A United Message to the Seventh Summit of the Americas / Cuban Opposition, Civil Society and Democratic Social Actors

Cuban Pro-democracy Organizations on the Island and in Exile bring:

A UNITED MESSAGE TO THE SEVENTH SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

Cuban Opposition, Civil Society and Democratic Social Actors 

The Summits of the Americas must be the place for participation and representation of all the democracies in the Americas. Of their States and of their free citizens. All this passes through the increasing incorporation of civil society and social actors in the process of the Summits, such that the topics of discussion acquire real significance and it is required of governments that they represent their people.

Here we present: In the roles of the Cuban opposition, civil society and the democratic social actors that we have assumed, after a long struggle of establishment and strengthening, principles of agreement expressed from a rich diversity, in the Agreement for Democracy, in the Points of Cuban Consensus, in the proposals of the Forum for Rights and Freedoms, and the Open Forum Four Points of Consensus.

Our shared mission is the defense and promotion of all democratic principles, fundamental freedoms and human rights, that comprise the cultural, historical and political base in this hemisphere, thanks to this rich diversity.

It is clear that a strong civil society is only possible where the independence of citizens is recognized and their rights and fundamental freedoms are respected. The Seventh Summit of the Americas is the opportunity for the Western Hemisphere to recognize the legitimacy of independent Cuban civil society within the lsland and the Diaspora as a valid interlocutor of the Cuban people.

It is also the scenario to make clear that the full insertion of the Cuban government in the inter-American system is incompatible with the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

This is because of:

  1. the repression in Cuba of those who exercise the rights of expression, assembly, association and demonstration,
  2. the existence of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience,
  3. the constant harassment of the nascent entrepreneurial sector,
  4. the unwillingness to ratify the United Nations Covenants on Civil and Political Rights; and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, signed by the government but not ratified by the National Assembly of People’s Power,
  5. the existence of a single party regime that does not allow the rotation of power,
  6. the refusal to consult the Cuban people about their future and the inability of citizens to choose between political alternatives, and
  7. the prohibition of multi-party representative democracy.

None of the goals of this Summit, which as opposition and civil society we support, may be achieved while Cuba denies the human rights, understood in their entirety, of the Cuban people.

I am Cuba” is our motto of identity, with which most of our alternatives are committed to working together, in order to return Cuba as a free and sovereign nation to a hemispheric environment where democracy and institutional respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms prevail.