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Castro Regime Pressures Costa Rican Government to Cancel Forum on Democracy and Human Rights in Cuba The Assembly of the Resistance States that the Event Will Take Place, No Matter What San José, Costa Rica. May 13, 2009. Assembly of the Resistance. A Cuban exile delegation in According to an article published in the Costa Rican newspaper La Nación, representative José Manuel Echandi had sought permission to use the “Beneméritos de la Patria” and the ”Expresidentes de la República” chambers (ceremonial chambers in Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly) to carry out a press conference and a forum, respectively. However, after granting the authorization, the Congressional Administration changed its position on the use of the chambers and instead moved the activity to the Former Chapel of the “Sending the activity to the Sión is to lessen its importance. There was even an e-mail asking Security not to let [Húber] Matos and his companions [from the Assembly of the Resistance delegation] inside,” stated Echandi according to La Prensa Libre, a prestigious Costa Rican media outlet. Echandi publicly singled out the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Relations as the source of the pressure to exclude the Cuban exiles from the “Beneméritos de la Patria” and “Expresidentes de la República” Chambers. “We are following the agenda that was planned for us and we will carry it out regardless of any inconvenience presented due to the weakness of some Representatives from the governing party. The Assembly of the Resistance should feel well represented here in The topic to be discussed at the forum, which is scheduled to take place today at 6:30 p.m. is “Toward Democracy in Cuba: A Commitment to Freedom of Expression and Human Rights.” Speakers at the forum will include Cuban activist Bertha Antúnez Pernet, the sister of former political prisoner Jorge Luis García Pérez, usually known as “Antúnez;” Blanca González, a member of the Ladies in White and the mother of , political prisoner Normando Hernández González who was imprisoned during the Black Spring of 2003; and Commander Húber Matos, among others. “It is unheard of for a totalitarian regime like Cuba to have such great influence in the internal affairs of the government representing a nation like Costa Rica, one based on democratic values and principles,” stated Sylvia Iriondo, president of Mothers and Women Against Repression (M.A.R. por Cuba), and member of the delegation. The members of the delegation of the Assembly of the Resistance are: Bertha Antúnez Pernet, activist and sister of Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez” Joel Brito, International Group for Corporate Social Responsibility Alexánder Brizuela, Young Cubans in Action Ángel de Fana, Plantados Until Freedom and Democracy Blanca González, mother of political prisoner Normando Hernández González Sylvia Iriondo, Mothers and Women against Repression (M.A.R. por Húber Matos, Independent and Democratic Anolan Ponce, Mothers and Women against Repression (M.A.R. por Julio Estorino, Radio República ###
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