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90 Members of Polish Parliament Adopt 90 Cuban Political Prisoners
By Assembly of the Resistance

Will support families, advocate for prisoners’ release

VIDEO: http://polityczni.pl/kuba_w_sejmie_rp,audio,50,4508.html

 

0:00 – 2:10 Adam Lipinski, leader of the Law and Justice Party parliamentary bloc

2:10 – 3:38 Tomasz Pisula, Freedom and Democracy Foundation

5:05 – 11:06  Andres Halicki, Chairman of the Sejm’s Foreign Relations Committeeand leader of the governing Civic Platform

13:00 – 19:10 Húber Matos, Independent and Democratic Cuba, Assembly of the Resistance

19:12 – 22:38 Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, Cuban Democratic Directorate, Assembly of the Resistance

 

Warsaw, Poland. December 17, 2009. Assembly of the Resistance. Putting aside intense partisan disputes, the two leading Polish political parties, the Civic Platform and the Law and Justice Party announced the adoption of 90 Cuban political prisoners by 90 Members of Parliament from both parties in a press conference held Thursday at the Sejm, or Polish Parliament. The announcement marked out common ground for the two parties at a time of fierce pre-election campaigning. A delegation from the Assembly of the Resistance, a united front of over 50 Cuban pro-democracy organizations based both in Cuba and abroad, was present during the conference. The Assembly’s official reception at Poland’s Presidential Palace earlier this week has generated widespread coverage in the Polish media.

 

Two leading figures of the Polish Sejm led the conference: Adam Lipinski, leader of the Law and Justice Party parliamentary bloc, and Andrzej Halicki, Chairman of the Sejm’s powerful Foreign Relations Committee and leader of the governing Civic Platform.

 

"We are committed to the human rights of the Cuban people, which we will defend at the European level,” stated Lipinski, who was himself a leader of the Solidarity movement during the martial law years in Communist-ruled Poland.  He described the adoptions as “a show of support for Cubans in the struggle.”

 

Andrzej Halicki, also a former leader of the Solidarity movement, made extensive remarks condemning repression by the Castro regime and expressing solidarity with Cuban political prisoners.

"The Polish experience demonstrates to us that when a regime must engage in repression, as is the case with the Castro regime, it is because that regime is not strong. It uses repression when it is weak," stated Halicki.

 

This Christmas initiative by Polish Members of Parliament takes place at a time when repression is taking a heavy toll in Cuba, with dozens of arrests across the Island. Former Cuban political prisoner Húber Matos thanked Poland for the gesture of solidarity with those in prison and went on to state that repression has increased because the Cuban people have increased their actions of civic resistance against the regime.

 

Each Member of Parliament will advocate for the release of the adopted prisoner both in Polish and international settings. Additionally, the Members of Parliament will be in contact with the families of the 90 Cuban political prisoners to offer them moral support.

 

"Never before have so many Cuban political prisoners been adopted at the same time by a national parliament. This is truly a Christmas gift to the Cuban people,” stated Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, from the Cuban Democratic Directorate, who speak in the name of the Assembly of the Resistance delegation during the press conference.

 

The Assembly of the Cuban Resistance delegation included Sylvia Iriondo and Anolan Ponce from Mothers and Women Against Repression (MAR por Cuba), Calixto Navarro  y Orlando Gutiérrez from the Cuban Democratic Directorate and Huber Matos Benítez from Independent and Democratic Cuba.

 

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