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Dissident Organizations in Cuba show their support for the Non-Cooperation Campaign.
By Carlos Serpa Maceira

Activists marching in the streets with their arms folded as a sign of non-cooperation. (Carlos Serpa Maceira)

Activists marching in the streets with their arms folded as a sign of non-cooperation. (Carlos Serpa Maceira)

Havana. February 11, 2008. Carlos Serpa Maceira, Sindical Press. On July 9th, a group of activists representing the Alternative Republican Movement, the National Cuba Commission, and the “Julio Tang Texier” Civic Cultural Project, civic organizations banned in Cuba for their active opposition to Fidel Castro’s regime, ratified their unconditional support for the second phase of the “I do not cooperate with the dictatorship” campaign during a non-violent march with their arms crossed which began in Havana’s Central Park and ended in front of the birthplace of José Martí, the Apostle of Cuban independence.

 

Former political prisoners also participated in the act of civil disobedience which took place along 15 blocks. “The everyday Cuban whose rights the dictatorship tramples, asked us the meaning of our crossed arms and about the importance of showing our support for the non-cooperation campaign” said Ricardo Rodríguez Borrero, former political prisoner and president of the Alternative Republican Movement.

 

In front of the birthplace of the independence leader, José Martí, on Paula street, between Egido and Picota, in the municipality of La Habana Vieja, the dissidents held up a sign which was a meter long and 120 meters wide along with eight posters, all relating to the non-cooperation campaign.

 

During the celebration of the civil act, the opposition members maintained telephone communication with Sylvia Iriondo, Pedro Peñaranda, and Enrique Blanco, of the exile organizations MAR for CUBA, Cuban Municipalities in Exile and Operation Liborio, Center for Resources and Victims of Political Persecution in Cuba.

 

“We chose the birthplace of José Martí to declare our support for the campaign because the Apostle struggled and died to end oppression in Cuba and for all Cubans to enjoy freedom.” expressed former political prisoner Minaldo Ramos Salgado, president of the National Cuba Commission. .

 

In addition to Ramos Salgado and Ricardo Rodríguez Borrero, journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira, National Coordinator of the “Julio Tang Texier “ Civic Cultural Project, former political prisoner Alcides Pérez Hernández, and Leonor Reyno Borges and  Orestes Antonio Ginebra Carmona, activists of the National Cuba Commission, also participated in the demonstration.

 

The “I do not cooperate with the dictatorship” campaign, started by political prisoners on the island, is backed by over 40 Cuban exile organizations.

 

 

From Havana, this has been a report from independent journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira, director of Sindical Press News Agency and island correspondent for Misceláneas de Cuba.   

 

Note: To accompany this information, we have attached 3 photographs take by this journalist. The first photograph shows the activists walking with their arms crossed along the streets of Havana. The second photograph shows the activists standing in front of the birthplace of José Martí with the sign. The third photograph shows the activists holding the sign on a street in Havana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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