Message to the People of Cuba and the International Community

It has been more than four decades that hundreds of Cubans chose to raise their voices in the name of thousands of their countrymen that desire and hope to live in freedom. Hundreds of them lost their lives in the pursuit of this task, hundreds of them languish today unjustly jailed in the Castrist cells for defending the democratic principles that concern the inherent freedom of human beings while others have had to emigrate and live with the pain of being an exile.

The people of Cuba deserve to live in freedom not only because they are citizens of that country but also because they are human beings.

The people of Cuba have faith in God and in all the men and women that despite the repression and incarceration to long prison terms in sub-human conditions, have not lost their dignity and respect in the struggle that leads to freedom and to the complete dignity of men as Jose Marti dreamed.

We Cubans are convinced that we are just One People, and as we foresee the radiant dawn that will bring us all well-being, happiness, and the so-much wanted freedom, we want to make public our democratic principles with only one purpose: With All and for the well-being of All, so that all those people, institutions, and countries that so desire, will be able to defend them in a pacific and civilized manner.

That is our purpose. We ratify that we respect the different democratic tendencies that already exist in our country even if we do not coincide in the ways to obtain total freedom for the people of Cuba.

We wish to make public the Declaration of Principles of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights which was outlined by its president, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, who at present is unjustly jailed and sanctioned to 25 years in prison in sub-human conditions, for pacifically defending the right to live and to freedom of the people of Cuba. With his approval, from the depths of his dark cell, he bestowed upon me the privilege of announcing to the Cuban people and the world this Declaration, which was reaffirmed and bequeathed by him in the few days that he saw sunlight in November 2002.

For his refusal to renounce these principles, Dr. Biscet is being subject to psychological and physical punishment in a subterranean cell without visits from his relatives and forced to cohabitate with an inmate who has been jailed for murder.

Justice exalts a nation, sin is the ruin of people,

Proverbs 14, 34

Lic. Elsa Morejon, wife of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and member of the Board of Directors of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights.

Declaration of Principles of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet

1. We demand the unconditional freedom of the people of Cuba under a multi-party system of government democratically elected at all levels and with complete guarantee of freedom of expression for all, including the governments’ detachment from the country’s means of communication.

2. The repeal of the illegitimate communist Constitution of 1976 and the establishment of a sovereign constituent assembly to draw amendments to the democratic Constitution of 1940, including the absolute adhesion to the Universal Declaration of Humans Rights of the United Nations and the abolition of the death penalty. These amendments should be ratified by the elected representatives.

3. The establishment of a state that will guarantee equality to all citizens before the Law, without discrimination based on race, sex, ethnic group, or religious beliefs and which will end the system of oppression and apartheid established under the communist regime.

4. The dissolution of all political, propagandistic, and repressive organizations created by the communist regime since January, 1959 with an emphasis on the development of independent civic institutions that will forge democracy for the new society.

5. Unconditional and immediate amnesty for all political prisoners.

6. Free access to Cubans and their children, who live outside the country, to enter and leave the country at will with the same citizen rights as those who live inside the country.

7. The compromise to fund a first-rate free educational system, with no political orientation. Also a basic health system that can be afforded by the poorest ones.

8. The recognition of private property and free enterprise as the main pillars to foment the economic well-being of the country together with a guarantee to all workers of their right to organize independent labor unions that will promote collective interests.

9. The restructuring of the armed forces and its strict isolation from the economic and political activities and responsibilities of the country.

10. Once democracy has been established, lobby for the elimination of the U.S. commercial embargo and for the opening to foreign economic assistance until Cuba can establish a base for its economic rehabilitation.

Joint Declaration

The undersigned, in our roles of pro democracy leaders residents of Cuba, and with the purpose of publicly divulging the essential points in which we mutually agree, we have decided to sign and submit the following declaration:

1. We proclaim that our common objective is the unconditional freedom of the people of Cuba and the establishment of a state where rights that guarantee the equality of all before the Law are respected; and in that manner the oppressive system established by the communist regime of virtual apartheid against Cubans will come to an end.

2. We declare that the existing constitution, now in its 2002 version, is the angular stone of the totalitarian system, which we hope to peacefully replace. Consequently, we consider that a process of real democratization should start with a substantial change in the constitutional norms now in existence, and we think that that change should be inspired by the democratic principles of the 1940 Magna Charta.

3. We believe that with the initiation of the democratization process, free elections should be held. To guarantee that these will really be pluralists and competitive, it should be established that any citizen that has attained adulthood and can present the signatures of 25 electors residing in the corresponding jurisdiction, could become a candidate. Elections should be democratic at all levels and should take place under international observation, and all candidates should have access to the massive means of communication. Our position about this matter is very clear: we support elections that offer the real possibility of peacefully effecting the substantial change that Cuba needs; and we will not agree to a political farce that, due to the conditions in which it takes place, would only represent a cosmetic change to the totalitarian system.

4. We demand the immediate amnesty of all political prisoners, without any exclusion.

5. We are convinced that THE FATHERLAND BELONGS TO ALL, and we recognize that the Cuban Nation is only one, and that all its citizens without distinction of sex, religious beliefs, political ideology, race, or country of origin, have the right to participate in the solution of the Cuban problem, without any kind of discrimination.

6. We respect the different ideologies of all our countrymen that also respect the ideologies of those that do not think like them, and we ratify our disposition to join forces with them as we have repeatedly shown in order to work against totalitarianism. However, we want to make it clear here that we do not support socialistic ideas because in our opinion they have had regrettable results in our country.

7. We start from the basic idea that human rights are unalienable. Thus, we demand the recognition and immediate unconditional application in our country of each and all of the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, without any limitations or previous negotiation. In this context, we want to highlight the right to live, to enter and leave the country at will, to own property, and also the right of freedom of opinion and expression, the right to meet and to associate, but making certain that none of these rights will subtract from the rest of those in the said Universal Declaration.

8. We are convinced that the existence of a free-market system constitutes the ideal means to take Cuba from the profound economic crisis in which it finds itself and guarantee its future prosperity; for that reason, we plead that such a system be instituted without unfair limitations. We also demand guarantees so that the workers can organize independent labor unions that will promote its legitimate interests.

9. We think that the future Cuban democratic state, without prohibiting other options, should guarantee the existence of a national health and education system for all. At the same time, we consider it of utmost importance to guarantee that none of these state activities will be used as a propagandistic tool for political indoctrination.

10. We are convinced that the courts, the armed forces, and in general all the government entities in charge of maintaining public order should act in behalf of the entire country guided by technical and non-partisan criteria.

11. We believe that based in a process of true democratization, Cuba should have normal relations with the rest of the world.

12. We declare that once the democratic change has started, we will plead for the lifting of the U.S. economic embargo and travel ban to Cuba. Also, for increased economic aid that our country needs to come out its actual economic crisis and initiate its process of recuperation.

Havana, November 24, 2003
Felix Antonio Bonne Carcaces
Rene Gomez Manzano
Lic. Elsa Morejon Hernández

Statements made from Havana to Radio Marti in the radio program of Juana Isa. Also present in the program were Cary Roque, ex political prisoner, M.A.R. por Cuba activist and member of the Lawton Foundation, Dr. Angel Garrido and Paul Alcazar, both members of the Executive Committee of the Lawton Foundation.

November 24, 2003
Traslated by: M.A.R. POR CUBA
www.marporcuba.org

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