Cubans.
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas
Coordinator, Christian Liberation Movement
Havana, February 12th, 2008
For more information or to obtain a copy of the press release, please
contact: Julio Hernández or Francisco De Armas, International
Representatives, Christian Liberation Movement, (787) 549-1805, mcl2004jhs@yahoo.com,
fdamcl@cs.com.
Sent to the Information Bridge Cuba Miami by the Christian Liberation
Movement in the Exterior. Translation by: Christian Liberation Movement in
the Exterior.
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