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OPPOSITION - IMPORTANT
DOCUMENTS
THE AGREEMENT FOR
DEMOCRACY
By:
El Directorio Democrático Cubano
We Cubans, conscious of the need for transcendental change in the
political, social and economic structures of our country gather beyond
our diverse strategies for liberation to affirm before our people and
the international community the essential postulates that substantiate
the democratic alternative to the despotism which currently prevails in
our homeland.
The Press filming the historic Agreement
Juan Jose Fernandez de Castro
DIRECTORIO's National Secretary (1997-98)
signing the Document
We affirm that the Cuban nation is one, within the national territory
and in diaspora. We believe that all Cubans have the right to be equal
before the law and the nation, with full dignity that cannot be subject
to any discrimination. We likewise understand that the present regime
has shown itself incapable of assuring liberty and justice and of
promoting well-being and human solidarity in our homeland. Due to this,
from this point forward, we establish through a great national consensus
and as a clear alternative to the current oppression this:
Agreement for Democracy
We recognize as the fundamental principle of the new Republic that Cuba
is one and independent, whose sovereignty resides in the people and
functions through the effective exercise of representative multiparty
democracy, which is the government of the majority with absolute respect
for the minority.
All governments must respect the sovereignty of the people, therefore,
at the end of the current tyrannical regime, the provisional or
transition government shall be obligated to return sovereignty to the
people by way of the following measures:
(1) Guarantee the people's participation in the decisions of the nation
through the exercise of universal, direct, and secret voting to elect
its representatives, and the right to seek public office.
(2) Immediately issue a general amnesty for the liberation of all
political prisoners, including those who have been sentenced for
fictitious common crimes, and cancel the pending political causes
against Cubans in exile, so as to facilitate their return to the
homeland and their reintegration into the national society.
(3) Organize an independent, impartial and professional judiciary.
(4) Recognize and protect freedom of expression, of the press, of
association, of assembly, of peaceful demonstration, profession and
religion.
(5) Protect the Cuban people from arbitrary expulsion from their homes
as well as against all forms of detention, search, confiscation or
arbitrary aggression, and from violation of their correspondence,
documents and other communications, and defend all Cubans' right to
privacy and honor.
(6) Immediately legalize all political parties and other organizations
and activities of civil society.
(7) Refer to the Constitution of 1940, when applicable, during the
transition period and convoke free elections with the supervision of
international organizations within a time period not greater than one
year, for a Constituent Congress which will establish a Constitution and
which, during its existence, shall have the authority to legislate as
well as to regulate the executive. Having thus achieved democratic
legitimacy, it shall call general elections in accordance with the
provisions of the Constitution.
(8) Recognize and protect the freedom of economic activity; the right to
private property; the right to unionize, to bargain collectively and to
strike; the Cuban people's right to genuine participation in their
economic development; access to public health and education, and
initiate the reestablishment of civic values in education.
(9) Take immediate steps to protect Cuba's environmental security and
protect and rescue the national patrimony.
(10) Propitiate and guarantee the professionalism and political
neutrality of the Armed Forces and create forces of public order whose
code of conduct shall adjust to the principles of this Agreement.
Cuba shall resurrect from its own ashes, but it is sacred obligation of
all Cubans both within the oppressed island and in diaspora - to place
our hands on the plough and set our sights not on the past, but rather
on the deepest part of our hearts, to convert those ashes into fertile
seeds of love and creation. Now, as 100 years ago, our national
aspiration remains the construction of a Republic based on the formula
of triumphant love:
WITH ALL AND FOR THE GOOD OF ALL
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