LIMA, Peru – Coalitions Assembly of the Cuban Resistance (ARC) and Steps of Change announced this Monday the proclamation of a “Liberation Agreement”, a joint initiative that seeks to articulate a comprehensive plan for the reestablishment of democracy and the rule of law in Cuba.
In the document, signed by civic, opposition and resistance organizations inside and outside the Island such as the Brigade 2506the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, the Patriotic Union of Cuba, among others, express their commitment to coordinate efforts, resources and strategies to promote the liberation of the country, the increase in international and economic pressure on Castroism and the end of impunity for crimes against humanity.
“Today we promote the democratic alternative to the barbarism that governs our country. Today we know that the only way out of the crisis is the exit from the dictatorship. And it is urgent, because the human suffering of our families, the human suffering of our people on the Island at this moment is brutal,” said Rosa María Payá, founder of the platform, during the ceremony. Cuba Decides and member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
“There can be no stabilization under repression in Cuba. We do not have a wish list. We are promoting a comprehensive transition plan that includes every aspect necessary during a provisional period, the humanitarian, the economic and the institutional and that will continue working and expanding within the working commissions that we will announce today,” highlighted the Cuban opposition member.
The agreement raises as its central objective the end of the current political system and the return of civilian leadership in State affairs. The plan contemplates three phases: liberation, stabilization and democratization, as well as the dismantling of the structures of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and its associated repressive mechanisms.
Among the pillars of the program are national reunification after decades of exile, the promotion of prosperity and individual freedoms, and the demilitarization of political life. It also proposes a limited transition period under a provisional Government, with the aim of addressing the humanitarian emergency and subsequently call free, multiparty and supervised general elections.
“The time has come to complete the crusade and for Cuba to be free again so that Cubans can decide their future,” he stated. Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronatsecretary general of the ARC.
“We call to work for the just and necessary uprising of the people of Cuba against that opprobrious dictatorship. We call for an international diplomatic siege on that regime of opprobrium. We call on all those, wherever they are, who are Cuban and do not have blood on their hands, to take a step forward and support that people to be free. We will be consistent with each step and we will demand all the sacrifice, all the effort, all the risk that the people of Cuba is going to have to face.”
“We will go together towards that freedom according to the most effective, most efficient ways to achieve it,” the opposition leader stressed.
The signatory organizations highlighted as a priority the immediate release of the more than 1,000 political prisoners in Cuba and the reestablishment of rights such as freedom of expression, press, association and religion, as well as the right to undertake private activities and participate in public office without discrimination.
As a first step, they announced the creation of working commissions in areas such as humanitarian emergency, security and public order, economic recovery, health, education, justice and constitutional reform, in addition to a commission dedicated to exile and national reunification.
In their final declaration, the coalitions called on all Cubans, inside and outside the country, to join the process which, they claim, seeks to open a “new republican era” through free elections and the reestablishment of popular sovereignty.
“By joining our forces, we declare that every Cuban, wherever they are, is called to be the protagonist of their liberation,” states one of the points of the Agreement.
