May 27, 2005
Unprecedented
On the Assembly to Promote Civil Society from the Weekly Standard:
CUBAN DISSIDENTS have never had a Lech Walesa or a Václav Havel. Nor is there a pro-democracy force on the island comparable to Solidarity or Charter 77. But that might be changing.Last Friday and Saturday saw the inaugural meeting of Marta Beatriz Roque's Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba. About 200 Cubans attended the two-day event, which took place in a dirt-filled garden outside Félix Bonne's Havana home. Cheers (in Spanish) of "Down with Fidel!" and "Freedom! Freedom!" reportedly rang out, as participants marked Cuba's original Independence Day (May 20).
Assorted Western diplomats--including officials from the European Union, Czech Republic, Poland, Canada, and Japan--came to observe. James Cason, America's senior envoy in Cuba, dropped by to deliver a videotaped message from President Bush. "We are working for the day of Cuban freedom," Bush told the assembled delegates (some of whom yelled back "Viva Bush!"). And "we are confident that Cuba sera libre pronto." Bush praised the "courage" of those gathered to "protest oppression" in their homeland.
To appreciate the Assembly's truly historic character, consider the following. Never before had such a well-publicized pro-democracy summit occurred on Fidel Castro's watch. (Oppositionists tried it before, in the mid 1990s, but a string of arrests scuttled their hopes.) Never before had so many leading Cuban dissidents thronged a single area to thumb their noses at the government. Never before, according to a Miami Herald report, had any dissident meeting in Cuba gone off "without incident or obvious police presence." (Though a day prior to the summit, Cuban authorities expelled a Czech senator and a German deputy who planned to attend, and on May 20 they detained four Polish journalists.) And never before--since 1959--had Cubans on the island drafted and promulgated a 10-point resolution for transitioning to democracy.
H/T RiverRat
Posted by Val Prieto at May 27, 2005 06:27 AM
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Comments
This historic meeting fills my heart with hope. At the same time, I have a knot in my stomach, dreading possible retaliation. Hard to believe that castro is going to allow this.
Posted by: Kathleen at May 27, 2005 11:25 AM
A little late, Dunc - why didn't you have this written last week and earlier like Val did???? Hmmmm?
Posted by: A.M. Mora y Leon at May 27, 2005 01:30 PM
What was in it for Castro?
Posted by: M. Simon at May 31, 2005 02:35 PM
