24 September 2003
European
Ex-Presidents Call for New Fund to Support Democracy in Cuba
Havel, Walesa, Goncz call for support of Cuban dissidents
By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Three former presidents of Eastern European countries have
called for the establishment of a "Cuban Democracy Fund" to support the
emergence of a civil society in Cuba that would be ready for "instant use"
in case of political changes on the Caribbean island.
The three ex-presidents -- Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, Lech Walesa
of Poland, and Arpad Goncz of Hungary -- said current European leaders
should support dissidents in Cuba who are opposed to the regime of Cuban
dictator Fidel Castro. The letter recounts that earlier in 2003, the Castro
regime arrested and imprisoned -- after summary trials -- 75 representatives
of the Cuban opposition movement.
Support for the dissidents will "increase the chance of Cuba's peaceful
transition to democracy," said the former heads of state in a September 18
letter appearing in The London Daily Telegraph and in other newspapers
throughout Europe and the United States. They added that the Cuban
opposition "must enjoy the same international support as political
dissidents did" when Communists ruled the Eastern European bloc.
The new letter, critical of Castro, is in line with previous denunciations
of the Cuban regime by the European Union, the Bush Administration, the U.S.
Congress, and such international organizations as the United Nations and the
Organization of American States, along with the 15-member community of
Caribbean nations known as Caricom. The U.S. State Department has
characterized the summary trials of the Cuban dissidents as Stalinist
tactics played out in a "kangaroo court."
The three former presidents said in the letter that the crackdown on Cuban
dissidents, accompanied by "anti-European diatribes" from the Cuban
political leadership, is an expression of the Cuban regime's "weakness and
desperation."
The Castro Communist regime "is running short of breath, just as the party
rulers in the Iron Curtain countries did at the end of the 1980s," said the
three ex-presidents, who are from nations that also were once ruled by
Communists.
They said that while the U.S. embargo on Cuba has not achieved the "desired
result," it was time "to put aside transatlantic disputes" about the embargo
and "concentrate on direct support for Cuban dissidents, prisoners of
conscience, and their families." Europe, the ex-presidents said, "ought to
make it unambiguously clear that Castro is a dictator," and that democratic
countries cannot become a partner to Cuba "until it commences a process of
political liberalization."
The former presidents said Europe's "peaceful transitions from dictatorship
to democracy ... have been an inspiration for the Cuban opposition." Europe,
they said, "should not hesitate now. Its own history obliges it to act" on
establishing a democracy fund for Cuba.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information
Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) |
