1999 Steps to Freedom A comparative analysis of civic resistance actions in Cuba between February 1999 and January 2000 First Edition: October 2000 Design and Editing: Janisset Rivero-Gutiérrez, Orlando Gutiérrez, Omar López Montenegro and Marilú Del Toro. Copyright 2000 by the Directorio Revolucionario Democrático Cubano. All Rights Reserved. Photo on the cover: December 17, 1999, Carlos Oquendo, Marcel Valenzuela, José Aguilar, and Diosdado Marrero (from left to right) leading a procession to the shrine of San Lázaro. The four men chained themselves together, wearing T-shirts with the photographs and names of political prisoners and carrying copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. When confronted by plainclothes political police, the protesters threw themselves on the ground and shouted, “Freedom for political prisoners!” They were kicked, beaten, and forcibly taken away in an unmarked car. Steps 3 • Carried out 227 nonviolent civic actions... • Held the 40-day Life and Freedom Fast in which a daily average of 217 Cubans throughout the country participated... • Founded 12 new independent libraries, bringing the total to 33 independent libraries throughout Cuba... • Expanded activities to all 14 provinces of the country and to the municipality of the Isle of Pines... • Founded two schools to teach civic nonviolent struggle... • Promoted important social projects such as cooperatives of independent farmers, distribution of toys to children, and distribution of food to the population... • On at least seven occasions, helped to Reynaldo Gómez González is arrested after impede police abuse of civilians or force confronting government-organized the state bureaucracy to comply with its mobs during a protest march promises of distributing food to the in Havana’s Dolores Park. population... • Received recognition by Latin-American heads of states and chancellors during the Ibero-American Summit in Havana... “The real story in Cuba . is economic decay accompanied by increasingly harsh repression of a small but slowly strengthening internal dissent movement”. The New Republic, January 24, 2000 “[In reference to the assault on a fasting center in Matanzas and the arrest of hundreds of members of the opposition] . That appears to be the response of Mr. Castro’s government to tentative efforts by opposition groups to become better known, by carrying out public protests and other outlawed activities. Mr. Castro was visibly annoyed when the opposition stole some of his limelight at the Ibero-American summit held in Havana last November.” The Economist, week of March 18 to 24, 2000 Steps 4 Steps to Freedom 1999 A Comparative Analysis of Civic Resistance Actions in Cuba Between February 1999 and January 2000 Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate Center for the Study of a National Option This is a publication of the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate and the Center for the Study of a National Option. The Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting democratic change in Cuba and respect for the human person all over the world. As part of its work, the Directorate sponsors publications and conferences in the United States, Latin America, and Europe that contribute to the restoration of values of Cuban national culture and solidarity with the civic opposition within the island. The Center for the Study of a National Option (CESNO) is a non-profit institution with the objective of rescuing and rebuilding the values, traditions, and fundamental democratic civic concepts of the Republic of Cuba. This publication has been made possible thanks to the support of the International Republican Institute (IRI), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting democracy throughout the world. IRI has among its principal objectives the strengthening and training of individuals, organizations, and democratic parties via professional programs. IRI programs are non-partisan and adhere to fundamental American principles such as individual liberty, the rule of law, and the entrepreneurial spirit that promotes economic development. Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate P.O. Box 110235 Hialeah, FL 33011 Telephone: 305-279-4416 E-mail: [email protected] Web Page: www.directorio.org Center for the Study of a National Option E-Mail: [email protected] Web Page: www.ceoncuba.org Steps 2 Index Introduction. .6 Description of the Civic Movement . .7 State of the Civic Opposition inside Cuba. .15 Account of Acts of Civic Resistance. .17 Updated Conclusions of Previous Editions. .39 Protests with Specific Demands and Results. .43 New Conclusions. .44 Factors Contributing to the Increase of Civic Activity. .44 Impact of the Movement on Different Sectors of Cuban Society. .45 Life and Freedom Fast. .46 The Internal Opposition and the Ibero-American Summit. .48 Increase in Total Number of Actions. 54 Percentage Increase of Civic Actions. .55 Increase in the Number of Civic Activity Areas. .56 Comparison of Civic Activity by Province. .57 Young Leaders. .58 Women Leaders. .59 List of Activities Linked to Projects and Symbolic Dates. .60 Agreement for Democracy in Cuba . .61 Steps 5 INTRODUCTION In the last few years the opposition movement in in their attempts to destroy the movement because of Cuba has undergone a significant transformation. the difficulty of breaking up 150 different organizations. Organized in Havana, the movement initially sought 5-Civic action has been growing. It began with the to denounce, before the eyes of the world, the violations individual’s self-liberation, then broadened to include of human rights in Cuba. Its secondary goal was to the individual’s family and social circle. Civic action raise the consciousness within Cuba about the is now in the process of conquering the streets. The inalienable rights of human beings. Today, the Life and Freedom Fast has been a key part of this movement’s composition has expanded from human process, converting the 54 fasting houses throughout rights activists to journalists, lawyers, farmers, the country into “free territiories.” economists, ecologists, educators and independent The long walk through the streets of Parraga, the librarians, youth organizations that seek university march of protesters to the San Lazaro Shrine chained autonomy, families of political prisoners, and even arm in arm in December 1999, as well as the march independent associations for the blind or physically through the Colón Cemetery to Boitel’s tomb in impaired. Gradually, this movement has transformed November 1999 mark the new course of the movement. itself into a national, popular, nonviolent, and growing Castro’s regime knows that the struggle is now in the force inside of Cuba. public arena. The most compelling evidence of the The movement is national because civic and effectiveness of the movement’s social pressure was opposition organizations now operate in all of the demonstrated during the IX Ibero-American Summit. provinces and muncipalities of Cuba. This report Despite arresting hundreds of members of the describes acts of civil disobedience throughout the opposition, the regime was unable to impede meetings provinces, surpassing in both quantity and quality all between various members of the movement and leaders the activities compiled in 1998. The movement is and ministers of participating countries. popular because it has moved from being comprised These battles won before the eyes of the world have mostly of older men (primarily over 40) and based in resulted in a strong wave of repression. However, the Havana to reflecting the makeup of the Cuban movement continues to grow and remain active, population, including youth, women, and blacks. The responding to the country’s natural need for change. movement is nonviolent because it has embraced The option is not, as many have interpreted, about sitting nonviolent civic struggle as the most effective strategy idly by, waiting for the government to change. Rather, against totalitarian regimes such as the one now ruling it is about organizing and moving citizens to play a Cuba. It is nonviolent because it seeks change through leading role in creating their own destiny. In Steps to civic confrontation. It further seeks to occupy the Freedom 1999, there are numerous examples spaces out of which it forces the regime. The movement illustrating this reality, such as the case of the mothers is growing as evidenced by 40 acts of civic resistance who sat down in a dairy plant in the working class reported in 1997, 100 acts reported in 1998, and 233 neighborhood of Pogolotti and forced the government acts of civic resistance in 1999. to give them milk, or the members of the opposition These characteristics have several causes: who arrived at the popular Plaza de Marte in Santiago 1- There is increasing discontent among the de Cuba and began a hunger strike forcing the population. authorities to distribute food to the population. The 2- The regime does not have concrete solutions to civic, nonviolent struggle is not just re-energizing social the everyday problems of the people. forces alive in the country. It is reactivating the citizenry 3- The opposition movement has matured and has through the conscious exercise of rights, preparing found areas of agreement between a majority of the Cubans for a democratic future. groups. Documents such as “The Homeland Belongs to All” and “Agreement for Democracy in Cuba” Janisset Rivero-Gutiérrez exemplify this agreement. Miami, April 6, 2000 4- The movement is organized in a decentralized fashion to withstand the repression and harassment of the regime. Cuban authorities have been unsuccessful Steps 6 also be viewed as part of this positive index. Other points of reference that could be considered are the number of people detained and imprisoned throughout the year for their political ideologies, and an analysis of the methods employed by the dictatorship to respond to the movement -- from the openly To study the development of an opposition movement repressive to the propagandistic or ideological. in a totalitarian society such as Cuba’s presents an immense An analysis of the information compiled by Steps to challenge.