Rosa María Payá: 'Change' in Cuba is fraud

Text published in The Miami Herald on April 13, 2013

Verbatim

 'Change' in Cuba is fraud 

Moderator Tony Díaz Sánchez introduces Rosa María Payá

Excerpts from remarks by Cuban dissident Rosa María Payá while in Washington on Tuesday to speak to the National Endowment for Democracy:

It would be nice if the Cuban government were making democratic reforms, but that's not true because these reforms have not given human rights to Cuban citizens.

It would be nice if Cubans could travel freely, but that's not true because the government has to allow the persons to obtain their passport and this is conditioned.
 
It would be nice if the economic reforms delivered self-management to citizens, but that's not true because Cubans are not free to do business with anybody at any moment.
 
It would be nice if the Cuban government were opening a transition process, but that's not true because the repression against the members of our movement and the whole opposition has increased.
 
It would be nice if the Cuban government were peaceful and respectful, but that's not true because the state security of this government calls my family's house to say "I'm going to kill you."  

They did it before my father's death and they still do it.

I'm sorry, but things are not nice right now in my country. Although a lot of Cubans are working for real changes -- and this is definitely the nice part.

My father Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero dedicated their life to fight for democracy of Cuba.  They were working on effective and peaceful alternatives -- instruments that can be implemented during the transition process.

They were strongly denouncing the "fraud change" that is taking place in the island.

And what is the "fraud change"?

The "fraud change" is this big process in which the Cuban government and its accomplices have developed a series of legal reforms and public messages designed to preserve its power and its authority.

They are trying to sell to the international community false images of opening wide. At the same time, the violent aggression against opposition members and their families has increased.

These new laws not only confirm the government control.  They also maintain the discrimination against Cuban citizens and do not guarantee citizen's rights.

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