Several weeks ago the document “Citizen Demand for another Cuba” was released, signed by hundreds of Cubans on the island and the diaspora, demanding that the government put into practice immediately the legal and political guarantees endorsed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, through the ratification of the signing of the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, which were signed by the Cuban authorities on February 28, 2008 in New York, and so far have been a dead letter for all Cubans.
This demand was delivered to the headquarters of the National Assembly as written evidence of our attachment to our rights under the Constitution of Cuba and the definitive will to fight for changes that will permit a democratic transition on the island.
Corresponding to the Citizen Demand, a campaign at the national level has recently been launched to collect the signatures of Cuban citizens who consider it their right to join this civic claim. This is a legal action recognized by the Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — to which, in its development, Cuba was a promoter and a signatory — and by the Covenants themselves. It is urgent that Cubans understand that the changes we dream of can only be obtained by ourselves.
We know that the government is not going to respond this time to our just demands. We know that the forces of repression are going to increase their harassment of the civic activist of this campaign; but — regardless of the number of the signatures and the official action — this is, above all, a moral action that cannot be postponed. This is an action that calls for the presence of all dignified Cubans, regardless of their ideology, their political sympathies or their religious creed. It is about recovering our citizenship, saving ourselves from the shame.
In the coming months, the campaign “the other Cuba” will be developed through cultural and civic initiatives: concerts, performances, pamphlets and much more. We hope that all Cubans with a democratic vocation will support us in this and help us to spread both the activities of the campaign as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in particular its related Covenants. Every Cuban needs to be fully aware of their rights and the practice of them. Who knows if we may be brewing a plebiscite in favor of freedom and democracy in Cuba!
August 6 2012
