Reply #25: More lies and bullshit from Repukes, more silent complicity from Dems [View All]

[Osolomia]

SEN. DICK LUGAR: A new opening in Cuba
Scripps Howard News Service
Published: October 6, 2003, 08:20:00 AM PDT

(SH) - Something new is happening in Cuba.
Little-noticed by outsiders, a courageous and diverse pro-democracy movement has quietly risen above the ramparts of Fidel Castro's repression. Independent journalists are doing their best to provide alternate views, individuals are opening their homes and personal libraries to their communities, independent labor unions are documenting violations of workers rights. Cuba's more than 300 political prisoners and their families are now getting help from human rights groups, part of a citizens' groundswell that is relying on its own initiative to seek peaceful emancipation from a totalitarian state.

The most public expression of this movement is the Varela Project, launched by Oswaldo Paya using a provision of the constitution that allows citizens to request a popular referendum. Paya, a leader of the homegrown Christian Liberation Movement, collected more than 11,000 signatures on a petition asking the government to hold a vote on whether citizens wanted more democratic freedoms.

But instead of granting the petition, Castro's submissive National Assembly refused to recognize it. The government rounded up some 75 activists, many directly connected to the Varela Project, named for the 19th century reformer Father Felix Varela. After sham trials, the activists were given sentences ranging from 6 to 28 years. The Castro regime punctuated its crackdown by executing three Cubans accused of attempting to hijack a boat and flee the country.

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http://www.modbee.com/24hour/opinions/story/1020320p-7162106c.html