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Cuba dissidents debate democracy
m2o3m
Cuban dissidents have
spent the last day of their defiant public
meeting in Havana debating democracy bills.
BBC
News, UK, 21 May, 2005.
Chanting "freedom" and "democracy
now", about 100 dissidents voted for
a steering committee to lead the group.
"We are satisfied that each and every
one of us has fulfilled our duty to our
nation," said Martha Beatriz Roque,
the lead organiser of the event.
Cuban authorities did not intervene but
had earlier expelled several European politicians
who planned to attend.
On the first day, the meeting was attended
by about 200 dissidents as well as Western
envoys.
The dissidents heard a video message of
from US President George W Bush.
Freedom of speech
The dissident meeting, organised by the
Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society
in Cuba, is hoping to promote democracy
in the Communist state.
Ms Roque said the rally - held in a garden
outside one of the organisers' homes - was
the first open opposition meeting in 46
years of Communist rule.
We will keep the pressure on until the
Cuban people enjoy the same freedom in Havana
that they have in
The delegates have called for the release
of all political prisoners in Cuba.
On Saturday, they discussed projects dealing
with subjects such as freedom of expression.
On the first day on Friday, President Bush
praised the activists for coming out of
the "shadow of repression" in
the video message played to the meeting
from a laptop computer owned by US diplomat
in Cuba James Cason.
"We will not rest. We will keep the
pressure on until the Cuban people enjoy
the same freedom in Havana that they have
in America," Mr Bush said.
Castro's 'Clinton ties'
Not all dissidents have backed the meeting,
however.
Oswaldo Paya, of the Christian Liberation
Movement, accused Ms Roque of working with
the Cuban security forces.
He also said that her backing by hardline
exile groups in Miami could be used as an
excuse for a future crackdown by Cuban authorities.
Although Mr Cason attended on Friday, Cuban
authorities acted to prevent other foreigners
reaching the venue.
Czech Senator Karel Schwarzenberg and German
MP Arnold Vaatz had been seized by police
and driven to Havana airport on Thursday.
The European Commission described the expulsions
as unacceptable.
Two Polish MEPs were refused entry to Cuba
earlier in the week.
And at least two journalists, from Poland
and Italy, were detained by the Cuban authorities
ahead of the meeting.
In Havana on Friday, thousands of Castro
ers gathered in a show of
and to hear the president's evening speech,
in which he focused on relations with the
US.
He said Cuba had shared extensive intelligence
on terrorism with US President Bill Clinton
in the late 1990s, some of it carried in
messages by Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia
Marquez.
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