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Europe Dialogues No CUBA – EUROPE DIALOGUES No. 1 / 2007 QUARTERLY BULLETIN ON RELATIONS BETWEEN CUBANS AND EUROPEANS CUBAN VIEWS Cuba Waits for the Day After Cuban Transitional Programs ON TRANSITION EDWARD MCMILLAN-SCOTT 2 NIKOLA HOřejš 4 Ahead of Central Europans: ANALYSIS Draft of Todos Cubanos FREDO ARIAS KING 7 Notes on the Draft Constitution Ready for Changes: APSC In the Hands of the Generals VOjtěcH CEPL 10 LUCAS GARVE 15 JOSÉ ANTONIO FORNARIS 17 Cuba and the Keys Reformists and NGO Charter 77 after Thirty Years OPINION of the Spanish Transition Recommendations KUSÝ MIROSLAV 19 CARLOS ALBERTO MONTANER 12 MARKUS MECKEL 16 NGO Network: CUBA LIBRE IN BULGARIA 25 Document: Warszaw Appeal MAKING STATEMENT 21 Recent Events International Committee for EVENTS WHILE ON HOLIDAY 26 NEW REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS 23 Democracy in Cuba 30 ISHR SUES CUBA AT THE UN 27 2007 Events 32 photo by Pavel Hroch by photo Pavel CUBA WAITS FOR THE DAY AFTER Edward McMillan-Scott he autumn streets of Havana are The only colour on the crumbling colo- sons’ imprisonment in 2003 for crimes dark at night. The few electric nial buildings comes from political slo- against the state. A token 75 political Tlights are reserved for the main high- gans extolling the 1957 revolution led activists had been rounded up. ways. Side streets are lit only by the by Los Hermanos Castro (‘The Castro occasional patched-up pre-revolution Brothers’). One is the dictator Fidel, The Women were eager to talk, eager Buick or Chevrolet, sometimes an open dying from stomach cancer, the other to know my opinion about what hap- door throws neon light onto the pave- his notoriously boozy brother Raul. pens next in Cuba. I had come to find ment outside. out, and to hear more of the conditions It was difficult finding the little house their menfolk were being kept in. Cubans shuffle head down: many are where the Damas de Blanco – Women in starving, many ill, most literally dirt White – were waiting for me. They had My visit to Cuba on a tourist visa was poor. They talk of a state of miedo been protesting outside their church organised by Vaclav Havel’s committee – fear. that day about their husbands’ and for democracy. I had come to examine Edward McMillan-Scott Edward with Oswaldo Payá how the £100 million EU democracy fund night. In a corner, an aide was faxing EDITORIAL I set up aimed at the transformation of press releases aimed at a Latin Ameri- the ex-Soviet bloc could help Cuba. can diplomatic conference in Montevi- deo the following day. The Women told me of the unlit, fetid The transition towards democracy is cells, the filthy food, the lack of medical The courage and determination of peo- often viewed as a power struggle, but care at prisons hundreds of miles from ple like Paya and Roque is humbling it is, in a way, more a consequence their families – and far from the remain- to those who, like myself, tend to take of prepared minds and well-debated ing political activists in Havana. Europe’s freedom and prosperity for plans. This issue of Cuba-Europe Dia- granted. logues looks at Cubans’ views and The European Parliament awarded the plans regarding transition. The past Women the Sakharov Prize for freedom But Europe’s history has a message year has borne witness to a steady of expression in 2005: they could not for the world’s remaining tyrannies growth in debate on this topic within collect it but their demonstrations are – for China, Cuba, Egypt – even Russia, Cuba; perhaps in itself a far more sig- tolerated by the regime. where democracy has now faltered. nificant development than anyone’s stomachaches. The same prize was awarded to Cuban dissident Osvaldo Payá in 2002, just The outcome of the project All Cubans before the crackdown. His limited The courage and was made public last spring and is political activities too are tolerated, determination of people presented in the first article in our but he and his family are harassed. analysis. We have also asked sev- His 18-year-old daughter has just like Paya and Roque is eral scientists and journalists from started university but she cannot humbling to those who, all around the world to reflect on make friends, as the other students these plans and contribute with a are instructed to shun her. like myself, tend to take comparison. Fredo Arias King shows Europe’s freedom and what Cubans have learned from Cen- Payá organised a mass petition in 2002, tral European achievements and set- an extraordinarily difficult undertak- prosperity for granted. backs. Vojtech Cepl, former Judge at ing. He collected more than 11,000 sig- a Constitutional Court, analyses the natures for the reform agenda known Cuban constitutional draft and Car- as the Varela Project calling for eco- los Alberto Montaner compares the nomic and political freedom which My visits in the last year to each of paths taken by the Cubans and the achieved international support. these countries, to meet political dis- Spanish. sidents, religious activists and civil Today, Paya is presenting his latest society actors have shown me how The Cuban state of mind and expecta- project. Todos Cubanos is a plan for Europe’s example holds more hope tions are depicted by Edward McMil- the transition of Cuba from 50 years than America’s dollars, let alone her lan-Scott, European Parliament Vice- of dictatorship to real democracy. He divisions. President, who recently visited Cuba. shows me the myriad supporters’ sig- Among others, he helped present natures but these days he cannot Such tyrannies are all following the the Cuba-Europe Dialogues in Brus- make mass appeals. same path, banning use of the Inter- sels and expresses his support to the net, imprisoning or killing dissidents, NGO Network. Its growing activities Martha Beatriz Roque, a more nation- trying to control religious activity and and importance are captured by sev- alistic and populist figure, has also stifling civil society. Their days are eral articles and listings in the second produced a blueprint through her Civil numbered, but I want the EU to do part of this issue. I hope you will find Society Assembly. “Promoting the Day more to bring on the day after. the articles useful and we welcome your feedback. 1/2007 After” is a draft program for a Castro- UES G O free Cuba. L IA Edward McMillan-Scott is an MEP for D E P Conversation with Martha was dif- Yorkshire & Humber (Conservative), European Nikola Horejs EURO ficult because the regime blasts her Parliament Vice President and founder of the Editor - UBA alleyway with pop music day and EU Democracy and Human Rights Initiative C PREPARING FOR THE UNEXPECTED: CUBAN PROGRAMS FOR A DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION Nikola Horejš ccording to one of the leaders of we had our working document, a draft sitional steps. It has grown to more the Czech democratic movement of the plans for transition, but we said than hundred and thirty pages and is Ain 1989, “When it comes to transition, ‘no,’ Cubans do not need others to tell written in a formal legal style, because, the only experience is your experience.” them what to do, they need to discuss explained Paya, “a law should be the This feeling is shared by Cuban demo- it themselves,” said Paya. guarantee of justice in the transition, crats. Even if they do not know what not a leader or movement.” Although exactly to prepare for, they are getting its extensive reach and complex style ready for all possibilities. may render it impractical for the pub- Oswaldo Paya’s lic at large, it clearly expresses the Last year, two important groups in Movimiento Cristiano combined efforts of different political Cuba, Oswaldo Paya’s Movimiento Cris- approaches. tiano Liberacion and Martha Beart- Liberacion and Martha iz Roque´s Asamblea para Promover Beatriz Roque´s Briefly, the All Cubans plan suggests la Sociedad Civil en Cuba, present- these constitutional measures: ed detailed ideas for Cuba’s future. Asamblea presented 1) The All Cubans program will be Although plans for a new constitution detailed ideas for Cuba’s approved by a referendum called and a transitional government may by the current National Assembly seem premature, they might prove to future. This process might in order to avoid any institutional be the most important developments in prove to be the most turmoil. Cuba today. These ideas are not present- 2) A Contact Group will be formed ed as finished products, but simply as important development in order to represent opposition other steps in a nationwide discussion. in Cuba today. forces and the current regime. The In the words of Oswaldo Payá: “Cubans Contact Group will appoint a tran- used to wait for others to decide for sitional government for a one year them. The main idea behind the project period. is that Cubans abandon their learned Paya has gathered piles of handwritten 3) The current constitution will be helplessness and learn to express and comments from many Cubans, both replaced by this plan, and in two discuss their own wishes and fears.” within the country and in exile. These years a new constitution will be comments were anonymous and while drafted by a newly elected Assem- ALL CUBANS some express political ideologies, oth- bly and will be approved in a ref- ers focus on wishes that have been erendum. All Cubans is a unique program in suppressed for a long time. The result- 4) In one year, a new unicameral recent Cuban history that encourages ing document includes a new constitu- Assembly will be elected.
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