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Directorio President Speaks before European Parliament
By Javier De Cespedes

First of all, I want to thank all of our friends, particularly the members of the European Parliament, the European Council, members of the European Parliaments, the members of the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba and in particular the President of the Slovakian Parliament Mr. Pavol Hrusovsky, who in his official visit to the United States was gracious enough to send a message to the Cuban people by visiting Miami and by speaking to hundreds of thousands of Cubans through Radio Marti.

On behalf of the Cuban people, I would like to express my appreciation for the opportunity to speak before this forum of the European Parliament. For several years, we Cubans have crisscrossed this continent in search of solidarity towards the Cuban pro-democratic movement. For several years we have stumbled upon what President Vaclav Havel refers to as the “worst tradition of Europe… Appeasement.”

The European Union faces a defining issue that goes well beyond the issue of Cuba. Whether the European Union will have a policy towards Cuba based on principles and values, or on the appeasement of a Dictator. And the answer to this issue is critical, not for what it will do to the Cuban people, but for what it will do to the soul of the European Union.

In American History there is a famous slave that got his own freedom by escaping to the north, and when questioned about the horror slavery has brought upon him, he said, that it was not what it had done to him what horrified him the most, but what it had done to the soul of the young lady that was his owner.

President Havel wrote in January on this issue after learning of the decision of the European Council to suspend the diplomatic sanctions, “It is suicidal for the European Union to draw on Europe's worst political traditions, the common denominator of which is the idea that evil must be appeased and that the best way to achieve peace is through indifference to the freedom of others.” The Czechs and Slovaks know first hand what appeasement is all about; it first brought them the Nazis and then Communism.

How many years have the governments of Europe spent “talking” with the Cuban dictatorship under the impression that democratic reforms could be achieved? After all those long years of waiting, we know the results. Not only has the dictatorship continued to violate human rights, moreover, it has cemented their disregard by openly codifying into a legal edict the so-called “law 88”. The incarceration of innocent victims for 15, 20 or 30 years is not new in Cuba, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez “Antunez” was sentenced to 18 years of prison for “verbal enemy propaganda”, for expressing, in 1990, in a town square of Placetas, Villa Clara, that Cuba should follow the same path to democracy as Eastern Europe. That was 15 years ago and he is still in prison! This is not new, what is new, is that now after so many years of appeasement, we have a written law that is nothing other than the codification of all kinds of human rights violations.

This past January, the newly appointed prime minister of Spain called for yet more “appeasement”, and the results are crystal clear. After the removal of the diplomatic sanctions on Cuba, not a single political prisoner has been freed. All 14 prisoners were released on parole for health reasons with the sanctions still in force.

Future of Cuba

In spite of this new wave of appeasement, the Cuban pro-democratic movement continues to expand and achieve greater successes one step at a time. In 1998 Berta Antúnez, sister of Jorge Luis, gathered 4,000 signatures calling for general amnesty for all political prisoners. One year later, just months after the passing of “law 88”, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet began a national 40-day-fast (one for each year of the dictatorship) that spread throughout the island with thousands of participants in 53 centers. Then came the Varela Project which gathered more than 25,000 signatures of Cuban citizens all across Cuba. This year another historic accomplishment has been achieved through the gathering of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba that took place just a few days ago. The Cuban pro-democracy movement has become the second largest pro-democracy movement of any communist country ever, only topped by Solidarnosc in Poland.

You may ask yourself if there were regime agents infiltrated in the aforementioned event. The answer is yes, for the Cuban dictatorship operates in the shadows, in the darkness, always preparing actions that can taint the movement and always avoiding any open democratic debate. It is no longer a surprise for the regime to unveil an agent among the democratic movement. Its doing so would not matter anymore, for the movement follows ideals not persons. We fight not for a person, we fight for the right to vote in free elections with multiple democratic parties, for the right of every citizen to publish, to read and write what he or she wants, the right to assemble, and create authentic NGOs, the right of every Cuban to be able to enter and leave our country without having our rights violated both ways. We are after all in the 21^st century!

There are differences, strong differences among the members of the pro-democratic movement. Certainly this may hinder fluid progress, yet we cannot dismiss the reality that the pro-democracy movement is pluralistic unlike the dictatorship. These political factors are inherently a part of the movement. If we were to pick up any European newspaper now, we would see these very same disagreements, which are normal. The Cuban pro-democracy movement is developing several future democratic political parties and these have differences. However, all pro-democracy groups are united in one objective which is to establish in Cuba a genuine democratic republic. There are not differences there.

The pro-democracy movement will overcome the obstacles posed by the dictatorship and it allies, bringing democracy to Cuba. The dictatorship in our country is already being aided by China which has supplied the dictatorship with 400 million dollars last year alone as well as Venezuela whose present administration as everyone knows, is moving quickly towards dictatorship. We ask the best of Europe to side with the pro-democratic movement, not with our oppressors, to side with the political prisoners and their families, not with our jailers, to side with the republic, not with the revolution.

Despite the current darkness that engulfs my country, Cuba will emerge a free democratic republic with multiple parties, respectful of human and individual rights, embracing all Cubans inside the island as well as those dispersed all over the world deprived of protection and representation. My country will emerge from the depths of poverty, moral depravation, and hopelessness brought on by the revolution, but under the new republic, it will steadily rise to prosperity, human dignity and happiness.

We ask the best of Europe to join the Cuban people in their journey to freedom, we ask the European Union to choose a policy based on principles and values for the sake of the world.

Thank you.

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