Miami. January 17, 2008. Members of parliaments and major political groups added their names to the Declaration of Support for Multiparty Elections in Cuba. The document, based on the text of regional democracy agreements some of which have even been signed by the Cuban government, condemned the electoral farce taking place in Cuba and calls for free and pluralist elections under international supervision, to be held in Cuba.

 

At a press conference held at the headquarters of the Cuban Municipalities in Exile, located in southwest Miami, Cuban exile organizations supporting the campaign of non-cooperation with the Castro dictatorship announced new signatories to the Declaration from countries such as Austria, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Britain, Peru, and Uruguay. They denounced the electoral farce which will take place in Cuba this January 20, 2008, where only candidates of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) participate.

 

During the conference, the former political prisoner and pro-democracy leader, Rene Montes de Oca Martijas, said via telephone from Havana that: "We call on the Cuban people that next Sunday, January 20, is an opportunity for our people to say No to the electoral farce…".

 

“We all at the European level and worldwide, especially the Democrat International Centre of which 200 countries are members reject this type of rigged election that is a farce in Cuba and we ask for free elections for the Cuban people. We are proud that parliamentarians of European countries have signed this statement for Cuban citizens to achieve their freedom, "said Anna Maria Cervone, president of the Women's Centrist Democrat International (IFDC), Centrist Democrat International Italy via shortwave on Radio Republica.

 

Below the Document and its signers:

 

 

 

Declaration of Support for the Convocation of Multi-Party Elections in Cuba

 

We, the undersigned, firstly deplore the electoral farce that began to be held on October 20, 2007 continued on October 28, 2007 and will conclude on January 20, 2008 in Cuba. With the object of attempting to legitimize military leader Raul Castro’s taking of power, a vote will be held in which the only candidates to participate are those from the only party recognized by that country’s dictatorship: the Cuban Communist Party (CCP).

 

Secondly, we deplore that the Cuban regime is expressly violating Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights (the Pact of San Jose), and Article 20 of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man.

 

In the same way, the Cuban government yet goes without fulfilling the agreement it ratified during the Ibero-American Summit held in Chile in 1996. The Viña del Mar Declaration signed on November 11 stated the following: “political pluralism, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; the separation of powers, checks and balances, the adequate representation and participation of majorities and minorities, the freedoms of expression, association and assembly, and the notion that no citizen’s fundamental rights should be affected by a dogmatic vision of society, the State, or the economy, should become deeply established in the democratic culture of our peoples.”

 

 The Cuban government cannot claim any “exceptional” political organization; it is simply and plainly a dictatorship under which the practices enumerated by the Inter-American Democratic Charter in the following articles are expressly prohibited:

·         Article 3: Essential elements of representative democracy include, inter alia, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, access to and the exercise of power in accordance with the rule of law, the holding of periodic, free, and fair elections based on secret balloting and universal suffrage as an expression of the sovereignty of the people, the pluralistic system of political parties and organizations, and the separation of powers and independence of the branches of government.

• Article 7: Democracy is indispensable for the effective exercise of fundamental freedoms and human rights in their universality, indivisibility and interdependence, embodied in the respective constitutions of states and in inter-American and international human rights instruments.

 

In consequence, thirdly we exhort the convocation of free elections in Cuba, that is to say pluralist and multi-party held under international supervision; the liberation of all those imprisoned for political reasons on the Island; and consequent guarantees of freedom of expression, association and assembly, including access to public communications media.

 

Fourthly, we support the various civic expressions of non-cooperation by the Cuban people, and their right to declare themselves against oppression.

 

Finally, we call upon the international democratic community, particularly the peoples and governments of Latin America, to assume an honest and determined commitment to democratic change in Cuba such that the Cuban people may have the same right as the citizens of the rest of Latin America to elect their representatives from among various political options. It is time to stand more firmly against Cuba’s illegitimate government, and more firmly in solidarity with the Cuban people’s political rights.

 

Signed:

 

 

 

 

 

Erik Sindey Kroiher

International Secretary Austrian Peoples Party

(ÖVP)

Austria

 

Otto Guevara

Presidente

Movimiento Libertario

Costa Rica

 

Miguel Tomás López

Secretario General

Alianza Republicana Nacionalista

El Salvador

 

Jorge Moragas

Parlamentario

Secretario de Relaciones Internacionales

Partido Popular

España

 

Anna Maria Stame-Cervone

Presidenta de Mujeres de la Internacional Demócrata de Centro (IFDC)

Centrist Democrat International

Italia

 

Pier Ferdinando Casini

Italian Chamber of Deputies Unione dei Democratici Cristiani (UDC)

Italia

 

Erminia Mazzoni

Italian Chamber of Deputies Unione dei Democratici Cristiani (UDC)

Italia

 

Domenico Zinzi

Italian Chamber of Deputies Unione dei Democratici Cristiani (UDC)

Italia

 

Paolo Bartolozzi

Vice Presidente

Consiglio Regionale Toscana Forza

Italia

 

Italo Bocchino

Chamber of Deputies

Alleanza Nazionale

Italia

 

 

 

 

Antonino Lo Presti

Chamber of Deputies

Alleanza Nazionale

Italia

 

Luca Bellotti

Chamber of Deputies

Alleanza Nazionale

Italia

 

Giustina Mistrello Destro

Chamber of Deputies

Forza Italia

Italia

 

Donato Bruno

Chamber of Deputies

Forza Italia

Italia

 

Michele Giuseppe Vietti

Chamber of Deputies

Unione Dei Democratici Cristiani

Italia

 

Laura Ravetto

Chamber of Deputies

Forza Italia

Italia

 

Maurizio Bernardo

Chamber of Deputies

Forza Italia

Italia

 

Mariastella Gelmini

Chamber of Deputies

Forza Italia

Italia

 

Carolina Lussana

Chamber of Deputies

Lega Nord

Italia

 

Jan Tore Sanner

Member of Parliament

Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre)

 

Trond Helleland

Member of Parliament

Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre)

 

Finn Martin Vallersnes

Member of Parliament

Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre)

 

Andre Dahl

Member of Parliament

Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre)

 

Elisabeth Aspaker

Member of Parliament

Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre)

 

Gunnar Gundersen

Member of Parliament

Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre)

 

Olemic Thommessen

Member of Parliament

Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre)

 

Peter Gitmark

Member of Parliament

Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre)

 

Ivar Kristiansen

Member of Parliament

Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre)

 

Sunniva Ihle,

General Secretary
Young Conservatives

Norway (Høyre)

 

Torbjørn Røe Isaksen

Leader

Young Conservatives

Norway (Høyre)

 

Christian Angell

Head of the International Office

Conservative Party of Norway (Høyre)

 

Rafael Yamashiro

Congresista de la República

Vicepresidente

Partido Popular Cristiano

Perú

 

Raúl Castro Stagnaro

Congresista

Secretario General

Partido Popular Cristiano

Perú

 

Annie Johanson

The Centre Party (Centerpartiet)

Member of Parliament

Sweden

Fredrick Federley

Member of Parliament

The Centre Party (Centerpartiet)

Sweden

 

Mats Denninger

President of the Centre Party

International Foundation

Sweden

 

Mila Eklund

International Delegate

The Centre Party (Centerpartiet)

Sweden

 

Kerstin Lundgren

Member of Parliament

The Centre Party (Centerpartiet)

Sweden

 

Philippa Broom

Director

International Office

The Conservative Party

United Kingdom

 

Pablo Iturralde

Diputado

Secretario de Relaciones Internacionales

Partido Nacional

Uruguay

 

Jaime Trobo

Diputado

Partido Nacional

Uruguay

 

José Carlos Cardoso

Diputado

Partido Nacional

Uruguay

 

Gustavo Espinosa

Integrante Comisión de DDHH de Cámara de Representantes

Partido Colorado

Uruguay

 

Sandra Etcheverry

Presidenta de la Comision para la Condicion de la Mujer de la Departamental de Montevideo

Partido Nacional

Uruguay