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STEPS to FREEDOM 2006 a Comparative Analysis of Civic Resistance in Cuba from February 2006 Through January 2007

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STEPS to FREEDOM 2006 a Comparative Analysis of Civic Resistance in Cuba from February 2006 Through January 2007 STEPS TO FREEDOM 2006 A comparative analysis of civic resistance in Cuba from February 2006 through January 2007 Cuban Democratic Directorate Center for the Study of a National Option PASOS A LA LIBERTAD 1 Executive Editor: Janisset Rivero-Gutiérrez Editor: Dora Amador Researchers: Humberto Bustamante, Laura López, Aramís Pérez, John Suárez Copy Editors: Laura López and Marcibel Loo Data analyst and graphic production: René Carballo Transcription of recorded audio interviews: Modesto Arocha Layout: Dora Amador Cover design: Relvi Moronta Printing: Rodes Printing Translation: Alexandria Library Proof reading: John Suárez, Laura López, and Teresa Fernández Cuban Democratic Directorate is a non-profi t organization dedicated to pro- moting democratic change in Cuba and respect for human rights. As part of its work, Directorio 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 on the island. The Center for the Study of a National Option is a non-profi t organiza- tion that aims to help rescue and rebuild the values, traditions, and fun- damental democratic civic concepts of the Republic of Cuba. Directorio Democrático Cubano P.O. Box 110235 Hialeah, Florida 33011 Telephone: (305) 220-1713 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.directorio.org ©2007 Directorio Democrático Cubano 2 INDEX Main achievements of the Cuban civic resistance movement in 2006 4 A nation that dreams, stands up, and fi ghts for freedom 5 A critical look at the pro-democracy movement in Cuba 7 Development of nonviolent civic actions in 2006 10 Classifi cation of non-violent actions 11 Total acts of nonviolent civic resistance from 1997 to 2006 13 Comparison of civic resistance actions by province 1 4 Commemorative dates and number of actions 18 Acts of civic resistance by month 19 PASOS A LA LIBERTAD 3 Main achievements of the Cuban civic resistance movement in 2006 • Carried out 2,768 nonviolent civic actions. • Organized 892 vigils for freedom without forced exile for Cuban political prisoners. • Carried out 24 Activities and public protests, both organized and spontaneous. • Promoted 13 activities related to new social patterns. • Carried out 36 hunger strikes both within and out of prisons. • Published 23 independent newsletters and 2 new publications. • Founded 14 new civic organizations. • Founded 27 independent libraries. • Promoted 7 general group petitions before government entities. • Carried out 2 spontaneous mass protests, one in Madruga and the other in Camagüey to support non- violent opposition activists faced with injustices carried out by the regime’s repressive forces. • Carried out 88 fasts, masses, vigils, walks and hunger strikes in solidarity with opposition activist and independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas during his prolonged hunger strike to demand the right to unrestricted internet access for all Cubans. • Set out on a March for Dignity beginning at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, with the aim of walking to Havana, calling for an end to the repression against the non-violent Cuban opposition. • Climbed the mountainous Escambray massif, the historical location where Cuban peasants confronted the current dictatorship, to mark the anniversary of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba. The group released balloons printed with the word “Cambio” (change) “A message to Cubans, to all those who want to see their homeland free: Keep up the hard work! Sooner or later, Cubans will be free and we will no longer live subject to immoral constraints. We will no longer have to cry because we donʼt have freedom; we wonʼt have to call out for mercy because a master is humiliating us – although many of us refuse to be humiliated. Letʼs keep moving forward. We will be doing so for a people who have lived 48 years shackled to an ignominious system. Hold your heads up high so that your children will not be born captive. Long live Free Cuba! Onwards, onwards, onwards!” Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, Kilo 8 Prison, Camagüey, November 2006 “We, those who carry out the civic struggle, will not be the ones who will help trample the memory of our nation. For Cuba, we are willing to be nailed to the cross and we will carry it, if doing so makes us a ray of light for those Cubans who want to join us in defending the right to a life as real human beings. Freedom is what we want. May God, Country, and Freedom be the beacons for the future.” Eliécer Consuegra Rivas, Holguín, December 2006. “I would like the changes to become reality very soon. We are peaceful, Christian women. The most important thing is the immediate and unconditional release of our husbands and relatives. The Ladies in White will not cease in their work for freedom and peace”. Laura Pollán Toledo, Lady in White City of Havana August 7, 2006 4 A people that dreams, stands up, and fi ghts for freedom JANISSET RIVERO-GUTIÉRREZ large-scale eviction. The public space in which society has the right to Steps to Freedom has been documenting acts debate, dissent and promote initiatives, which of civic resistance by Cuban opposition activists has been forbidden to the Cuban people since the for ten years. This report has been used by many installation of totalitarianism, has been reinventing researchers looking into life in Cuba and trying the place it needs through the courageous actions of to assess the phenomenon of the development of the Cuban opposition. civic resistance in Cuba. This resistance is facing The increase in repression, police violence and the most ferocious totalitarian regime ever known the military presence on Cuba´s streets had a on our continent. This report, which was started in signifi cant impact on the second half of 2006, 1997 as an effort to record the events led by Cuban especially beginning in August. The number of people fi ghting for freedom, has come to be more actions documented fell from 280 in July to 162 than just that. in August. It must be remembered that on July 31, Steps to Freedom has become a clear and precise 2006, spokespeople for the regime announced the demonstration that Cubans today continue to temporary handover of power from Fidel to Raúl advance towards freedom in spite of the regime’s Castro, as a result of the dictator’s ill health. During campaigns to discredit and minimize this struggle. the months following the offi cial announcement, Steps to Freedom has become an effective tool that repression increased on Cuba’s streets. Attacks, exiled Cubans can use to tell the world that there is arrests, prosecutions and prison sentences for a head-on, direct, civic, nonviolent struggle in Cuba activists became a strong impediment to the against the dictatorship and that every day this activities and projects of the opposition. As a result, resistance becomes bigger and more effective. And, the number of actions fell. However, the number of even more important than this, Steps to Freedom statements made and calls on the authorities and on has become a mirror. A mirror in which civic the world for the violence to cease increased. During activists can look to evaluate their actions; a mirror this period, masses were celebrated calling for unity where they can see that their local struggle is part of and national reconciliation. A family of activists a national struggle and that activities taking place calling for an end to repression, acts of repudiation in their municipalities are also occurring in other and violence against the Cuban opposition set out municipalities; a mirror where they can see that on a walk to Havana from the Sanctuary of Our the Cuban opposition is harmonizing its projects, Lady of Charity of el Cobre, in Santiago de Cuba. In maturing its ideas and focusing its activities. December, the number of activities began to increase This report shows the advances made and the again, mainly acts of protest and persuasion aimed diffi culties encountered in this struggle by the at raising the consciousness of the Cuban people to Cuban people. The fi rst trimester of 2006 saw a not lend themselves to the repression nor cooperate growth in the number of acts of documented civic with injustice. resistance, as well as an increased public presence In late 2006 and early 2007, a revitalization in of independent civil society organizations through opposition activity became discernible, despite their activities on the streets of Cuba. During this the continuing repression and, 2007, shows a new half year, a wide range of activities took place. impulse in the initiatives, with young people joining These included the climb of the Escambray massif the civic movements and the emblematic fi gures of by organizations from the central part of Cuba. Cuban political prisoners, such as Jorge Luís García The massif was the cradle of Cuban resistance to Pérez “Antúnez”, René Montes de Oca Martijas and totalitarianism at the beginning of the revolutionary Francisco Chaviano González, released from prison process. Also worthy of mention are the walks and after completing unjust sentences, reincorporating symbolic public acts by the Ladies in White on the themselves to the activism on the streets. anniversary of the repressive wave of 2003, as well In January 2007, another interesting and positive as the mass popular protest in Camagüey to stop a event took place which serves as a non-quantifi able PASOS A LA LIBERTAD 5 reference within the acts in this report. This was the this medium is very strong. reaction by Cuban intellectuals and writers, mostly In this way, young people mock government controls members of the state-run Union of Writers and to open windows of communication with the world.
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