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CUBA: For peaceful regime change
By Dr. János Kóka

The Alliance of Free Democrats, the Hungarian liberal party, carries the political heritage of the underground democratic opposition that existed under the communist regime. It is our duty to make our voice heard whenever democratic rights are seriously breached anywhere in the world -- including Cuba.

Many of those close to our party have first-hand experience on the workings of an authoritarian regime. We follow the activities of the Cuban democratic and peaceful opposition with great sympathy. When the intellectuals of the Varela Project were arrested in March 2003 in Cuba, we agreed with the EU decision on the adoption of sanctions. We made an initiative that led to the 10-point resolution on Cuba of the Congress of the Liberal International in 2006.

Universal values

Point No. 7 says that ``all democratic countries with the strong involvement of the European Union, in alliance with the Americas, should provide support to assist with Cuban democratization not only to make it swift and successful but also as painless as possible for Cuban citizens.''

The main principles of democracy and the fundamental human rights and freedoms are universal values. This question is extremely important for the European countries, as it is one of the unquestionable common values of the European Union. These rights must benefit everyone regardless of their place of residence and the political, social and economic system they live in.

Cuba is one of the few remaining countries where these values are openly and brutally disrespected, as is demonstrated by all of the reports done by the international human-rights organizations. This is not and can not be the internal affair of the country concerned.

We support a peaceful and democratic regime change in Cuba and all the forces that are working to reach this objective. This is our political priority in the country, and we look at all other issues in the light of this objective. We see no moral or political reason to appease the existing regime in Cuba.

We strongly disapprove of those actions that accord political legitimacy to the Cuban regime and perpetuate the existence of a system that is politically deeply anti-democratic, economically doomed to stagnate or collapse in the absence of foreign aid and maintains close ties with shady regimes with an even shadier hidden or open agenda. We think that a new democratic Cuba is the best solution for the people of Cuba.

It is the common position of the EU that a political dialogue must be conducted with both the Cuban authorities and the opposition, while human-rights issues must be raised during all official visits and meetings between EU and ''member state'' officials and their Cuban counterparts. We expect this common position to be fully respected by all member states, EU institutions and European political parties. Contacts with opposition leaders are not an issue for negotiation.

We are convinced that a dialogue is not conducted for the sake of dialogue only. In 2005 starting a dialogue with the current political establishment was a good first step. But until now, we have seen no improvement in terms of human rights in Cuba.

Ready to help the opposition

Of the 75 opposition politicians and activists arrested in 2003, only 14 have yet been released conditionally, and Cuba is one of the few countries that don't let any international observers enter its jails. Therefore, we do not believe in the policy of further unilateral gestures. The EU should set specific criteria for Cuba.

As a political party Hungarian Liberals are ready to share the experience of Hungary concerning the peaceful regime change with Cuban authorities and are ready to assist the Cuban opposition in various ways including political and practical support for their activities. The Cuban authorities have not been open to such initiatives so far, but this will not prevent us from playing an active and constructive role in the process. However, we are happy to share the experience that we gained in connection with the Hungarian political changes in 1989 and the preceding years.

We wish to see a free and successful Cuba.

János Kóka is Hungary's minister of economy and president of the Alliance of Free Democrats, the Hungarian liberal party.

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