“The country is in transition, even though the regime denies it. The challenge is to organize, channel, and sustain this transition in an ethical, peaceful, and democratic manner.”
14ymedio, Havana, June 6, 2025 — In the midst of growing social unrest and the recent university protests in Cuba following the strike over Etecsa’s price increases, the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) announced this Friday the holding of its First Democratic Convention, under the motto “We are in transition.” The event, which will take place from tomorrow, Saturday, and will last for several weeks, seeks to map out a citizen’s path to the democratic future of the country.
With citizens’ rights and the rule of law as central tenets, the meeting aims to build concrete proposals from Cuban civil society, involving both citizens living on the island and Cubans in exile.
During the first 14 days, more than 900 Cubans will participate in 100 assemblies
The Convention will be divided into two phases: an initial phase of citizen discussion, face-to-face meetings in various locations throughout the country, and a subsequent phase of institutional deliberation. During the first 14 days, more than 900 Cubans will participate in 100 open citizens’ assemblies in different parts of the country. This stage aims to collect local diagnoses, identify priorities and build a Citizens’ Agenda, nourished by the aspirations, demands and proposals of the participants.
According to the CTDC, this phase continues a preliminary process of deliberation that has been developed in recent years in closed spaces, often discreetly, to avoid reprisals.
The second phase, which is institutional in nature and through online platforms, will bring together organizations affiliated with the Council and independent actors both within and outside the country. This segment will focus on the internal consolidation of the CTDC and the elaboration of a democratic vision with a State perspective, based on principles such as separation of powers, respect for human rights and priority attention to political prisoners.
Several CTDC members are currently in prison
Several of its members are currently in prison, including its president, José Daniel Ferrer, and vice-president, Félix Navarro. Both opponents were part of the group of prisoners released last January, under an agreement between the regime and the Vatican, and returned to prison eight days after the death of Pope Francis.
The event is held at a crucial moment, as the Council itself warns, marked by the hardening of authoritarianism, the growing discredit of the Cuban regime and the need to offer alternatives structured from civil society. The Convention aims to become a space for civic articulation and legitimacy in the face of the State’s lack of institutional representation.
“The country is in transition, even if the regime denies it,” says the statement. “The challenge is to order, channel and sustain this transition in an ethical, peaceful and democratic way”.
The Council was founded in Cuba on June 14, 2021 – a few weeks before the historic protests of 11J [11 July 2021] – and acquired international legal personality after its legal formalization before a public notary in Spain on January 14, 2022, where the articles of association and the founding document were certified. This process included their legalization before the Madrid Notarial College, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain, as well as before the Consulate General of Cuba in Madrid, fulfilling all the requirements for legitimacy required by Spanish law. Finally, the CTDC was annotated on April 5, 2022, in accordance with the Hague Convention, giving it international validity. The entire process was managed by attorney Ernesto Gutiérrez Tamargo, legal coordinator of the Council.
“The country is in transition, even if the regime denies it”, says the statement
At the time of its founding, 14 organizations converged in an unprecedented union. Today, the Council is composed of 28 independent organizations and actors, who are committed to collective work, democratic institutions and plurality as pillars of change.
On its fourth anniversary, the CTDC says that “We are in transition” is not just a slogan, but “an affirmation of the present and a call to imagine, build and sustain a free, plural and peaceful Cuba.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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