Category: Rafael Leon Rodriguez

Rafael León Rodríguez, General Coordinator of the Cuban Democratic Project, Havana, 7 February 2019

1.- Last year, after the appointment of Miguel Díaz Canel as president of the Republic of Cuba by the highest leadership of the Cuban regime, new expectations emerged, both inside and outside the country, about the possibility of starting a process of real changes in Cuban society that not only encompasses the economic and social realms, but also the politics. The president himself denied, repeatedly and in different scenarios that this would happen, pointing out that the key to his government was based by continuity, not on changes.

2.- Within the framework of the legal rearrangement determined by the new spaces occupied by private workers, mainly in the fields of services, agriculture and construction and the creation of new management structures for the government, the authorities of the islands initiated the project of revising the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba which, after being promulgated in 1976, had already undergone changes in the years 1978, 1992 and 2002. continue reading

Rafael León Rodríguez, 19 June 2018 — Presented by the Cuban Democratic Project (Prodecu) of Cuba.

The Council of the Christian Democratic Organization of America (ODCA), meeting in the city of Bogotá on June 14, 2018, with regards to the situation of Human Rights and freedoms in Cuba.

Resolve:

1.- The ODCA warns that, despite the recent change in the Presidency of Cuba formalized on April 19, 2018, the Government has remained without fundamental changes in the relevant issues of respect for Human Rights and the exercise of civil and political liberties in Cuba. On the contrary, there have been some more restrictive measures regarding the ability of dissidents to travel and actions to strengthen the official repression of opponents.

2.- The ODCA reiterates to the Government of Cuba its obligation to fulfill the international commitments in the matter of Human Rights, signed before the United Nations in February 2018, and make the necessary changes so that Cuba acts in accordance with International Law and reintegrate into the community of nations that recognize the dignity of the human person and the universal rights and freedoms that belong to all people at all times and places.

3.- The ODCA requests the Cuban Government lift the restrictions on leaving the country that unfairly affect, since the summer of 2017, the Vice President of ODCA and General Coordinator of the Cuban Democratic Project Rafael León. This right has already been exercised previously by Rafael León and other Cuban citizens who have participated abroad in conferences, seminars or political, technical, cultural, artistic, and various kinds of meetings. The application of new exit restrictions constitutes a setback to the rights of citizens already recognized by the Government.

4.- Finally, the ODCA calls for the immediate release of prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders and for the recognition of the right of all Cubans to dissent and exercise their universally recognized civil and political freedoms.

Rafael Leon Rodriguez, 30 December 2016 — One more year of the young third millennium is about to conclude and give way to the next, 2017, the fifty-eighth of the totalitarian and one-party regime that, under the omnipotent power of the Castros, has controlled the Cuban archipelago since the middle of the last century.

This year, which is now over, has witnessed important and hopeful political events on the islands, framed fundamentally in the real opportunity of an opening towards a new, prosperous and plural state of law.

The visit to Havana of the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, last March, certified the political will of the head of the US executive branch of government to accompany us in this essential and urgent task. continue reading

Rafael Leon Rodriguez, 8 June 2016 — The 21st Congress of the Christian Democratic Organization of America (CADO) ended on May 27the in the Chilean capital. The Cuban Democratic Project (PRODECU)  sent a representation of its leadership to the event, composed of members residing in Cuba and in the Diaspora, headed by Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado.

The new leadership elected for the 2016-2019 period consists of Juan Carlos Latorre as president and Francisco Javier Jara as Executive Secretary. The outgoing president, Don Jorge Ocejo Moreno, was unanimously elected first vice president of this new leadership. The two vice presidencies of Special Affairs created in 20th Congress remained: Rafael Leon of PRODECU and Eduardo Cardet of the Christian Liberation Movement, both based in Cuba. For vice president of the Caribbean area, Rene Hernandez Bequet of the Christian Democratic Party of Cuba. was elected.

The conclave was attended, among other personalities, by the former Chilean president Eduardo Frei, the President of the Republic of Chile, Dr. Michel Bachelet, who devoted a few words to the audience gathered in the old Palace of Congress, where this major meeting of Social Christians of Our America was held.

Rafael Leon Rodriguez,1 September 2015 — Cuba is preparing to receive Pope Francis, who will visit in the month of September as a “Mission of Mercy.” The third Pontiff who comes to these lands in just over 17 years. He was preceded by Benedict XVI, the “Pilgrim of Charity,” and the now Saint John Paul II, as the “Messenger of Truth and Hope.”

It was he who marked a milestone in the recent history of Cubans and inspired the beginning, with its advances and setbacks, of the current reform processes. This last 17 December and the events that day revealed, are frames in his call for the world to open itself to Cuba and for Cuba to open itself to the world, overcoming all, all the fears, realized in January of 1998. continue reading

Rafael Leon Rodriguez , 22 May 2015 — A little over five months have transpired since the conversations between the governments of Cuba and the United States of America were made public. After half a century of disconnected positions, hope has returned of renewing the ties that have historically linked the two nations. An exchange of political prisoners, conversations about the reestablishment of diplomatic relations, consideration of measures to improve exchanges between the two countries, of communications, of human rights; removal of Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, among other significant steps, auger a new era for Cubans and Americans.

As for the relationship between the authorities of the archipelago with the national society in this new scenario, everything appears to reaffirm that only the economic categories are subject to modifications or changes, but the political categories remain unalterable, based on the anti-democratic hegemony of a single party. They talk about a new electoral law but the first-round votes for the delegates to the Municipal Assembles this last April was conducted under the existing law. They suggest they are considering enacting another constitution, but provide no information about this important issue. continue reading

The 32nd Havana International Fair (FIHAV) 2014 closed its doors after a generous awarding of prizes this past Friday, Nov. 7. It’s said that Brazil was the exhibitor that saw the most growth in traffic from prior years, and Spain — with 132 participating companies — was the most-represented.

This statistic took into account Cuba’s presentation of the “Purse of Opportunity,” now a feature of the country’s new Foreign Investment Act, and the offers of special perks to businesses from the Mariel Special Development Zone. The Cuban proposals, fundamentally framed within the joint-venture model, places at the disposal of foreign investors concerns ranging from those that are active to semi-active – such as sugar refineries – to arable lands, as well as biotechnology and pharmaceutical enterprises.

In short, a promotional gamut of possibilities encompasses virtually all domains of production and services. The Cuban Revolutionary State, which confiscated everything, and everybody, at the start of its totalitarian experiment, now puts up for sale at least half of every asset they have remaining. Of course, this is just for foreigners.

When we Cubans on the Island approach these fairgrounds, we mark them with a bit of wonder, as distant spheres cut off from our reality — A Different Cuba, of which little or nothing has to do with us.

The same happens to us with tourist zones: Varadero, Cayo Coco or Cayo Roman, and with the medical and pharmacological research institutes — these are all spaces that are alien to the majority of Cubans.

They fill the isolated display cases/oases that are viewed and enjoyed by foreign visitors and a privileged few from the home turf. They are diverse pieces of this rigged jigsaw puzzle which the state has made of Cuba.

They are also a likely cause of the flattering, but inaccurate, comments from outsiders regarding our national scene. This whole dynamic – coupled with the crony-capitalist bad habit of ostensibly over-investing beyond the profit potential of the country — has created in the minds of many foreign speculators a “virtual reality” view of Cuba.

But our nation can only be itself. It is the product of all these different spaces, of its successes and failures, in which we Cubans all participate, be we here in the islands, in exile or in the diaspora spread across the world. It is this sense of joint belonging that unites and lifts us up, that makes us feel a certain, commonly-shared pride, when one or some of us stand out. It matters not if they are Cuban players in the American Major Leagues, artists, or volunteer doctors fighting Ebola in Africa.

Therefore, what we need to recover, so that we may join together as one people, are our liberties. We need to re-insert ethics into our value system, to once again place honesty above loyalty that is blind, deaf and dumb. In short, to relaunch a pluralistic democracy in which we all may participate with dignity, without exclusions, in the rights and duties appertaining to Cuban citizens – with no display cases in sight.

 Translated by: Alicia Barraqué Ellison

15 November 2014

The present year, 2014, started and in the last trimester Cuba began to pack its bags. And it is something that has been repeated since the last century to the point of exhaustion; as if year after year at the end, it sneaks out the window to return, stealthily, by the back door. Plans, promises, programs, guidelines; anyone would say: “More of the same with the same people.”

But it seems that finally something has started to move, mainly in the economic and social sectors. Self-employment, taxes, workers contracted to private domestic companies; use of the land by farmers leasing it under usufruct; recovery of some rights to buy and sell, to travel abroad and return. Political prisoners freed between deportation and parole. New laws addressing foreign investment and work. continue reading

In recent years, every time the issue of Cuba comes up, whether in relation to the transition to democratic freedoms or to other topics of a political nature, from any place in the world, our repressed national island passions are unleashed. It doesn’t matter whether it’s about a concert at the Civic Plaza** in Cuba, such as the one held in 2009 by Juanes and other artists, or, as now, it’s about a letter with proposals to the President of the United States on Economic Issues.

The reactions for and against, beyond the extremes, show a plurality of opinions from Cuba’s emerging civil society. And this is logical, since democracy is essential plural, as the peaceful opposition is plural, in opposing the only thought embodied by the half century military dictatorships that remains in power in Cuba.

The letter referenced, signed by forty Cuban and American personalities based outside the island, invited President Barack Obama to east some of the restrictions imposed by the American embargo on Cuba. This set of long-standing laws, in our opinion and in the opinion of the majority of the countries of the international community, have been counterproductive for the Cuban people in every sense, justifying and strengthening in different ways the human rights violations of the Castro dictatorship, such that maintaining it is a difficult case to defend. continue reading

The first three months of 2014 and part of April have stood out for the now traditional practice of the government use and abuse of congresses, symposia, fairs, assemblies, etc, from which emanate, almost always, two messages: one for abroad and another for the boring local citizens.

The 20th Congress of the Cuban Workers Center (CTC), in which, as usual, the secretary general was designated by the authorities and not election, as would happen under free, plural and democratic elections by the attending delegates, diminishing the credibility and independence of the Cuban unions is an example.

On the other hand, the National Assembly unanimously adopted the new Foreign Investment Law, which establishes, once again, discrimination against Cuban citizens residing on the island, who can not invest or participate on their own processes of this nature, nor through free association or self employment. That is for state officials, state capitalist, and for foreigners. Again, a state employment office will fulfill the function of providing the labor force to the foreign investment companies, as to not leave any loophole to free employment for Cuban residents.

And it’s as if they depreciate and despise we Cubans who live in Cuba. For a long time we weren’t even allowed to stay in hotels. Now, reviving this examples, Cubans cannot enter the waiting rooms at our own airports. And doesn’t this embarrass the authorities? At the precise point of access of those who visit us they begin the practice of discriminating against locals. In the resorts of Varadero or Boyeros this practice has been institutionalized. It’s humiliating to see how with indifference, without giving it any importance, they humiliate our fellow citizens.

The most recent event ended last weekend: the VIII Congress of the Cuban Writers and Artists Union, UNEAC. In his closing speech, Cuban Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermúdez, among others, spoke of the need to regulate the dissemination of music and audiovisual materials in public spaces. He also spoke about the battle against pseudo-cultural messages associated with the exaltation of consumerism, to get ahead economically, and stressed that the choice is socialism or barbarism.

Surely he  must have been referring to a socialism not yet known nor what will be, the so-called Socialism of the 21st Century, because the other one, the socialism that wasn’t, is already completely known. He said this was the only alternative to save our culture. So if it’s about saving it, he should start by saving the productive culture of a country because right now the animals in our fields are practically in danger of extinction.

The current sugar harvest is the smaller in the history of Cuba and the lack of productivity of our land is stupefying. And looking back, at Marti, we recognize the solution when he said in a speech at Hardman Hall, NY on 10 October 1890:

“Neither childish boasting, nor empty promises, nor class hatred, nor pressures from authority, nor blind opinion, nor village politics has met our expectations, but the politics of foundation and of embrace, where terrible ignorance gives way to justice and culture, and the proud worship abides repenting the fraternity of man, from one end of the island to the other, swords and books together, together those of the mountains and the villages, hear, above the forever uprooted suspicions, the creative word, the word: ‘Brother!'”

A group of Cubans in Cuba and its diaspora agreed to promote a road map for a constitutional consensus. Organizations and public figures from different generations, of all ideologies, religious beliefs and interests, we believe it is good that, firstly, we agree as to the type of constitution we want to establish or take as a reference for the creation of a new constitution, in accord with our time and reality.

The managing group making this project viable consists of Rogelio Travieso Pérez, Rafael León Rodríguez, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Fernando Palacio Mogar, Eroisis González Suárez, Veizant Voloi González, Wilfredo Vallín Almeida and Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado.

We want to escape from the vicious and corrupt circle of an elite that for decades has set the course of our country regardless of the opinion of its citizens. The constitutional road map arises also to bring down the perverse myth that was born with the ruling political model, in which Cuba is only a part of his children: extending one hand to take money from its emigrants and with the other pushing them away and separating them from an environment to which they rightfully belong. So for this reason we will work in common to seek a consensus and legal and constitutional order that emanates from citizens, from their diversity, place of residence and plurality.

Thousands of Cubans have already signed the call for a constituent assembly in Cuba and we continue to call on all our compatriots, wherever they are or reside, to join us in this effort, for arm ourselves with a new shield of civilized coexistence. In this undertaking we invite Cubans to offer their ideas about how to finally achieve a Cuba for all within in the law.

In order to promote these efforts, compatriots living abroad have created the site http://consensoconstitucional.com/ in which there is an update on this project.

We are drawing up a methodology in which we encourage Cubans interested in participating to submit papers in which they lay out, in about ten points, the reasons why they defend one or another constitutional proposal as a starting point for change in the “law of laws” in order to lead us toward the democratization of our nation.

This coming May, Cubans inside and outside of Cuba will begin to hold meetings in which we will debate ideas about this process of promoting consensus. Right now, we are working for the creating of “initiative tables” on the island and this design is just the start of a long road to justice, equity and a state of rights for all Cubans.

10 April 2014