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NEWS
Major victory
for Cuban democratic opposition in Uruguay conference
By Cuban Democratic Directorate
 Montevideo,
Uruguay, November 1, 2006. In a major victory for the Cuban democratic
opposition, the Liberty and Democracy in Latin America Forum that took
place this Wednesday, November 1, in Montevideo, Uruguay, revealed a
continent wide initiative underway to demand the Cuban government’s
keeping of the Viña del Mar Accords, a pledge for democratic change and
respect for human rights it signed at the VI Ibero-American Summit in
1996.
The conference was organized by the International Committee for
Democracy in Cuba, the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin
America (CADAL) and the Manuel Oribe Institute. Former president Armando
Calderón Sol of El Salvador, as well as Luis Alberto Lacalle and Julio
María Sanguinetti of Uruguay, spoke about the Viña del Mar Accords as an
instrument for securing freedom and democracy. Costa Rica’s former
president Luis Alberto Monge also joined the group through a written
statement. Together, the former heads of state affirmed that the accords
should have a binding effect on the Cuban government and that they must
be concretely respected.
The International Youth Committee for Democracy in Cuba and the
International Women’s Committee for Democracy in Cuba also issued
statements supporting the Cuban people’s right to determine their own
future and calling for respect of all their rights.
Representatives of Cuba’s civic opposition movement who attended the
event expressed satisfaction and gratitude for the unprecedented
solidarity offered to the Cuban people’s aspirations for freedom,
democracy and prosperity through this event.
The forum’s four panels took place in a packed venue. In the first
session, Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, of the Cuban Democratic Directorate,
Sylvia Iriondo, of Mothers and Women against Repression in Cuba, Angel
de Fana, of Plantados until Freedom and Democracy, and Húber Matos, of
Independent and Democratic Cuba, spoke about the current situation in
Cuba and called for the solidarity from the people and governments of
Latin America in demanding that the Cuban government fulfill its pledge
in the Viña del Mar accords.
In the second session, Manuel Espino, president of Mexico’s ruling
National Action Party, Otto Guevara Arreche, a former presidential
candidate from Costa Rica’s Libertarian Movement, and Facundo Guardado,
a former Commander of El Salvador’s Farabundo Martí National Liberation
Front echoed this call, as well as rejected the process of succession
being imposed on the Cuban people and offered assistance for a peaceful
transition to democracy in Cuba.
In the third session, Albania’s former president Rexhep Mediani, and
parliamentarians Lazlo Nagy of Slovakia and Arnold Vaatz of Germany
related heir own experiences with transitions from totalitarian regimes
to democratic governments. They drew parallels between their experiences
and what may happen in Cuba. In a message of hope, they emphasized that
they had also heard voices who said it was impossible to defeat
totalitarianism, only to have been vindicated by its defeat at the hands
of the people.
In the fourth session, Alvaro Dubón Alvarez, Guatemalan deputy to the
Central American Parliament, parliamentarian Patricio Walker of Chile’s
Christian Democrat Party, and Uruguayan parliamentarians Jose Amorin of
the Colorado Party and Jaime Trobo of the National Party proposed
political action at the legislative level to support freedom and
democracy in Latin America, particularly in Cuba.
Given by the Cuban Democratic Directorate November 1, 2006.
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