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. First, it is necessary to understand the specific Freedom, and of these positive and negative points of nature of the movement in question. It is not a hierarchically reference, leads us to a number of empirically demonstrable structured organization or a party under a unified leadership conclusions. with a single political affiliation. Such a movement would These are: be precisely the type to which Cuban political police could most effectively respond. Conclusion #1 The movement is instead made up of natural associations (1) The Cuban civic movement, primarily led by a of individuals that after new generation born 41 years of after 1959, constitutes totalitarianism have re- a coherent and established the growing national autonomy of their place force highly in Cuban society. It representative of the includes ecologists, Cuban population. human rights activists, farmers, independent (a) Why is it a journalists, pro-life force? It channels and activists, political exercises power. The prisoners (their ability to gather is an mothers and families), essential principle of political parties, power. In all political independent labor systems, power unions, and many emanates from the others that in their people. By extending respective circles, and and broadening the by means of a global From left to right, an unidentified activist; Alejandro Chang capacity to assemble, strategy of nonviolent Cantillo and Marcel Valenzuela Salt from the Civic Brotherhood; the opposition civic struggle, have independent journalist Angel Pablo Polanco; Oscar Elias Biscet increases its power. fortified the fabric of from the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights; Marlon Cabrera (b) Why is it th civil society. Rivero, Civic Brotherhood; Jose Aguilar Hernandez, 13 of July national? 67% of all These islands of Movement; and Alejandro Chang’s son. civic actions carried democracy and out by the movement in patriotism within 1999 took place in the Cuban society are united by a strong conceptual and strategic provinces. This is a permanent reality of the movement. In identity: the struggle for a truly free and democratic state, as 1998, 63% of the actions took place in the Cuban interior; in outlined in documents such as “The Homeland Belongs to 1997 it was 59%. In 1999, reports of civic activities were All” (1997), “Agreement for Democracy” (1998), and “All documented in all 14 provinces of the country. The activity United” (1999), and the commitment to an active, nonviolent of the special municipality of the Isle of Youth (Isle of Pines) struggle. It is a decentralized, nonviolent, and profoundly is now also included in this report. democratic movement. (c) How is it growing? There are different ways to The growth of the movement has made it increasingly measure the growth of the movement: more feasible to study and track its development. For the • Number of civic actions. 100 actions were editorial staff of Steps to Freedom, the most viable approach documented in 1998. This number grew to 223 in 1999, has been the compilation and documentation of activities indicating a geometric increase in civic activity. carried out by diverse sectors of the movement throughout • Geographic extension of the activity. As described the island. This information serves as a positive index of the above, activity is expanding throughout the country. progress of civil society within the totalitarian state. The • The foundation and growth of new civic institutions. increasing coverage of the civic opposition in the media of Statistics compiled in 1999 reflect the emergence of 30 new different countries and growing international recognition can institutions among civic groups, human rights organizations,

Steps 7 and independent libraries. The independent libraries drawn considerable attention since its release in March 2000 generated 61% of the activity reflected in the 1999 sample by the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National (137 actions). Reconciliation stated that “between last November and Feb- • Number of people participating in the activities of ruary [1999-2000] a total of 592 persons had been detained the movement. This edition of Steps to Freedom contains a or had suffered ‘restrictions of movement.’” These arrests detailed report about the development of the Life and were described by the report as “the largest number of acts Freedom Fast, a civic protest activity that involved thousands of political repression in the past ten years.”3 Analyzing this information from the opposite angle, it is evident that “the News Stories about the Internal 1998 Opposition in the Mexican Press 1999 largest number of acts of political repression in the last ten years” constitutes the counterpart of the greatest amount of 120 civic action in the last ten years. (d) Does the movement have coherence? In addition 100 to the conceptual identity with relation to fundamental

80 democratic values for the future of the country, as expressed in documents like “The Homeland Belongs to All,” 60 “Agreement for Democracy,” and “All United,” the internal Cuban opposition displays a great capacity for operative and 40 strategic coherence. The following are two examples:

20 • Of the total civic actions compiled in 1999, 60% correspond to actions in which more than one civic 0 January February May July organization participated. Actions of great magnitude such Mar c h April June August September October Nov ember December as the Life and Freedom Fast, the Cuban NGO Meeting, and of Cubans. The protests carried out in Puerto Padre (July 6, 7 and 8), also show an increase in the number of citizens Number and Percentage of Mexican press stories mentioning the internal opposition of Cuba participating in civic protests. • Growing attention from the press. Important North American newspapers reported the growth of the civic 1998 movement towards the end of 1999 and the beginning of 1999 2000. These reports included editorials such those appearing in The Miami Herald on January 30, 2000, The Wall Street 29%

Journal on February 18, 2000, The Washington Post on 225 March 8, 2000, and articles such as the piece written by Charles Lane for The New Republic on January 24, 2000, and the article published by the The Economist, in its March 14% 18 - 24, 2000 edition. All of the articles published in the 52 English-speaking press had one thing in common. All mentioned the fact that news coverage in the United States of Cuba was missing what was most important: the growing the Third Millennium Forum, constitute proof of the power of the civic movement on the island. effectiveness of this type of cooperation. It has not been solely the North American press that has • Defining a “project” as a working plan conceived begun to emphasize the growth of the civic opposition in for the accomplishment of a specific common goal among Cuba. In Latin American countries with close historical, different organizations, the report documents that 73% of cultural, and diplomatic ties to Cuba, the interest in the growth the civic actions in 1999 correspond to actions carried out of the opposition has also notably increased. In 1999 in within this context or in support of a project. This reflects Mexico, the number of published news articles about the the capacity of the internal opposition to define common Cuban opposition in the principal newspapers was 225 of a objectives above and beyond individual goals or strategies. total of 771articles written about the island. In 1998, only (e) Why is the movement highly representative of the 52 news articles had appeared about the Cuban internal Cuban population? opposition out of 361 about Cuba. In the Dominican Republic • The majority of its leadership is young, born after 1959. in 1998, there were only 21 articles about the Cuban internal (Earlier editions of Steps to Freedom also show this.) Tables opposition out of 158 articles about Cuba in the principal 2 and 3 (p. 58) confirm these statistics and provide new names newspapers. This increased in 1999 to 69 articles about the that did not appear in earlier reports. More than 70% of the internal Cuban opposition out of a total of 186 general articles Cuban population was ten years old or younger in 1959.4 2 about Cuba. • Women play a prominent leadership role within the • Number of political prisoners. A report that has movement. According to the population projection of the

Steps 8 News Stories about the Internal 1998 Conclusion # 3 Opposition in the Dominican Press 1999 In 1999 the weakness of the dictatorship’s repressive apparatus was evidenced by mistakes and an excessive, 12 incoherent response strategy. The failings served to strengthen the opposition movement and reveal the steady 10 effectiveness of the strategic, nonviolent civil struggle.

8 • An analysis of the development of the regime’s 6 repressive strategy over the past two years demonstrates its

4 concern over the increasing social discontent articulated in the civic movement for democracy. The opposition 2 movement’s rapid growth in 1998, culminating in public

0 protests towards the end of that year and the beginning of January Mar ch February April May June July August September October November Dec ember 1999 in Havana, forced the regime to progressively abandon its official position of not acknowledging the opposition. The government has used a variety of strategies and Cuban Statistical Yearbook from 1989 to 2000, women will make up 49.8% of the Cuban population.5 Therefore, it Number and percentage of Dominican news stories should come as no surprise that women play a prominent mentioning Cuba's internal opposition leadership role within the movement. 58% of the total civic actions contained in this report were led by women. Table 4 shows a list of female leaders and their respective 1998 1999 organizations. 37%

Conclusion # 2 The civic movement has shifted from activism on 69 behalf of human rights to civic nonviolent militancy and the development of a civil society affecting even the most 13% sensitive sectors of totalitarian power. Key factors such as unity with the Cuban exile community and 20 international solidarity and recognition have served to support this movement.

• Defining “direct civic action” as those opposition tactics since then in its efforts to thwart the opposition. activities designed to have an immediate impact on the Meanwhile, these tactics show the regime’s strategic disarray population (dissemination of information, marches, public in the face of civic nonviolent methods of resistance. It is protests of different types, etc.), the 1999 report of Steps to clear that the government had altered its priorities Freedom reports that 92% of the documented civic actions (international offensive and public relations) to confront a can be classified under this definition. real internal challenge (visibility and recognition of the opposition, militant activity of the opposition in the streets), • The movement demonstrates major strategic but could not avoid failures and setbacks on both fronts. A organization and civic defiance. Of the 227 actions chronological analysis of the repressive stages in 1999 compiled in this report, 199 were preconceived public actions demonstrates that the regime’s tactical and strategic confusion (89% of the total). results from the existing tension between its international • Development of a civil society: The data shows that, political aspirations and the necessity to confront a worrisome in 1999, 30 new institutions emerged among civic groups, internal challenge. human rights groups, and other types of organizations. Independent libraries generated 60% of the activity Chronology of Repression documented in this report. Dictatorship objective -- Early 1999: To promote itself • The support of the Cuban exile community, clearly as a “different kind of democracy” perfectly capable of made visible during the Life and Freedom Fast and the Ibero- inserting itself into a globalizing world. American Summit activities, continues to show the strong Method: Intimidation and legalistic repression. To connection between the exile community and the internal contend with the growing internal opposition while pursuing opposition. The direct effect of international solidarity on its international political objective, the regime legislated the the repressive policies of the dictatorship and direct civic disappearance of the opposition within the parameters of action by the opposition is detailed in the following section. socialist legality by depicting them as agents of U.S.

Steps 9 imperialism. In that manner, the “different democracy” could and instead served to create a clear vision of the movement’s justify sanctions of up to 20 years for dissidents and own potential. independent journalists as a legitimate course of action while facing “imperialist aggression.” This is the intellectual origin Dictatorship Objective -- May-June 1999: The of the so-called Law 88, approved at the start of 1999. international rejection of both Law 88 and the trial of the Nevertheless, the angry international response of governments Group of Four weighed heavily on the regime’s political and civic institutions around the world, many of whom had strategy. The dictatorship was betting that the negative effects welcomed the Pope’s call of “opening the doors to Cuba” of these measures taken at the beginning of the year would and to Cuba to “open her doors to the world,” forced the weaken by November, when the Ibero-American Summit was dictatorship to refrain from putting the newly approved law to take place. into practice. Method: Containment and infiltration rather than open Results: The regime came to realize that it had grossly repression. Faced with civic resistance actions such as the underestimated the international community’s high Campaign of Homage to Pedro Luis Boitel and the Life and expectations for an opening following the Papal visit. Freedom Fast, State Security changed its strategy to focus Disappointment over Castro’s breach of promise led to the on the containment and infiltration of opposition activities. immediate and angry international condemnation of Law 88. State Security found it important to contain the opposition’s activities to the interior of Dictatorship their homes and to infiltrate Objective -- March them so as to stay abreast 1999: In March the of their development. trial of the four authors Dr. Oscar However, in practice, this of “The Homeland Elías Biscet strategy of containment Belongs to All” shows the was an enormous provided the cigarette concession. The government with its burn on his opposition came to realize next great challenge. right arm that it had accomplished Because of the inflicted by a something great: the magnitude of the Cuban conquest of their homes. possible consequences, policeman These “free spaces” the dictatorship found during one of experienced a veritable itself worrying about numerous explosion of activity both the international arrests he during the Fast. In one and national attention suffered in form or another, thousands given to the trial. The 1999 (this of Cubans around the dictatorship’s primary photograph country participated in the concern was the appeared on conversion of the interior possibility of public August 18, spaces of homes into areas protests such as those 1999, in the of dissident dominion. that had taken place Dominican Results: The Fast during the trials of Republic made a significant Reynaldo Alfaro and daily, Hoy). contribution to the Mario Viera. opposition’s perception of Meanwhile, the government also hoped to minimize the its own ability to coordinate and mobilize at a national level. international political cost. It allowed the opposition to see the limitations of the regime’s Method: Massive preventive detentions and deployment capacity for control. Although beneficial in terms of its of police. In the days leading up to the trial, more than 100 international image, the regime’s strategy of containment and opposition activists were detained. Hundreds of police were infiltration failed in its need to be internally repressive. concentrated around the tribunal to impede protests in Without needing to leave their homes, the opposition had solidarity with the accused. Thousands of officials were demonstrated capability and power. mobilized in the streets of Havana. In a long editorial in the newspaper Granma, read repeatedly over radio, the Dictatorship Objective -- November 1999: dictatorship attempted to present the four internal leaders as Strengthened by the results of the Fast and growing extensions of the exile opposition. Nevertheless, this plan international solidarity (see page about the Campaign of proved fruitless at an international level. Homage to Pedro Luis Boitel), members of the Cuban Result: International rejection of the trial. The massive opposition announced a series of public activities days before arrests of opposition members coupled with the mobilization the Ibero-American Summit that they hoped would elevate of thousands of police fell short of discouraging the opposition the Cuban people’s cry for freedom to the highest levels. The

Steps 10 dictatorship reacted with the preventive arrests of key a religious opposition leaders throughout the country, such as Dr. Oscar procession in Elías Biscet, Maritza Lugo, and Librado Linares. This Santiago de Cuba11, strategy had worked for the dictatorship during the massive consequently roundups carried out in the beginning of the year. However, provoking a civic this time the opposition was able to surprise State Security. nonviolent protest by During events such as the Independent Farmers’ Congress, the Catholic the March of the Fasters in Dolores Park and the Mothers’ Church.12 These Protest in Grajales Park, members of the opposition contradictions and confused political police about the locations of events, trained inconsistencies activists to carry out activities even if the principal leaders threatened the myth were detained, and outmaneuvered police in their attempts of the dictatorship’s to block the sites where the activities were to take place. invincibility, a key Method: Acts of repudiation. Massive mobilizations element in its plan for of verbally and physically violent shock troops were filmed internal control. by the international press. Some foreign journalists even Angel Moya Acosta, one of became targets of the attacks.7 Dictatorship the organizers of the Result: These violent tactics backfired by demonstrating Objective -- Encounter of Independent internationally the instability, repression, and intolerance of December 1999- Farmers’ Cooperatives. the regime. The opposition had the last word. January 2000: Stop the growth of the opposition at all cost. Dictatorship Objective -- November 1999: Publicly Method: Massive detentions, kidnappings, death threats, confront the opposition and its growth assaults, and beatings. Method: Public statements and threats from Castro and Results: The dictatorship had begun the year intending attacks in the official Cuban press. Prosecutors, police, and to repress the opposition within its own legal standards, officials of the MININT were scolded. Given the structure intimidating members of the opposition with relatively brief and composition of Castro’s dictatorship and considering the massive detentions and excusing this internationally as the accelerated increase in opposition activities prior to the Ibero- state’s right to defend itself against external aggression. This American Summit as well as the enormous blows to the strategy had little results. The opposition continued to act regime’s public image, one would expect Castro himself to and to grow, and the international community repeatedly take the platform.8 This is precisely what occurred during a condemned the regime. Before the defeat suffered during series of press conferences and speeches transmitted by Cuban the Ibero-American Summit, the repressive forces’ strategy television. Castro took charge of threatening members of the of discretion, prudence, and legalism ceded to the beginnings opposition by name. In similar fashion, he criticized his of desperation. As a result, subtleties were abandoned. For police, judges, and prosecutors for not being sufficiently tough example, State Security kidnapped young leader Néstor on members of the opposition. Rodríguez Lobaina, took him to a location outside the city, Results: For the Cuban people, these events taught them and threatened him with death. They also carried out a brutal the names of the men and women fighting for democracy at assault against a home in Pedro Betancourt, Matanzas, the very heart of Cuban society. For members of the where a protest fast was to take place 14 opposition, being mentioned by the dictator was irrefutable Sensitivity and Vulnerability: The dictatorship was put proof of the power they had come to exercise in Cuban society. on the defensive. The civic nonviolent struggle’s insistence It was evidence that the government had passed from on attacking the government’s sensitive areas affected the underestimating them to recognizing the considerable internal government’s vulnerability.15 This was evident at the challenge they posed. Castro repeated once and again that beginning of January 2000 when the Cuban Committee for the Revolution could not lose control of the streets, that if Human Rights, the oldest organization of the internal Cuban “we lose the consensus, if we lose the majority, we lose opposition, reported that ten Cuban military veterans of power.” The battle lines had been drawn.9 Angola had been arrested. Former lieutenant Omar The Regime’s Inconsistencies. Caught between the Izquierdo Sánchez, 37, was beaten to death in the central need to repress and the high international political cost of office of Cuban State Security because “various ex officers doing so, or the necessity of maintaining control of the streets and soldiers of the Cuban military campaigns in Africa without aborting the entire international strategy of diplomatic planned a protest march, utilizing as a pretext the political recognition, and working to diminish the power of the internal mobilizations in defense of the child rafter Elián González.”16 opposition while alerting its own ranks about the growing According to the report, State Security was trying to determine danger it posed, the dictatorship fell into inconsistencies and how far plans had gone to “organize a public demonstration contradictions that further fueled the increase of opposition against Fidel Castro.” This incident exemplifies the progress activities and popular discontent. For example, the regime of the civic nonviolent struggle’s influence on a highly allowed the opposition to march in Parraga10, but prohibited vulnerable sector of Castro’s power apparatus that should be

Steps 11 more interested in armed rebellion than nonviolent struggle. 8 “Castro: No impunity,” AFP wire, Diario Las The apparent extrajudicial execution of Izquierdo also points Americas, November 12, 1999. “Dissidents get a Castro out the degree to which the dictatorship discards its own legal warning,” Juan O. Tamayo, The Miami Herald, November limitations on repression when the nonviolent civic struggle 12, 1999. affects its vulnerability. 9 Quote from Castro press conference on November 10 which appeared in El Nuevo Herald on November 12, 1999. Conclusion: 10 “Peaceful march demands freedom for political As a whole, these events shed light on the factors that prisoners in Cuba”, EFE wire, Diario Las Americas, most influence Cuban reality. In so doing, they also shed December 7, 1999. light on the strategies and decisions undertaken by Castro’s 11 dictatorship. The Cuban government is no longer the solid “Contradictory signs of repression in the Island,” El Communist regime of the Cold War, but rather a dictatorship Nuevo Herald, December 8, 1999 that, although filled with the will to repress, lacks the resources . 12 “Churches in Santiago ring their bells,” Santiago to effectively implement its repression. Castro’s regime faces Santana, CubaNet, December 17, 1999. a serious erosion of its domestic political discourse and a 13 “Watchdogs assail Castro crackdown on dissent,” growing articulation -- through a civic protest movement -- Juan O. Tamayo, The Miami Herald, 2/17/00. of the already large and growing social discontent. The 14 “Prisoner’s death linked to possible subversive principal challenge now facing Cuban democratic opposition plans,” Pablo Alfonso, November 18, 1999, El Nuevo Herald. is expanding its social base within the population. 15 “Adapting in a general manner the definitions of sensibility and vulnerability provided in the field of Footnotes: international relations by Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. 1 “ The social conception of power understands that Nye (Power and Interdependence, Longman, 1989) to the governments and systems are dependent on the good will, Cuban situation, we must point out that the difference between the decisions and the support of the people. It understands them lies in the amount of options or reserve policies that this power as emerging from many different parts of society. regimes have in order to face the strategies of their It understands political power as fragile, always dependent adversaries. In other words, an area of sensibility would be for its strength and existence on the renewal of its sources that in which the regime could implement its policies by through the cooperation of a multitude of institutions and adapting them to the opposition by paying a limited but not persons. This cooperation can or cannot be renewed. excessive, political cost. An area of vulnerability would be Therefore the most efficient way of controlling political power that in which the Regime, upon facing significant opposition, is from its sources.” Gene Sharp, “Nonviolent Political must either desist from a certain policy or implement it only Struggle: Its power and practice,” translated from a by incurring in an excessive or phyrric political cost. An translation to Spanish by Brothers to the Rescue, 1997. attack on areas of sensibility could lead one to successfully 2 The information about the articles published in the and consistently strike at areas of vulnerability.” Orlando Mexican and Dominican press is the result of research Gutierrez-Boronat, “The Hard Facts of Change: conducted by Omar López Montenegro. The publications Empowerment of Civil Society through Demythification,” researched were: In Mexico, Angel de Puebla; El Coleccion Alternativa, vol. I, No. 1, Center for the Study of a Financiero; Excelsior; La Jornada; La Otra Cuba; Milenio National Option, February 2000. Semanal; Novedades; Ocho Columnas; Proceso; Reforma; 16 “Prisoner’s death linked to possible subversive Universal and Uno Más Uno. In the Dominican Republic, plans,” Pablo Alfonso, El Nuevo Herald, January 18, 2000 El Caribe; El Diario; El Mundo; El Nacional; El Siglo; Hoy; La Nación; Listín Diario; and Última Hora. 3 “Repression increases in Cuba,” EFE wire published in the Diario Las Americas on March 5, 2000 4 According to the 1989 Annual Cuban Statistical Report more than a million people were born after 1959. This means that currently approximately 71.4% of the Cuban population was 10 years old or younger in 1959. This analysis and projection based on the Annual Cuban Statistical Report was carried out especially for this edition of Steps to Freedom by sociologist Maida Donate. 5 Ibíd. 6 See the report on the Fast in this edition of Steps to Freedom. 7 “Hammer assailants are now heroes,” November 18, 1999, El Nuevo Herald

Steps 12 Table # 1. Number of News Articles about the Internal Opposition in the Mexican Press

Month 1998 1999 Total January - 4 4 February - 11 11 March - 23 23 April 1 4 5 May 1 5 6 June 2 - 2 July 17 2 19 August 5 7 12 September 13 17 30 October 7 28 35 November 6 108 114 December 0 16 16 Total 52 225 277

Table # 2. Number of News Articles about the Internal Opposition in the Dominican Press

Month 1998 1999 Total January - 3 3 February - 3 3 March - 11 11 April 9 1 10 May 1 1 2 June 0 11 11 July 1 7 8 August 5 6 11 September 3 6 9 October 0 10 10 November 1 7 8 December 1 4 5 Total 21 70 91

Steps 13 In the first months of 1999, Law 88, known within Cuba as the “Gag Law” or the “Titanic Law,” posed a threat to the internal opposition. The dictatorship’s objective was to neutralize the opposition early enough in the year to secure an apparent internal peace for the IX Ibero- American Summit to be celebrated in Havana at An enormous rosary is used to pray for political prisoners in front of the the end of the year. Cuban embassy in Mexico City.

In May the mothers and relatives of political prisoners associated with the Pedro Luis Boitel Civic National Resistance Movement decided to repeat their Campaign in Homage to Pedro Luis Boitel from May 13 to May 25. Challenging the severe sanctions stipulated by the law, civic activities were carried out throughout the country in commemoration and in tribute to the student leader and martyr of Cuban democracy. Gatherings, public protests, hunger

Above, former political prisoner Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez with Hungarian Foreign Minister Zsolth Nemeth. At right, public demonstration in support of the campaign in the Dominican Republic.

strikes in prisons, and petitions for a general amnesty were among the activities carried out in different parts of the island during the campaign. In Poland, Meanwhile, events promoting international solidarity Javier de with the dissidents in Cuba were taking place all over the Céspedes world. Conferences were organized in universities and press beside the grave of appearances took place in Argentina, Mexico, Dominican martyred Republic, Uruguay, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Italy, priest France, and Spain. On May 25th, the pilgrimage to Boitel’s Jerszy nameless tomb in the Havana Cemetery of Colón made the Popielusko. campaign’s message clear: the opposition was alive at a national level. It was active, and it had active international solidarity in different parts of the world. The path was opened for the Life and Freedom Fast.

Steps 14 Librado Linares speaks during a workshop of the Center for the Study of a National Option in Placetas, Villa Clara.

Excerpt from a paper presented in Placetas, Villa from its popular base of support. Civil society could then Clara, on September 17, 1999, by Librado Linares García, engage in negotiations with the regime and seek an agreement Secretary General of the Cuban Reflection Movement for democracy. Some adherents of this position believe that (Movimiento Cubano Reflexión), in the third workshop if the regime refused to arrive at an agreement for change, of the Center for the Study of a National Option (the first they would proceed to topple it. The operating principle is workshop held inside Cuba). not only nonviolent civic struggle, but also includes components such as appealing to the government and From a tactical and strategic viewpoint, there are three providing the basis for potential negotiation. In this way, main currents within the opposition in Cuba. The first group struggle would not be an end itself, but one of the means are the gradualists or minimalists who petition the used to gradually achieve democracy. government to lead the transition. They do not want to There are other organizations, such as human rights overthrow the government, nor do they want to replace the groups, that want a democratic change for Cuba so that they government, but rather they want the government to gradually can continue their work within a legal framework of respect make concessions. They believe that to arrive at a democratic for human rights. government, and thus a new republic, it is necessary to have In conclusion, I would like to point out some things that a period of gradual assimilation of democracy and its values. we feel we should do and have been doing to help the They believe that the gradual formation of democratic and opposition act in a unified manner, and a few things that we market institutions is necessary to create a scenario suitable should aspire to and try to achieve to obtain freedom and for the construction of a new democratic republic. Their democracy in Cuba. argument assumes full national reconciliation between all The first goal is to strengthen the organizations by Cubans. This operating principle for change is appealing to professionalizing their executive leadership. The executive the government as the driving agent. committees should debate issues. They should allow the At the other extreme are the people, or the organizations democratic process to function within the organization. Our that do not believe in the Castro brothers, that want a clean organizations should not be structured in a vertical, break with the regime. This faction believes that there should hierarchical fashion, but rather, should reach out to expand be a transitional government to mediate the end of the current their social base. In this way, our organizations will be able regime and the beginning of the new democratic republic to design a strategy that will allow us to capitalize on the and market economy. This transitional government should population’s ideals and desires for a democratic change. What last several years. During the transitional phase, it should does this last statement mean? Many times we both challenge solicit technical and international financial assistance to create and denounce the government, but we lack a strategy to institutions of the market and of democratic culture. The expand, grow, and create a social base. operating principle in achieving this goal is civil disobedience The second goal is that the opposition monitor, study, or civic nonviolent struggle as a last resort. and denounce while also itself conquering its own spaces in There also exists a third position represented by those society. In other words, we should conquer spaces within who have decided, at all costs, to try to create an autonomous our homes and in the streets. We should use the spaces that civil society, independent of the totalitarian state in Cuba. our fraternal and religious institutions afford us as well as This civil society would not be able to topple the regime, but those of government institutions, such as the poorly named at the same time, the regime would not be able to topple it. It assemblies of Popular Power, the assemblies of the ANAP, is presumed that the civil society would have developed power the assemblies of intellectuals, the assemblies of services and

Steps 15 production and the official labor unions. In other words, we They are the most unprotected and receive the least help. should use the forums of these institutions, even though they Also, international campaigns and pro-amnesty campaigns are government institutions, to struggle and demand that they inside the country can be implemented with the broad address the concrete problems facing the people, including collaboration of exile organizations who represent our low salaries, malnourishment, electricity shortage, and lack window to the world. of transportation. The sixth goal is to bolster a policy of building bridges This may appear to be a noble idea, or perhaps a to the reformist sector inside the Communist Party or its somewhat moderate one. But in fact it demonstrates that supporters and develop a discourse containing a new national when Communists’ institutions are usurped, an automatic project for the benefit of all. This is very important. An repressive reaction results. Therefore, I believe a secondary example of such an approach was the policy of West Germany level of opposition members should be prepared to participate with respect to East Germany. It appears to me that one of in this activity. This second level should not be comprised the fundamental pillars of the transitions to democracy in of the most outstanding and recognized members because of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union was the reformist the risks they take, but should include secondary individuals. element or dissidents within the Communist Party or the I submit these options for participation within government governments in those countries. At times we have remained institutions, and I believe we should take advantage of these a little prejudiced, and I believe we must effectively apply spaces. this policy of building bridges. We must say: “We have a Another goal is to idenitfy and strengthen the strategies new national project, not only for the opposition, but for all that have proven effective in practice. The focus should be the people of Cuba.” This discourse has to be implemented on strategies that are basically simple, clear, open, and and developed. This is my point of view and I believe that it decentralized. Meanwhile, we must recognize that these has also been expressed by some of the other participants in strategies require the cooperation and harmony among this discussion. different opposition organizations. We should develop the Seventh, it is important to provide a democratic ability to work together for a common initiative. This became leadership course to create leaders who can broaden and clear during the recent nationwide fast when different groups intensify the work of the opposition. It is clear that the were able to effectively unify around an initiative. There opposition needs enlargement. As I explained before, it needs were approximately 54 fasting centers across the island. This to design a strategy to increase its social base. But this cannot should be the strategy. Cooperation and coordination among be done by a small group of people. This is a problem that different organizations is key, as is uniting around a plausible requires many people to solve. It is necessary to invest in the idea or initiative. cultivation of leadership qualities, so that the opposition can The fourth important objective is to continue seeking grow and thus become effective in achieving democracy and international recognition by foreign states. For example, freedom for Cuba. Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez recently sent a letter to the Cuban government openly and directly recognizing the opposition and conditioning his visit and participation in the Ibero-American Summit on being allowed to meet with human rights organizations, religious groups, and opposition parties. Furthermore, we should strive to be included as a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) in the international network of NGO’s. We should encourage visits by foreign institutions to ours in Cuban and other territories. These meetings should include the sharing of bibliographies and documentation. If possible, we should also visit those countries to feel, in situ, the experience of the society we wish to build in Cuba. Additionally, as a fifth point, we should not only seek a common language of the opposition, but we should encourage greater exchange and broader coordination between the organizations in Cuba and in exile, achieving a mutual understanding concerning the work to be done. There is no definite or final pattern for all organizations to follow in this collaboration. Instead, exile organizations that have concrete relations with organizations inside Cuba should take note of how their unique relationships develop. This exchange is very important because it facilitates subsidies and help for political prisoners, especially political prisoners who are not designated prisoners of conscience.

Steps 16 NONVIOLENT CIVIC Solidarity Party. USA: Olance Nogueras, El Nuevo Herald. Dominican Republic: Hoy and El Mundo. RESISTANCE ACTIONS IN CUBA (FEBRUARY 1999 to JANUARY 2000) February 1, 1999 Havana. Representatives of various opposition organizations deliver a letter signed by 70 activists to the January 21,1999 Cuban government and the National Assembly of Popular Havana. Diverse organizations with a Christian Power, calling for a public debate about the construction of inspiration found the Christian Democratic Union and request an international airport in Coconut Key because of local formal legal recognition from the Ministry of Justice with environmental damage it would cause. registration number 00291. The recently created coalition issues a national and international declaration calling on Sources Cuba: press agency AFP. USA: El Nuevo foreign businesses to pay Cuban workers with dollars. Herald.

Sources Cuba: Lázaro Rodriguez Torres, independent February 9, 1999 press agency New Cuban Press. USA: Diario las Americas. Havana. Flyers with the inscription “No Castro, No Problem” are distributed in the populous area of the El Ciego de Avila. Independent journalist Jesús Joel Díaz Obelisco, located at the intersection of the avenues 100 and Hernández, director of the Cooperative of Independent 31 in the municipality of Marianao. A CNN mobile Journalists in Avila (CAPI) , declares himself on hunger strike television unit filmed the pamphlets, which were 10x30 cm in the Canaleta Prison in protest over his trial and sentencing with a black and white phosphorescent color scheme, and to four years in prison for “dangerousness.” Three other did not disseminate the story. members of CAPI, Juan Carlos González Leyva, Julia León Palmero, and José Pérez Romo, declare themselves Sources Cuba: Jesús Zúñiga, Cooperative of in support of Díaz Hernández and begin fasting. Independient Journalists. USA: Diario Las Americas; “La Isla,” El Nuevo Herald. Sources Cuba: Ricardo González Alfonso, CubaPress; Havana Press; Reuters. USA: Cuba Prensa Libre bulletin, February 11, 1999 Cuba Free Press project; Pablo Alfonso, El Nuevo Herald. Sancti Spiritus. In an act of open defiance of the Cuban government’s institutions, Berta Antúnez Pernet and January 27, 1999 Alejandro García Sardiñas of the Pedro Luis Boitel Havana. Activists Fernando Sánchez, of the National Civic Resistance Movement (sister and brother-in- Democratic law, respectively, of political prisoner Jorge Luis Garcia Solidarity Party; Pérez “Antúnez”) deliver a letter to the Provincial Manuel Cuesta Directorship of Jails and Prisons in the city of Sancti Morúa, of the Pedro Spiritus, protesting the beating of Jorge Luis by jailers at Pablo Democratic Nieves Morejón Prison. Alvarez Socialist Current; Sources Cuba: Alejandro García Sardiñas, Pedro Luis Osvaldo Boitel National Civic Resistance Movement. USA: Olance Alfonso, of the Nogueras, El Nuevo Herald. Cuban Liberal Party; Rafael February 14, 1999. León of the Havana. Political prisoner Marta Beatriz Roque Cuban Cabello, a member of the Working Group of the Internal Democratic Dissidence, sends a statement from the Western Women’s Project, and Prison (Manto Negro) demanding that petitions to the Cuban Pedro Pablo government for her freedom be unconditional -- that she “be Álvarez of the able to stay and live in Cuba.” Unitary Council of Workers, publicly announce the creation of the Analysis Sources Cuba: Ruth Montaner, Support Group for the and Discussion Group of the Moderate Opposition. In their Working Group of the Internal Dissidence. USA: press official communique, the Analysis and Discussion Group agency EFE. affirms that it has convened to analyze significant events and to seek changes in Cuba. February 17, 1999 Havana. Anti-government graffiti written in white on Sources Cuba: Héctor Palacio Ruiz, Democratic the walls of the El Cerro district with

Steps 17 slogans such as “We do not believe in your 30 years,” “We Havana. Members of the Lawton Foundation for do not believe in your life sentence,” and “We do not believe Human Rights carry out an act of remembrance for the martyrs in your death penalty” -- all messages challenging the of Brothers to the Rescue, carrying pictures of the murdered repressive laws recently approved by the National Assembly men and reading a public communiqué in front of the 10th of of Popular Power. October Maternity Hospital, also known as Hijas de Galicia (Daughters of Galicia). Sources USA: “La Isla”, El Nuevo Herald; CubaNet. Sources Cuba: Omar Rodríguez Saludes, independent February 18, 1999 press agency New Cuban Press. USA: Cuban American Havana. Anti-government signs appear again on National Foundation, El Nuevo Herald, The Miami Herald, different houses in the municipalities of Old Havana and 10 Diario Las Americas. de Octubre, with the slogans “We do not believe in your death penalty,” “We do not believe in your life sentence,”and February 23, 1999 “We do not believe in your 30 years.” Havana. Relatives of independent journalists, civic activists, and opposition politicians make public a joint Sources USA: “La Isla,” El Nuevo Herald; CubaNet. declaration rejecting the “Gag Law,” in which they reaffirm “before national and international public opinion...that we Febrero 20, 1999 will be together with you as we have always been, sharing Las Tunas. The fourteenth library of the Independent your ideas, your hopes, and your destinies.” Libraries in Cuba Project is founded with the name, “Martin Luther King.” The central office is established on Israel Sources Cuba: Carlos Alberto Domínguez, Frank País Marrero Street Apartment 68A, in the suburb La Victoria, 30th of November Democratic Party. USA: Video of the in the city of Las Tunas. Angel Cantero Castellanos is ceremony, WSCV Channel 51 of Telemundo; EFE; El Nuevo designated director. Herald.

Las Tunas. The fifteenth independent library February 24, 1999 “Ismaelillo” is founded, with its headquarters at Ramón Havana. Nine activists and family members of political Mendoza Street #20, in the suburb of La Victoria, in the prisoners shave their heads publicly in protest over the living city of Tunas. Idelfonso Hidalgo Gómez is designated conditions of political prisoners in Cuba. Berta Antúnez director. Pernet; Alejandro García Sardiñas; Víctor Gómez Leyva; Milagros Díaz González; María de los Ángeles Suárez Sources Cuba: Magdelivia Hidalgo, independent press Borges; Caridad Rosalía Ibarra Lugo; Gladys Ibarra agency Libertad; Ramón Humberto Colás Castilo, founder Lugo; Gregoria Corrales and Sonia Contreras Ochoa of Independent Libraries in Cuba Project (recording). participated in the protest, which took place at the Baraguá Farm in the municipality of San Miguel del Padrón. February 21, 1999 Las Tunas. The sixteenth independent library of the Sources Cuba: Vicente Escobal Rabeiro, independent country with the name “José Martí” is founded in the city of press agency Lux Info Press. USA: Ariel Remos, Diario Las Jobabo. The headquarters are located on 84 Street #64, Américas. Vietnam suburb. Juan Rufino González García is designated director. February 28, 1999 Las Tunas. The founders of the Independent Libraries Sources Cuba: Magdelivia Hidalgo, independent press in Cuba Project, Ramón Humberto Colás Castillo and agency Libertad; Ramón Humberto Colás Castilo, founder Berta Mexidor Vázquez, make known from Las Tunas an of Independent Libraries in Cuba Project (recording). open letter to government intellectuals Miguel Barnet, Abel Prieto, Cintio Vitier, Armando Hart, Silvio Rodríguez, February 22, 1999 and Roberto Fernández Retamar, deputies of the National Havana. The independent press agencies CubaPress, Assembly of Popular Power, asking them to oppose the Gag Cuba Verdad, Cooperative of Independent Journalists, Union Law. of Independent Cuban Journalists and Writers and Decoro task force, hold a press conference where they issue a joint Sources Cuba: Magdelivia Hidalgo, independent press declaration rejecting the so-called “Gag Law,” and expressing agency Libertad. USA: Pablo Alfonso, “Cuba por Dentro,” their determination to continue working. The communiqué El Nuevo Herald. is also distributed on the Internet. March 1, 1999 Sources Cuba: Reuters correspondent. USA: El Nuevo Havana. Miriam Cantillo, of the Syndicalist Union of Herald, Diario Las Americas, CubaNet. Cuban Workers; Maricela Pompa and Migdalia Rosado;

Steps 18 March 12, 1999 Maricela Miriam Ciego de Avila. Bautista Hernandez Echemendia, Pompa Cantillo 69, and member of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, refuses to sign a so-called ‘act of warning’ in the headquarters of State Security in the city of Ciego de Avila. Hernández Echemendía rejects the threats of the officials who interrogate him and declares that he will continue to meet with activists and members of the opposition in the area.

Sources Cuba: Ramón Alberto Cruz Lima, New Cuban Press. USA: Diario Las Americas.

March 20, 1999 Havana. The seventeenth independent library of the country is founded with the name “Juana Alonso Rodriguez.” of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights; Dr. Ofelia Its headquarters are located at Falguera Street #324 Upper Nardo, of the Confederation of Cuban Democratic Workers; between San Pedro and Domínguez, municipality of Cerro. and Maritza Lugo Fernández, of the Frank Pais 30th of Rogelio Travieso Pérez is designated director. November Democratic Party sing the national anthem and cry “viva democracia” from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. from Sources Cuba: Magdelivia Hidalgo, independent press their jail cells at the Technical Investigations Department, agency Libertad; Ramón Humberto Colás Castillo, founder protesting the trial against the authors of “The Homeland of the Independent Libraries in Cuba Project (recording). Belongs to All.” March 26, 1999 Sources Cuba: Miriam Cantillo (personal testimony). Havana. Representatives of the National Civic Union, Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate (recording). Martí Civic League, and the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, carry out a press conference where they make known March 8, 1999 a declaration outlining “the political, economic and moral Havana. The Cuban Feminine Union makes public a crisis” that the island is experiencing. The event, attended by document signed by 18 women motivated by the International reporters from ABC, CNN, Fox News, The New York Times Day of the Woman, in which they manifest their support for and the independent Cuban press, constitutes an important imprisoned activists Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, public activity by the opposition after the ratification of the Maritza Lugo Fernández and Migdalia Rosado. Law of Protection of the National Economy and the Independence of Cuba, popularly known as the “Gag Law.” Sources Cuba: Vicky Ruiz Labrit, Cuban Committee of Independent Non-Violent Opponents. USA: Ariel Remos, Sources Cuba: Juan González Febles, New Cuban Press. Diario Las Americas. USA: “Cuba en Foco,” Diario Las Americas; “La Isla,” El Nuevo Herald. March 11, 1999 Havana. Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet and Rolando Muñoz March 30, 1999 Yyobre, of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights; Havana. In response to insinuations from the regime’s William Herrera Díaz, of Martí Civic League; and Joaquín political police, relatives of political prisoners Vladimiro Rafael Martínez, of the National Civic Union, hold a press Roca, Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, Félix Bonne conference in the home of Migdalia Rosado, of the Lawton Carcasés and René Gómez Manzano make known publicly Foundation, located at # 34 of Tamarindo street , in the suburb of Santos Suárez, where they make known a declaration demanding the freedom of all prisoners of conscience, the repeal of all laws that violate human rights, and the re-establishment of multi-party democracy in Cuba. Representatives of the Cuban Council, the Popular Democratic Alliance (ADEPO), and the Martí Youth League also attend the conference.

Sources Cuba: Juan Gonzalez Febles, independent press Joaquín Rafael William Herrera agency New Cuban Press. USA:“Cuba in Focus,” Diario Martínez Díaz Las Americas.

Steps 19 that the prisoners, in a gesture of civic resistance, refuse to agency CubaPress. USA: CubaNet and Cuba Prensa Libre negotiate their freedom in exchange for leaving the country. Bulletin, Cuba Free Press Project.

Sources Cuba: CubaPress. Puerto Rico: Universal April 20, 1999 Dissident Bulletin, El Nuevo Día. Santiago de Cuba. Randolfo Tamayo, a 34-year-old rafter repatriated to Cuba from the Guantánamo Naval Base April 1, 1999 in October 1995, loudly voices his discontent with the regime Villa Clara. Julio Santos González, organizer of the in the “La Melipona” restaurant in the city of Santiago de Party for Human Rights Affiliated with the Andrei Sakharov Cuba. Tamayo is arrested and beaten by agents of the Foundation in the city of Sagua la Grande, refuses to pay political police. the dues for the Militias of Territorial Troops and the official labor union in his work center, the Primero de Mayo Sources Cuba: Margarita Yero, CubaPress. USA: Cuba government cooperative. Free Press bulletin, Cuba Free Press project.

Sources Cuba: Jorge Olivera, independent press agency April 23, 1999 New Cuban Press. USA: “Cuba en Foco,” Diario Las Pinar del Río. The Civic and Religious Education Center Americas. of the Pinar del Río Diocese begins a new cycle of conferences with the themes “We are people,” “Learning April 2, 1999 about Freedom,” “Ethics,” and “ The Masses.” The classes Santiago de Cuba. Anti-government posters appear with are offered in the local cathedral. the inscriptions “Down with Fidel” and “Down with the Dictatorship” on the walls of the buildings D14 and G9 of Sources Cuba: Odalys Curbelo, independent press the José Martí district, in the city of Santiago de Cuba. agency CubaPress. USA: Cuba Free Press Bulletin, Cuba Free Press Project. Sources Cuba: Juan Antonio Sánchez, CubaPress and Cuba Prensa Libre Bulletin, project Cuba Free Press. April 27, 1999 Santiago de Cuba. The Culture and Democracy April 5, 1999 Independent Institute announces the opening of registration Havana Province. Anti-government posters appear with for a workshop on journalism in the Casona Armagnac to the inscriptions “Down with Fidel” and “Freedom for Political promote “civic ideas for independent journalism.” Prisoners” in different places in the Artemisa municipality, including the municipal clinic. Sources Cuba: Margarita Yero, independent press agency CubaPress. USA: Cuba Free Press Bulletin, Cuba Free Press Sources Cuba: Lorenzo Páez Núñez, independent press Project. agency New Cuban Press. USA: “Cuba Frontera Adentro,” Diario Las Americas. May 1999 Havana Province. The eighteenth independent library April 11, 1999 of the country is founded with the name “Rafael María Havana. The Confederation of Cuban Democratic Mendive.” The location is a private home at Building # 56 Workers holds a press conference to announce their decision apt. 7, Los Cocos suburb, in the town of Baracoa. A local to “resist, grow, and perfect the organization not only in the activist named Pablo Silva Cabrera is designated its director. capital but in the rest of the provinces.” Juan José López, legal assistant to the Confederation, declares that “it is of the Granma. The independent library “Juana Alonso highest priority to restore labor rights so as to carry out the Rodríguez II” is founded, the nineteenth of its kind in the transition to democracy.” country, in the city of Bayamo. Its headquarters are established on First Street, Building 3A, Apartment 7, Sources Cuba: María del Carmen Carro, independent between 3rd and Granma Avenue, Jesús Menéndez press agency New Cuban Press. USA: Diario Las Americas. suburb. Ricardo Arabí is designated director.

April 17, 1999 Las Tunas. The twentieth independent library of the Pinar del Río. The Civic and Religious Education country is founded with the name of the Brothers to the Rescue Center holds its first meeting with the community in the Our martyr “Pablo Morales.” Its headquarters are established at Lady of Charity Shrine in the city of Pinar del Río, and #12 Julián Grimau street, Village of Vázquez, in the lays out plans for the next workshop in the Santa Teresita municipality of Puerto Padre. Juan Téllez Rodríguez is de Jesús Center. designated the director.

Sources Cuba: Odalys Curbelo, independent press Sources Cuba: Magdelivia Hidalgo, independent press

Steps 20 agency Libertad and Ramón Humberto Colás Castillo, en Cuba with diverse activities and conferences in Spain, Independent Libraries in Cuba Project (recording). Uruguay, Argentina, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Dominican Republic, and France. May 8, 1999 Havana. A group spontaneously gathers on the corner Sources Cuba: independent press agency CubaPress. of Monte and Revillagigedo, in the municipality of Habana USA: Pablo Alfonso, El Nuevo Herald. Vieja, to protest an abuse committed against a devout person by two policemen who confiscated an image of San Lázaro. Camaguey. Members of the Pablo Morales Committee The multitude impedes the arrest of the individual, shouting, of Political Prisoners and the Pedro Luis Boitel Political “Viva San Lazaro!” and “Viva Cristo Rey!” Prisoners’ Movement initiate a fast in the Kilo 8 prison, with the support of more than 200 non-political criminals. The Sources USA: El Nuevo Herald and CubaNet. political prisoners Andy Frómeta Cuenca, Ernesto Durán Rodríguez, and Alberto Gamboa Boffill declare themselves May 9, 1999 in defiance, removing and burning their prison uniforms. Matanzas. Members of the Alternative Option Movement carry out a public activity in the central park of Sources Cuba: Alejandro Garcia Sardiñas, in charge of the town of Pedro Betancourt to celebrate Mother’s Day. attending Political Prisoners for the Pedro Luis Boitel Several members of the organization are arrested.

Sources Cuba: CubaPress, Independent Press Bureau of Cuba. Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Día, Universal Dissident bulletin.

Villa Clara. A group of mothers hold a meeting in the home of Berta Antúnez Pernet in the city of Placetas to celebrate Mother’s Day and carry out a vigil in preparation for the Campaign in Homage to Pedro Luis Boitel. Communiqués are read in homage and remembrance of all the mothers separated from their sons due to exile, prison, death and disappearance, and a recording of Clara Abraham de Boitel, mother of the martyred political prisoner Pedro Luis Boitel, is played. The Campaign in Homage to Pedro Luis Boitel begins in Placetas. Sources Cuba: Berta Antunez The table displays a photograph of Boitel and a banner identifying Pernet, President, Pedro Luis Boitel the Pedro Luis Boitel National Civic Resistance Movement. National Civic Resistance Movement. Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate. National Civic Resistance Movement. Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate. May 13, 1999 Villa Clara. The Pedro Luis Boitel National Civic May 15, 1999 Resistance Movement inaugurates for the fourth consecutive Havana. Seven women hold a sit-in at a market in the year the Campaign in Homage to Pedro Luis Boitel, with a neighborhood of Pogolotti, in Marianao, demanding the solemn gathering at the home of Pedro Herrada Delgado in daily ration of children’s milk to which they are entitled. The the city of Placetas. A dozen activists from different women had been told that the milk could not be provided organizations attend simultaneous activities carried out in because it had gone bad. Within forty minutes, the Ciego de Avila and Santiago de Cuba. This campaign is municipal authorities send for a truck to deliver two boxes of realized simultaneously with the international Campaign in milk bottles to satisfy the protestor’s demands. Solidarity with the Cuban Civic Opposition, an effort of the Directorio and Plantados Hasta la Libertad y la Democracia Sources Cuba: Graciela Alfonso, Havana Press. USA:

Steps 21 Cuba Free Press bulletin, Cuba Free Press Project; CubaNet. Committee of Mothers and Family of Political Prisoners, holds a meeting of activists in her home in Punta Alegre to May 18, 1999 pay tribute to the Cuban martyr Pedro Luis Boitel as part of Santiago de Cuba. Members of the Cuban Youth for the national campaign to remember the fallen opposition Democracy Movement; the Homeland, Independence, and leader. Freedom Movement; and the Gerardo González, Brother of Faith Movement, gather at noon at the Plaza de Marte to Sources Cuba: Cooperative of Independent Journalists initiate a fast demanding more food distribution to alleviate in Ciego de Avila and Pedro Luis Boitel National Civic the hunger in that region. The activists, who had been fasting Resistance Movement. since the day before, marched to the center of Cespedes Park and remained there until 5:00 p.m., when they were dispersed June 2, 1999 by the police. The following day, food distribution is Havana. A new organization with the name Catholic increased in the region. University Students’ Movement is created with the purpose of stimulating critical thinking and a renewed commitment Sources Cuba: Margarita Yero and Ricardo Gonzalez of students with their society. The organization meets weekly Alfonso, CubaPress. USA: Cuba Free Press bulletin, Cuba in the Catholic parish of Our Lady of Carmen in Havana, Free Press Project; CubaNet. located at the corner of Infanta and Neptuno streets.

May 20, 1999 Sources Cuba: Jorge Rodríguez Delgado, independent Havana. Members of the Committee of Mothers and press agency CubaPress. USA: Cuba Free Press bulletin, Family of Political Prisoners go at 3:30 p.m. to the National Cuba Free Press project. Assembly of the People’s Power (Cuban parliament), located at 25 Street between 42 and 44, Playa municipality and June 4, 1999 deliver a letter addressed to the assembly’s president, Ricardo Granma. A crowd of more than 20 citizens intervene Alarcon de Quesada, in which they demand a general to prevent 5 plainclothes policemen from beating Yoendris amnesty for the political prisoners in Cuba. This letter was Ramírez Rodríguez in the city of Manzanillo. Twenty- signed by 26 families of political prisoners and by human year-old Yoendris Ramírez had been selling beans on the rights activists and opposition leaders throughout the country. black market.

Sources Cuba: Pedro Orlando Herrada Delgado, Sources Cuba: Jesús Labrador Arias, independent press National Council for Civil Rights in Cuba. USA: CubaNet. agency CubaPress. USA: Cuba Free Press bulletin , Cuba Free Press project. Villa Clara. The Cuban Reflection Movement publicly announces its support for the Campaign in Homage to Pedro Havana. The Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, Luis Boitel, being conducted in Cuba by the Pedro Luis Boitel the National Civic Union, and the Martí Civic League, hold National Civic Resistance Movement, the Pedro Luis Boitel a news conference in a house located at Tamarindo 34, in Political Prisoners’ Movement, and the National Council the Santos Suárez neighborhood. They announce that they for Civil Rights in Cuba. will begin a 40-day fast (one day for each year of the dictatorship), starting on June 7th, to demand freedom for Sources Cuba: Juan Carlos Chavez Ruiz, Member of political prisoners. the Executive, Cuban Reflection Movement. Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate. Sources Cuba: Graciela Alfonso, independent press agency CubaPress. USA: Cuba Free Press bulletin, Cuba May 25, 1999 Free Press project. Havana. Members of the Pedro Luis Boitel National Civic Resistance Movement and the National Council for Civil June 6, 1999 Rights in Cuba, along with families of political prisoners, Havana. Lázaro Planes Farías, a political prisoner at carry out a ceremony at the tomb of Pedro Luis Boitel. For the 1580 Prison, begins a hunger strike to demand his this event, the activists obtain the help of people who live in liberation. Planes Farías had been liberated from prison on the area to locate Boitel’s unmarked grave. The regime had March 6, 1998, at the request of Pope John Paul II, but buried him with no sign of identification so that he would be was once again incarcerated on October 10 that same year dishonored and forgotten. because he publicly demonstrated his disapproval of Castro.

Sources Cuba: Berta Antúnez Pernet, President, Pedro Sources Cuba: Carlos Alberto Domínguez, Frank Pais th Luis Boitel National Civic Resistance Movement. USA: 30 of November Democratic Party. Puerto Rico: Universal Diario Las Americas. Dissident bulletin. Ciego de Avila. Milagros Diaz, a member of the

Steps 22 June 7, 1999 Havana. The Life and Freedom Fast begins at Tamarindo 34 with the participation of 7 activists: the owner of the home Migdalia Rosado, Oscar Elías Biscet and Rolando Muñoz Yyobre, from the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights; William Herrera Díaz, from the Martí Civic League; Aida Valdés Santana, from the Coordination of Political Prisoners; Leonel Morejón Almagro, from Naturpaz; and Marcos th Lázaro Torres, from the Frank País 30 of November Democratic Party.

Matanzas. Representatives of various organizations in the Matanzas province join the Life and Freedom Fast. During the 40 days of the fast, there are a total of 619 participations; the average participation includes 15 persons per day. More homes are designated fasting locations The movement spoke with a firm and united voice including homes in the city of Matanzas and the during the fast. town of El Roque.

Villa Clara. The Life and Freedom Fast begins in the Villa Clara province in the homes of activists Amado Ruiz Moreno and Berta Antúnez Pernet, in the town of Placetas. There are a total of 1708 participations during the 40 days (42 persons per day). Most of the participants are from the following organizations: Union of Ex-Political Prisoners, Nationalist Civic Movement, CubaPress, Cuban Reflection Movement, Democratic Action Movement, National Council for Civil Rights in Cuba, and the Pedro Luis Boitel National Civic Resistance Movement. Additional homes join as fast locations in the towns of Fomento and Camajuaní.

Ciego de Avila. The Life and Freedom Fast United with a single begins in the province of Ciego de Avila with the purpose. opening of a fasting location in the city by the same name. There are a total of 209 participations during the 40 days (5 persons per day). Additional fasting centers are opened in the towns of Morón and Punta Alegre.

Santiago de Cuba. Members of 14 different opposition organizations join the Life and Freedom Fast in the city of Santiago de Cuba. The activists belong to the following organizations: Club of Prisoners and Ex-Political Prisoners, The Pedro Luis Boitel Movement for Democracy, the Homeland, Independence, and Freedom Pro- Human Rights Movement, The Independent Medical Association of Oriente, the Pro-Human Rights Christian Civic Movement, and the Eastern The message of the fast went beyond Front, among others. There are a total of 337 the doors of Tamarindo 34. participations during the 40 days (8 persons per

Steps 23 day). Additional fasting locations are opened in the towns of Amacio Rodríguez. There are a total of 810 participations Palma Soriano and Palmarito. in the 34 days of fasting (an average of 24 persons per day). Sources Cuba: Joaquín Rafael Martínez and Carlos Alberto Domínguez, spokespersons for Tamarindo 34; Granma. A group of activists in this province join the Alejandro García Sardiñas, spokesperson in the central Life and Freedom Fast with a total of 33 participations in provinces; Ricardo González Alfonso, CubaPress; Angel the 34 days of the fast. Fasting centers are opened in the Pablo Polanco, Cooperative of Independent Journalists; towns of Bayamo, Manzanillo, Campechuela, Yara, and Santiago Santana, Oriente Free Press Agency. USA: El Nuevo Troya. Herald, The Miami Herald, Diario Las Americas, The Washingtom Times, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC, NBC, Guantánamo. The Fast begins in the province of CubaNet, Cuba Free Press. Mexico: Notimex, Reforma. Guantánamo, with a total of 168 participants in 34 days of Spain: El País, El Mundo, EFE, TV Española. England: fasting (an average of 5 persons per day). The fasting BBC, Financial Times, Reuters. France: AFP. Dominican centers are located in the cities of Baracoa and Guantánamo. Republic: Listín Diario, Hoy. Holguín. The Life and Freedom Fast begins in the June 14, 1999 province of Holguín, with a total of 200 participations in Pinar del the 34 days of the fast (an average of 6 persons per day). Río. Activists in Fasting centers are opened in the towns of Gibara, Antilla, this province join the Life and Freedom Fast. In the 34 days of fasting there are a total of 460 participations (average of 13 persons per day). Fasting centers are established in the city of Pinar del Río and the towns of San Juan and Placetas, Villa Clara. The fast Martínez, showed the national scope Herradura, of the Movement. and Guane.

Cienfuegos. and San Germán. Activists in this province belonging to the Human Rights Party of Aguada de Pasajeros join the Life and Freedom Sources Cuba: Joaquín Rafael Martínez and Carlos Fast and establish a fasting location in the town of Aguada Alberto Domínguez, spokespersons for Tamarindo 34; de Pasajeros. In the 34 days of fasting there are a total of Alejandro García Sardiñas, spokesperson in the central 35 participations (average of 1 person per day). provinces; Ricardo González Alfonso, CubaPress; Ángel Pablo Polanco, Cooperative of Independent Journalists; Sancti Spritus. The Life and Freedom Fast begins in Santiago Santana, Oriente Free Press Agency. USA: El the province of Sancti Spiritus; there are a total of 35 Nuevo Herald, The Miami Herald, Diario Las Americas, The participations in the 34 days of fasting. Washington Times, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC, NBC, CubaNet, Cuba Free Press. Mexico: Notimex, Reforma. Las Tunas. Activists in this province join the Life and Spain: El País, El Mundo, TV Española, EFE. England: BBC, Freedom Fast. Fasting centers are established in the “Félix Financial Times, Reuters. France: AFP. Dominican Varela” Independent Library, at the Center for Studies of Republic: Listín Diario. Liberalism, and at the homes of Héctor Riverón González, Armando Peña Guzmán, Magdelivia Hidalgo González, June 16, 1999 and América Licea Peña. Fasting locations are also opened Havana Province. Lázaro Constantino Durán, a in the towns of Puerto Padre, Vázquez, Las Tunas, and political prisoner at the Valle Grande Prison, begins a hunger

Steps 24 strike. Constantino was arrested December 10, 1998, for Sources Cuba: Ricardo Rodríguez Bosch, New participating in a protest at Cuban Press. USA: Diario Las Americas, El Nuevo Butari Park in the Lawton Herald. neighborhood commemorating Havana. Henry Martini, a 21-year-old resident International Human Rights of the Lawton neighborhood, wears a T-shirt to work Day. with the inscription “Abajo Fidel” (“Down With Fidel”). He refuses orders from his superiors to remove the shirt Sources Cuba: Carlos and continues to wear it until he is arrested that night. Alberto Domínguez, Frank th País 30 of November Sources Cuba: Juan González Febles, New Cuban Democratic Party. USA: El Press. USA: Diario Las Americas. Nuevo Herald. Puerto Rico: Universal Dissident Bulletin. July 8, 1999 Lázaro Constantino Durán Holguín. For the third consecutive day, large crowds June 21, 1999 of protesters gather in the city of Puerto Padre, Isle of Youth. Activists from the municipality join the without response from the repressive forces sent by Life and Freedom Fast. There are 292 participations during the regime to control them. the 27 days of the fast (11 persons per day). Sources Cuba: Ricardo Rodríguez Bosch, New Sources Cuba: Joaquín Rafael Martínez and Carlos Cuban Press; Ricardo González Alfonso, Alberto Domínguez, spokespersons for Tamarindo 34; CubaPress. USA: Diario Las Americas, El Nuevo Alejandro García Sardiñas, spokesperson in the central Herald. provinces; Ricardo González Alfonso, CubaPress; Ángel Pablo Polanco, Cooperative of Independent Journalists; July 11, 1999 Santiago Santana, Oriente Free Press Agency. USA: El Santiago de Cuba. Elaine Ibarra Saumell, Nuevo Herald, The Miami Herald, Diario Las Americas, delegate in this province of the Pedro Luis Boitel National The Washington Times, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC, Civic Resistance Movement, and Alejandro García NBC, CubaNet, Cuba Free Press Mexico: Notimex, Reforma. Sardiñas, in charge of attending to political prisoners for Spain: El País, El Mundo, TV Española, EFE. England: this movement, read a public document at 8:00 a.m. in BBC, Financial Times, Reuters. France: AFP. Dominican the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity in El Cobre to Republic: Listín Diario. commemorate the first anniversary of the pilgrimmage to that site by 55 mothers and family members of political July 6, 1999 prisoners. They are joined in prayer by 30 women Holguín. Approximately 6,000 gather in the area of attending church at the time. the “malecón” of Puerto Padre, shouting “Freedom!” and “Democracy!” and singing “Ya Viene Llegando,” a Sources Cuba: Alejandro García Sardiñas, Pedro song by exiled singer Willy Chirino about Cuba’s Luis Boitel National Civic Resistance Movement. Cuban liberation. The activity begins when the people find Revolutionary Democratic Directorate. out that a Cuban coast guard boat has been trying to sink a boat with 12 local residents attempting to escape July 13, 1999 Cuba. The protest continues for three days. As a result, Havana. A group of 20 members of the Cuban the authorities allow various local residents, including Association of Independent Teachers of Cuba, the Cuban a young man named Irán Romarrón, to take food and Liberal Current, Naturpaz, and the Party For Human water to the people trapped on the boat. Rights in Cuba, hold a mass in the Church of the Virgin of Fatima, located in the suburb of Padre, in memory Sources: Cuba: Ricardo Rodríguez Bosch, New Cuban of the victims of the sinking of the tugboat “13 de Marzo.” Press; Ricardo Gonzalez Alonso, CubaPress. USA: Father Oscar, the parish priest of the church, reports on Diario Las Americas and El Nuevo Herald. the massacre in detail. He mentions the names of the children who died that day and asks God to protect their souls. He also mentions the name of political prisoner July 7, 1999 Lázaro Constantino Durán, who had recently concluded Holguin. Various anti-government signs appear a hunger strike. throughout the city during the protests caused by the Cuban coast guard’s actions against the escaping refugee Sources Cuba: Roberto de Miranda, President, boat.

Steps 25 Alejandro Elaine Venancio Roberto Martínez, of the Fraternal Brothers García Ibarra for Dignity carry out a public activity at 1:30 p.m. at the Sardiñas Saumell departure point for passenger motor boats between the port of Havana and the suburb of Casablanca. A floral arrangement is thrown into the water, copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are distributed, and a communiqué is read remembering the sinking of “13 de Marzo”and charging the dictator with the responsibility for the crime.

Sources Cuba: Alejandro Chang Cantillo, spokesperson, Fraternal Brothers for Dignity (recording). Independent Association of Cuban Teachers. Puerto Rico: USA: El Nuevo Herald. Carta de Cuba magazine. th Havana. Members of the Frank País 30 of November Havana. A large group of activists attend mass in Democratic Party, Fraternal Brothers for Dignity and the remembrance of the victims of the “13 de Marzo” tugboat th 13 of July Movement attend the Church of Guanabacoa at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus located on to pray for the victims of the tugboat sinking. Activists Reina Street between Belascoain and Perseverancia, Carlos Alberto Domínguez, Alejandro Chang Cantillo, in the Central Havana municipality. Venancio Roberto Martínez, Marcel Valenzuela and José Aguilar Hernández are arrested. Sources Cuba: María de los Ángeles Amaro, Union of Independent Cuban Journalists and Writers. Puerto Sources Cuba: Ohalys Victores, independent press Rico: Carta de Cuba. agency Cuba Verdad. Puerto Rico: Carta de Cuba th magazine. Havana. The 13 of July Movement holds a mass in tribute to the victims of the “13 de Marzo” tugboat at the Church of Mercy, located at Cuba and Merced Streets, Old Havana municipality. Alejandro Chang Cantillo Carlos Alberto Domínguez Sources Cuba: Luis Cino, New Cuban Press. USA: “Cuba Frontera Adentro,” Diario Las Americas.

Havana and Matanzas. At 6:00 pm, prayer groups are held simultaneously in both provinces, in remembrance of those murdered in the sinking of the “13 de Marzo” th tugboat. Members of the 13 of July Movement, Alternative Option Movement, and Pedro Luis Boitel Movement for Democracy participate. Havana. The independent library “Helen, Symbol of Sources Cuba: Luis Cino, New Cuban Press. USA: Freedom,” specializing in children’s literature, is opened. “Cuba Frontera Adentro,” Diario Las Americas. The provisional location of the library is the home of teacher Celia Jorge, located at Calzada de 10 de Octubre Havana. A group of opposition members march to #160, municipality 10 de Octubre. the Havana sea wall (“el Malecón”) from Tamarindo 34, center of the Life and Freedom Fast, and throw a floral Sources Cuba: Roberto de Miranda, President of the arrangment into the ocean in memory of the 41 murdered Association of Independent Teachers of Cuba (recording) persons in the sinking of the “13 de Marzo” tugboat. Puerto Rico: Carta de Cuba magazine. Source: Cuba: Odalys Victores, independent press Villa Clara. At 6:00 p.m. in the home of activist agency Cuba Verdad. USA: Diario las Americas. Amado Ruiz Moreno, located on East 5th Street #58 between South 3rd and 4th, in the city of Placetas, an Havana. Activists Carlos Alberto Domínguez, of act of remembrance for the victims of the “13 de Marzo” the Frank País 30th of November Democratic Party; José tugboat is carried out. A moment of silence is observed Aguilar Hernández and Clara Morales Martínez, of the th and a prayer is said in memory of the dead. 13 of July Movement; and Marcel Valenzuela Salt, Alejandro Chang Cantillo, Iluminada Sotolongo and

Steps 26 temporarily detained. Sources: Cuba: CubaPress. USA: CubaNet. th Sources Cuba: 4 of March Party; José Ramón Gabriel July 16, 1999 Castillo, CubaPress. USA: CubaNet. Havana. Political prisoner Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello of the Working Group of the Internal Dissidence, August 14, 1999 initiates a “silent fast” demanding that the legal procedures Havana. An event is held to discuss the techniques of to obtain her conditional freedom be carried out according civil disobedience in the farm El Valle, situated at street to the law. San Agustín between Paz and Arnau, in the neighborhood of Callejas, in the Arroyo Naranjo municipality, with 31 Sources: Cuba: Magalys de Armas, wife of political activists attending along with representatives of the prisoner Vladimiro Roca Antúnez. USA: El Nuevo Herald. independent press. Two seminars are given titled “Discipline and 40 years of errors” and “External aggression or July 26, 1999 neoliberalism in Cuba,” chaired by Oscar Elías Biscet and Leonel Morejón Almagro, respectively. Representatives Havana. Residents of Old Havana go out in public th from Fraternal Brothers for Dignity, Frank País 30 of shouting against the regime in the corner of the streets th Neptune and Consulado. This action is taken in protest November Democratic Party, 24 of February Movement, against a police beating on a young black man named Freddy, Cuban Reflection Movement, Martí Civic League, Lawton attacked without warning while he was in a cafeteria called Foundation for Human Rights and Naturpaz attend the event. “Fornos.” Sources Cuba: Maria del Carmen Carro and Luis Vinas, Sources Cuba: Eduardo G. Estrada, New Cuban Press. Havana Press; Angel Pablo Polanco, Cooperative of USA: “Cuba Frontera Adentro,” Diario Las Americas. Independent Journalists; Ohalys Victores, Cuba Verdad.

Pinar del Rio. Farmers from the Carlos Manuel de August 21, 1999 Céspedes Cooperative of Credits and Services in the region Havana. A group of persons denounce with shouts of of “El Tejar,” in the municipality Manuel Lazo, refuse to “henchmen,” “tyrants,” and “dictators” police agents who sign contracts with the regime for the planting of tobacco repress with neurotoxic gasses and truncheouns various blind because of the State’s failure to guarantee provisions. people who sold manufactured items on the corner of the Reina and Aguila Streets in the municipality of Central Sources Cuba: CubaPress. USA: El Nuevo Herald, Havana. CubaNet. Sources Cuba: Associated Press correspondent. USA: August 7, 1999 El Nuevo Herald. Puerto Rico: Universal Dissident bulletin, Havana. The El Nuevo Día. activists Migdalia Ohalys Rosado, Ohalys Victores Havana. The twenty-first independent library in the Victores, and Rolando country is founded with the name “Vaclav Havel.” Rubén Muñoz Yyobre found the Camallery is designated director. The library is located in Tamarindo 34 Human 367 street # 16646, apartment 14, between 166 and 168, Rights Foundation, in the neighborhood of Mulgoba. operating out of the same place where the Life and Sources Cuba: Magdelivia Hidalgo, independent press Freedom Fast took place. agency Libertad. USA: CubaNet. They make known the start of a 24-hour fast for August 23, 1999 the freedom of political Havana. More than 50 persons attend a workshop about prisoners and respect for freedom and democracy taking place in the “El Valle” farm human rights which will be repeated every seventh day of and hosted by the Fraternal Brothers for Dignity. William Herrera Díaz, of the Martí Civic League, and Rubén each month. th Camallery Alvarez, of the 24 of February Movement, Sources Cuba: Luis Cino, New Cuban Press. USA: present the topics “Concept of Freedom” and “Notes about Diario Las Americas. Felix Varela,” respectively. Also presenting topics at the workshop are Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet of the Lawton August 13, 1999 Foundation for Human Rights and Reverend Pedro Crespo. Granma. Anti-government signs appear in different parts of the city of Campechuela. Activists Carlos Suárez, Sources Cuba: Graciela Alfonso, CubaPress. USA: Enrique Gómez, Félix Ortiz, and Alfredo Trevin are CubaNet.

Steps 27 The inauguration of the first School of Nonviolent Civic Struggle was well attended. In the first row, Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet and Alejandro Chang Cantillo listen attentively to Rev. Pedro Crespo of the Cuban Orthodox Church.

August 28, 1999 founded for the specialized use of the independent press of Havana. The foundation of the Cuban Orthodox Party the country, with the name, “Jorge Mañach.” It is located at is made public, according to its 54-year old president Nelson #716, 86 street, between 7th and 9th in the Playa Aguiar, so as to “confront the administrative corruption which municipality, and Ricardo González Alfonso, of the is sinking this country into a bottomless pit.” independent press agency CubaPress is designated director.

Sources Cuba: Ramón Humberto Colás Castillo, founder Sources Cuba: Magdelivia Hidalgo, independent press of Independent Libraries in Cuba Project. Cuban agency Libertad. USA: CubaNet. Democratic Revolutionary Directorate. September 7, 1999 September 3, 1999 Santiago de Cuba. Ten opposition organizations attend Havana. The Lawton Foundation for Human Rights and a meeting called by the Eastern Front of the Persecuted, the Civic Brotherhood officially inaugurate the first School Prisoners and Ex-Political Prisoners, headed by the of Nonviolent Civic Struggle in the country, located on the opposition leader Manuel de Jesús Díaz Preval. In the farm “El Valle,” San Augustín street #44 between Arnau meeting it is agreed that each participating organization will and Paz, Callejas suburb, Arroyo Naranjo municipality. carry out a fast on the seventh day of every month in demand According to the founders, the school’s objective is to “teach for freedom for the political prisoners in Cuba. the theory and practice of nonviolent civic struggle and to introduce the philosophy of this method so that Cubans can Sources Cuba: Margarita Yero, CubaPress. USA: Cuba join this type of struggle.” Prensa Libre Bulletin, Cuba Free Press Project.

Sources Cuba: Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet, President, Lawton Pinar del Río. The activists Raúl Artega, Caridad Foundation for Human Rights (recording). USA: El Nuevo Suárez, and Lázaro del Toro Ramos, of the Party For Herald. Puerto Rico: Universal Dissident Bulletin, El Nuevo Human Rights in Cuba, and Ernesto de la Hoz Ramos, of Dia. the Máximo Gomez National Civic Movement, declare a vigil until the 24th of that same month, in support of members of September 4, 1999 the opposition William Herrera Díaz and Marta Beatriz Havana. The twenty-second independent library is Roque Cabello, of the Marti Civic League and the Working

Steps 28 Group of the Internal Dissidence. The vigil would take place Havana. The Cuban Orthodox Church publishes a simultaneously in four houses: one located at Francisco document titled, “Committed to Hope,” in which a call is Rivero Street #104 and the other at 3rd Street #6, both in made for the internal and external opposition to come together. the village of San Juan and Martínez, another in the The text of the document, read in a press conference by the General Antonio Maceo Cooperative, village of Cuatro reverend Pedro Crespo Jímenez, Chancellor of the Caminos, in the San Luis municipality, and another at Orthodox Church, receives immediate support from the Hospital street #59 between Alfredo Porta and Party for Human Rights in Cuba Affiliated with the Andrei Garmendia, in the city of Pinar del Río. Sahkarov Foundation, the National Committee of Humanitarian and Religious Assistance to Prisons and the National Opposition Union. Sources Cuba: Mary Miranda and Juan Antonio Sánchez, CubaPress. USA: Cuba Prensa Libre bulletin, Cuba Sources Cuba: Ricardo González Alfonso, CubaPress. Free Press project. USA: Cuba Prensa Libre bulletin, Cuba Free Press project .

September 8, 1999 Néstor September 14, 1999 Santiago de Cuba. Rodríguez Havana. Members of different civic organizations take Members of the Lobaina part in a class on civil disobedience given in Butari park, organizations Cuban baptized by the opposition as “Human Rights Park.” Marcel Youth for Democracy Valenzuela, of the Civic Brotherhood, and Marlon Cabrera, Movement; Democratic of the Fraternal Brothers for Dignity were detained as the Solidarity Party, Pro- event ended. Human Rights Christian Civic Movement; Ex- Sources Cuba: Oswaldo de Céspedes, Cooperative of Political Prisoners Club; Independent Journalists. USA: El Nuevo Herald, CubaNet. Pedro Luis Boitel National Civic September 15, 1999 Resistance Movement; Isle of Youth. The Pinero Committee for Human Rights The Gerardo González inaugurates the second school on civic nonviolent struggle “Brother of the Faith” in the country, located at 37 Street, #3610 between 36 and Movement and 38, in the city of Nueva Gerona. Húber Rodríguez Tudela Independent Labor and Manuel Ismael Acosta González are the president and Union of Workers in vice president of the Pinero Committee. Rodríguez Tudela Cuba, carry out a public declares that the school “has been created with the end of protest during the providing the population with information on human rights procession of the Virgin of Charity. The protestors descend and civic resistance.” from the stairs of the church and march through the streets of the town of El Cobre, carrying posters with biblical texts Sources Cuba: Húber Rodríguez Tudela, President, and demanding freedom for all political prisoners. Jesús Pinero Committee for Human Rights. Cuban Democratic Molina Tuero, Leonel Grave de Peralta, Luis Enrique Revolutionary Directorate. Ferrer, Carlos Emilio Cepero and Giovanni Batista, of the Cuban Youth for Democracy Movement are beaten by a September 16, 1999 mob. Havana. Marcel Valenzuela of the Civic Brotherhood and Marlon Cabrera of Fraternal Brothers for Dignity, Sources Cuba: José Ramón Gabriel Castillo, CubaPress; begin a hunger strike in protest over their detention after Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina, President, Cuban Youth for having attended one of the classes on civil disobedience in Democracy Movement. USA: Cuba Prensa Libre, project Butari park in the Lawton neighborhood. After remaining Cuba Free Press; Diario Las Americas. on the hunger strike for 11 days, they are freed by the authorities. September 10, 1999 Havana. In a demonstration of popular spontaneous Sources Cuba: Oswaldo de Céspedes, Cooperative of resistance, unknown persons throw bottles at police agents Independent Journalists. USA: “La Isla,” El Nuevo Herald; who were detaining pedestrians and asking them for CubaNet. identification at the corner of Rodríguez and San Benigno Streets, in the neighborhood of Santos Suárez. The agents September 17, 1999 carry out searches in the area but are unable to capture anyone. Ciego de Avila. The Ciego de Avila Foundation for Human Rights is created with the objective of “monitoring Sources USA: “The Island,” El Nuevo Herald; CubaNet. and denouncing the violations of human rights and using the

Steps 29 methods of civic struggle for the reinstallation of those rights movement), obstruct its functioning, and not recognize its in Cuba.” Juan Carlos González Leyva is designated legitimate legal status.” director, Oscar Horta Medina executive secretary, and Emilio Martín Morales Treasurer. Sources Cuba: news agencies EFE and AFP. USA: Diario Las Americas, El Nuevo Herald. Puerto Rico: El Sources Cuba: Juan Carlos González Leyva, Ciego de Nuevo Dia; Universal Dissident bulletin. Avila Cooperative of Independent Journalists. USA: “La Isla,” El Nuevo Herald; CubaNet. October 7, 1999 Havana. The Tamarindo 34 Human Rights Foundation September 25, 1999 carries out a 24-hour fast for the freedom of political Havana. The Analysis and Discussion Group of the prisoners. During the fast, requests are made especially for Moderate Opposition makes known “A Common Platform the political prisoners Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez,” for a Transition to Democracy” in a press conference attended imprisoned in Nieves Morejón, and Arturo Suárez Ramos by the internationally accredited press in Cuba. The document (whose mother Isabel Ramos is among the fasters), presents the viewpoints of this group concerning Cuban reality imprisoned in Combinado del Este. and advocates a nonviolent transition to democracy. Sources Cuba: Mary Miranda, CubaPress. USA: Cuba Sources Cuba: CNN, CubaPress. USA: El Nuevo Prensa Libre bulletin , Cuba Free Press project. Herald, Telemundo, Univision. October 8, 1999 September 28, 1999 Havana. Jean Hansel Domínguez, son of Carlos Havana. Anti-government signs appear in diverse parts Alberto Domínguez, in charge of aiding political prisoners of the Luyanó neighborhood, in the municipality 10 de for the Frank País 30th of November Democratic Party, Octubre. The signs, with the inscription “Down With Fidel,” refuses to pay the “voluntary” dues to support the Militias of are seen at the intersections of the Municipio and Justiz Territorial Troops. Jean Hansel, who studies Civil Streets, Lugo and Arango, and Pérez and Guasabacoa, as Construction at the José Martí Technological Institute, of well as the fourth floor of the Miguel Enríquez Hospital. the Boyeros municipality, is threatened with a political trial by the professors and members of the political organizations Sources USA: “La Isla,” El Nuevo Herald; CubaNet. of the regime in the school.

October 1, 1999 Sources Cuba: Eduardo G. Estrada, New Cuban Press. Havana. More than 30 representatives from 23 human USA: “Cuba Interior Frontier,” Diario Las Americas. rights, civil society and political opposition organizations gather at the residence of Odilia Collazo Valdés, president October 10, 1999 of the Party for Human Rights in Cuba, to begin the Sancti Spiritus. Political prisoners Jorge Luis García organizational work for the launching of the III Millennium Pérez “Antúnez” and Guillermo Pérez Yera declare Forum, an umbrella organization intended to introduce a themselves on an indefinite hunger strike in protest over the common program of demands for the democratization of “worsening of the penal and prison codes, the application of Cuba. One of the demands includes eliminating various the death penalty in Cuba and its indiscriminate use, and the political crimes from the Cuban Penal Code, and current celebration of the Ibero-American Summit.” conditions for commerce and contractual agreements, as well as setting up procedures to honor the agreements reached at Sources Cuba: Berta Antúnez Pernet, Pedro Luis Boitel the Ibero-American Summit. National Civic Resistance Movement. USA: El Nuevo Herald. Sources Cuba: Oswaldo de Céspedes, Cooperative of Independent Journalists; Mercedes Moreno, New Cuban October 24, 1999 Press; María del Carmen Carro, UPECI. USA: El Nuevo Havana. Members of the Party for Human Rights in Herald, CubaNet. Cuba attend a mass in the church of Santa Bárbara in the neighborhood of Párraga to pray for the souls of the prisoners October 6, 1999 who have died in captivity in Cuban prisons, and especially Havana. The Christian Liberation Movement for the opposition activist Pedro Bienvenido Armenteros (Movimiento Cristiano Liberación) formally solicits, via a Laza, who died three years earlier in the prison of Quivicán. document supported by the signatures of 241 citizens, 210 Father Carlos Pérez, the officiating priest, shouts, “Out of more than required by law, official recognition from the my church!” and “The house of God should be respected!” Ministry of Justice. In a public declaration after the request and expels various members of the Rapid Response Brigades. for recognition, Liberación affirms that it is a legal organization “because what is illegal is to persecute (the

Steps 30