Official Statement: 38th Anniversary of the Christian Liberation Movement

38th Anniversary of the Christian Liberation Movement

On this September 8th, marking 38 years since the founding of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) by Oswaldo Payá and a group of Cubans committed to freedom, we reaffirm our fidelity to the principles that gave rise to our Movement: human dignity, freedom, reconciliation, and popular sovereignty.

Cuba is undergoing a profound economic, social, and political crisis, while the absence of fundamental freedoms, repression, and the imprisonment of Cubans for exercising their inherent rights persist.

Faced with this reality, we reaffirm that the solution for Cuba must lie in the hands of the Cuban people.
Any pressure, initiative, or action by the international community regarding Cuba must aim to help restore sovereignty to its rightful holder—the Cuban people—and never to supplant their will or make decisions on their behalf.

We demand the recognition and full exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms, as well as the opening of a democratic process leading to free, pluralistic, and transparent elections, so that Cubans themselves may choose their leaders and sovereignly decide the political, economic, and social system in which they wish to live.

To our members and supporters on the Island who have kept the flame alive while under siege: you are the heart of the MCL. To those in exile: Cuba needs you, your experience, and your undiminished love. To the young people who were not present at the founding: this is your home too; this struggle belongs to you.

Thirty-eight years later, our aspiration remains intact: freedom, justice, reconciliation, popular sovereignty, and a Cuba belonging to all and for the benefit of all.

All Cubans, all brothers, and now—freedom!

Freedom and Life! 

Tony Diaz, Secretary General

Minervo Chil, Executive Secretariat

Eduardo Cardet, National Coordinator

Eliecer Porto, Coordinating Council

Ramón Antunez, Founder

Yadelis Melchor, Executive Secretariat

Santiago Cárdenas, Founder

Carlos Paya, Executive Secretariat

Jose Miguel Martinez, Coordinating Council

Michel Céspedes, Executive Secretariat

Fernando Avedo, Founder

Iran Almaguer, Coordinating Council

Ernesto Martini, Coordinating Council

Manuel Robles, Executive Secretariat

Osmel Rodriguez, Executive Secretariat

Rosa Rodriguez, Coordinating Council

Jesús Mustafa, Executive Secretariat

Dagoberto Capote, Founder

Ariel Colmenero, Coordinating Council

Regis Iglesias, Spokesperson

Christian Liberation Movement

September 8, 2026

Celebration of the Virgin of Charity, Mother of the Cuban people. 

 

XXXVIII Aniversario del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación

 

Este 8 de septiembre, al cumplirse 38 años de la fundación del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación por Oswaldo Payá y un grupo de cubanos comprometidos con la libertad, reafirmamos nuestra fidelidad a los principios que dieron origen a nuestro Movimiento: la dignidad de la persona, la libertad, la reconciliación y la soberanía popular.

 

Cuba atraviesa una profunda crisis económica, social y política, mientras persisten la ausencia de libertades fundamentales, la represión y el encarcelamiento de cubanos por ejercer derechos que les pertenecen.

 

Ante esta realidad, reafirmamos que la solución de Cuba debe estar en manos del pueblo cubano.

Toda presión, iniciativa o acción de la comunidad internacional respecto a Cuba debe tener como propósito contribuir a que la soberanía sea devuelta a su legítimo titular: el pueblo cubano, y nunca sustituir su voluntad ni decidir por él.

 

Demandamos el reconocimiento y ejercicio pleno de los derechos y libertades fundamentales y la apertura de un proceso democrático que conduzca a elecciones libres, plurales y transparentes, para que sean los cubanos quienes elijan a sus gobernantes y decidan soberanamente el sistema político, económico y social en el que desean vivir.

 

A nuestros miembros y simpatizantes dentro de la Isla, que han mantenido la llama encendida bajo asedio: ustedes son el corazón del MCL. A los exiliados: Cuba los necesita con su experiencia y su amor intacto. A los jóvenes que no conocieron la fundación: esta es también su casa, esta lucha es suya.

Treinta y ocho años después, nuestra aspiración permanece intacta: libertad, justicia, reconciliación, soberanía popular y una Cuba de todos y para todos.

 

Todos cubanos, todos hermanos y ahora la libertad!

 

Libertad y Vida!

 

Tony Diaz, Secretario General 

 

Minervo Chil, Secretariado Ejecutivo

 

Eduardo Cardet, Coordinador Nacional

 

Eliecer Porto, Consejo Coordinador

 

Ramón Antunez, Fundador

 

Yadelis Melchor, Secretariado Ejecutivo

 

Santiago Cárdenas, Fundador

 

Carlos Paya, Secretariado Ejecutivo

 

Jose Miguel Martinez, Consejo Coordinador 

 

Michel Céspedes, Secretariado Ejecutivo

 

Fernando Avedo, Fundador

 

Iran Almaguer, Consejo Coordinador.

 

Ernesto Martini, Consejo Coordinador.

 

Manuel Robles, Secretariado Ejecutivo

 

Osmel Rodriguez, Secretariado Ejecutivo.

 

Rosa Rodriguez, Consejo Coordinador

 

Jesús Mustafa, Secretariado Ejecutivo

 

Dagoberto Capote, Fundador

 

Ariel Colmenero, Consejo Coordinador

 

Regis Iglesias, Portavoz

 

Movimiento Cristiano Liberación

 

8 de septiembre de 2026

 

Celebración de la Virgen de la Caridad, Madre de los cubanos.

 

 

 

On this day 58 years ago, Fidel Castro backed Russia's imperial venture in Czechoslovakia

 Today, thousands of Cuban troops are fighting for Putin's imperial venture in Ukraine.

Castro backs Brezhnev invading Czechoslovakia 29 years after Hitler-Stalin Pact.

Today marks two anniversaries. It is the “Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian Regimes,” and it is also a day to celebrate the “Baltic Way.” These two observances are connected through history, but the Castro regime has a connection to the first that is not well known.

Eighty seven years ago on August 23, 1939 Josef Stalin signed a treaty with Adolph Hitler formally known as a “non-aggression pact” but it came to be known after the names of their respective foreign ministers, V.M. Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop, as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Eventually it also became known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact.

It contained secret protocols to invade and conquer Poland, and split up the rest of Central and Eastern Europe into spheres of influence for Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union.

 Nine days later on September 1, 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland and World War II started. Sixteen days later the Soviet Union, exercising its secret agreement with the Germans, invaded Poland from the East and met their Nazi allies on September 22, 1939 in a joint military parade in Brest-Litovsk to celebrate their victory.

 The Nazi-Soviet alliance continued

230,000 Polish soldiers and officers and thousands of military service representatives were taken captive by the Soviets. On March 5, 1940 the order to shoot the prisoners was signed by seven members of the All- Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) authorities: Joseph Stalin, Lavrentiy Beria (proposer), Kliment Voroshilov, Vyacheslav Molotov, Anastas Mikoyan, Mikhail Kalinin and Lazar Kaganovich. Thousands of Polish Army officers and intellectual leaders were taken into the Katyn Forest near Smolensk in the Soviet Union, shot in the back of the head or in the neck and buried in mass graves.

Months later, the Soviet Union invaded and annexed the Baltic States in June 1940.

 How the alliance ended in 1941

This arrangement ended on July 22, 1941 when the Nazis double crossed their Soviet allies and launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. This alliance cost the Soviet Union 22 to 28 million Russian lives in World War Two.

However it also ended with the Soviet Union retaking and absorbing the Baltic states for decades, and Poland firmly under Soviet control as a satellite state. This was a legacy of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that did not end until fifty years later.

Czechoslovakia, a Soviet satellite since 1948, had its Prague Spring in 1968, a moment when reformers in the government sought socialism with a human face and it was ended on August 21, 1968 with the arrival of Warsaw Pact tanks on Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev’s orders followed by an occupation that crushed the reformist initiative.

Fidel Castro backed Soviet invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia on August 23, 1968

Two days after the Soviet led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 23, 1968 Fidel Castro publicly supported the invasion and occupation of the central European country.

 Castro’s support of Soviet imperialism on the 29th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact revealed the true nature of his regime in Cuba.

The Soviet empire collapsed through nonviolent resistance

On June 4, 1989 the Solidarity labor movement won in free elections and the Polish people finally regained their sovereignty from Soviet domination through nonviolent means.

The End of Molotov Ribbentrop

Thirty seven years ago today two million Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians joined hands together in a giant human chain stretching 370 miles on August 23, 1989. Fifty years to the day after the treaty that brought them so much grief had been signed. This non-violent act of defiance was a crucial event that led to the liberation of the Baltic States and their restored independence in 1991.

It was the end of the last vestige of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Black Ribbon Day

Today, the European Union observes Black Ribbon Day. This anniversary is observed to honor the memory of all the victims of totalitarianism and authoritarianism in the world. This includes the victims of communism in Cuba.

Sadly, the Castro regime continues to back Russian imperial ventures in Europe, this time in Ukraine, and its own ventures in Venezuela to frustrate the sovereignty of their respective peoples.

Since 2022, according to Ukrainian intelligence, 20,000 Cubans have fought in Putin’s imperial war in Ukraine. There are currently between six to seven thousand Cubans fighting on the frontlines. Estimates are that up to 300 Cubans have been killed in the fighting.

The Center for a Free Cuba has prepared a CubaBrief to observe Black Ribbon Day.

 In Washington D.C. last year a delegation from the Center for a Free Cuba formed part of a human chain in McPherson Square in observance of the Baltic Way anniversary. Celebrating the nonviolent victory over Russian imperialism by the peoples of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.

 Tomorrow, Monday, August 24, 2026 at 2:00pm in Washington DC at McPherson Square join the Joint Baltic American National Committee – JBANC, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and the Embassy of Estonia, Embassy of Latvia to the USA, and Embassy of Lithuania in Washington, D.C. for this commemoration of the Baltic Way anniversary, which marked the beginning of the end of the last remnant of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that was finally achieved in 1991.

 

 

Black Ribbon Day 2026: The Hitler-Stalin Pact that started WW2 which communists want to erase.

 "The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." - Milan Kundera

Eighty seven years ago on August 23, 1939 the world learned that Communist Russia and Nazi Germany had signed a non-aggression pact, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. It was named after their respective foreign ministers, Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop. 

The Hitler–Stalin Pact: The Deal That Cleared the Way for War

Eighty-seven years ago today, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed an agreement that cleared the way for the Second World War. Yet the Hitler–Stalin Pact still occupies surprisingly little space in Europe’s…

— Pilecki-Institut Berlin (@PileckiInstitut) August 23, 2026

Observers would have been even more horrified had they known of the secret protocols that divided Eastern Europe between the two totalitarian regimes. What they called a "peace treaty" in reality was a war treaty.

Nine days later on September 1, 1939 at 4:45 am Nazi Germany invaded Poland and World War II started. 

Rolling Soviet tanks and Nazi motorcyclists in Poland (September 1939).

Sixteen days later the Soviet Union exercising its secret agreement with the Nazis invaded Poland from the East and met their German allies in the middle of Poland.

Nazi and Soviet soldiers greet one another in Poland (1939)

On September 22, 1939 the German Nazi army joined with the Soviet Communist army in a military parade in Brest-Litovsk and the two sides celebrated together.

Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov in a October 31, 1939  speech spoke candidly about the Nazi-Communist alliance, and ridiculed its victims.

"The ruling circles of Poland boasted quite a lot about the ‘stability’ of their state and the ‘might’ of their army. However, one swift blow to Poland, first by the German Army and then by the Red Army, and nothing was left of this ugly offspring of the Versailles Treaty which had existed by oppressing non-Polish nationalities."

Approximately 230,000 Polish soldiers and officers and thousands of military service representatives were taken captive by the Russians. The Soviet precursor to the KGB was the NKVD. "From October 1939, the delegated NKVD officials from Moscow heard the prisoners, encouraged them to cooperate and collected data. Only a few of the prisoners agreed to collaborate. The commanding officers’ reports included opinions about hostile attitudes of the Poles and a minimal chance of them being useful to the USSR authorities."

The decision to shoot the prisoners was signed on March 5, 1940 by seven members of the All- Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) authorities: Joseph Stalin, Lavrentiy Beria (proposer), Kliment Voroshilov, Vyacheslav Molotov, Anastas Mikoyan, Mikhail Kalinin and Lazar Kaganovich.

Thousands of Polish Army officers and intellectual leaders were taken into the Katyn Forest near Smolensk in the Soviet Union, shot in the back of the head or in the neck and buried in mass graves.

23 August 1939 | The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact was signed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It paved the way for the joint invasion and occupation of Poland in September 1939.

The pact contained a secret protocol that provided for the partition of Poland and the rest of… pic.twitter.com/DKcyolOXOr

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) August 23, 2026

Secret protocols of the Hitler-Stalin Pact not only partitioned Poland but also divided up Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Romania into Nazi and Soviet "spheres of influence." The Soviet Union invaded and annexed the Baltic States in June 1940.  

Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov meets with Adolf Hitler (1940)

Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov in a speech delivered on August 1, 1940 while the Soviet Union was then still allied with Nazi Germany continued to describe their military alliance as a "non-aggression pact."   

 "A radical change for the better in the relations between the Soviet Union and Germany found its expression in the non-aggression pact signed last August. These new, good relations between the USSR and Germany have been tested in practice in connection with events in former Poland, and their strength has been sufficiently proved."

Another sign of Nazi-Soviet cooperation was the Soviet Union’s deportation of hundreds of refugees to Nazi authorities. Most of them were German anti-fascists, communists, and Jews who had sought asylum in the Soviet Union.

Soviet and Nazi soldiers fraternize in Poland. Their alliance ended in 1941.

This alliance ended on June 22, 1941 when Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, betraying his ally Josef Stalin.

"Stalin was shocked; he had received a plethora of warnings of an imminent invasion – notably from Winston Churchill, informed by British intelligence briefings. The communist dictator had refused to believe them," reported Agence France Press. Stalin preferred to rely on Hitler's assurances.

 

Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, Joseph Stalin, and Soviet foreign minister, Molotov

Communist apologists continue to defend Stalin and attempt to cover up this history of collaboration between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. It may also explain the real reason behind attacks on the legacy of Winston Churchill. His observation on the relationship between the Communists and the Nazis in his book The Second World War, Volume 1, The Gathering Storm (1948) is damning and accurate.

"Fascism was the shadow or ugly child of communism… As Fascism sprang from Communism, so Nazism developed from Fascism. Thus were set on foot those kindred movements which were destined soon to plunge the world into more hideous strife, which none can say has ended with their destruction." 

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the reckless strategy pursued by Stalin and the Communist International cost 22 to 28 million Russian lives alone in World War Two, and nearly led to the Nazi conquest and occupation of the Soviet Union.

Black Ribbon Day is also a day to remember the victims of totalitarianism. Below is a short thread highlighting some of the victims of Cuban totalitarianism.

On #BlackRibbonDay remember the victims of communism in Cuba.

These thread provides a small number of examples, and does not pretend to provide a full accounting.#VictimsOfCommunism #VictimOfTotalitarianism 1/16 https://t.co/5NrHTJKiKp

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) August 23, 2026

July 13th now has a double significance for victims of communism in China and Cuba

  Free Chinese and free Cubans share a common day to mourn their victims of communism.

Over the past 32 years Cubans have mourned the 37 men, women, and children who were extrajudicially executed by Cuban government agents on July 13, 1994 when the "13 de Marzo" tugboat was attacked and sunk.

To mark 30 years of impunity on July 13, 2024 at Florida International University we held a vigil in memory of the victims, distributed information, and demanded justice for the 37 victims. 

Today, July 13 at 6:00pm at the Main Fountain at @FIU we held a 13 minute silent vigil to mark the day 30 years ago when agents of the Cuban dictatorship sank the "13 de Marzo" tugboat killing 37 men, women and children. #Truth #Memory #Cuba pic.twitter.com/5K3mFX3zgU

— Human Rights Violations in Cuba (@freecubafndtn) July 14, 2024

We have also paid homage to Chinese Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and human rights defender Liu Xiaobo who died nine years ago on July 13, 2017 at the First Hospital of China Medical University, in Shenyang, China after being unjustly imprisoned from December 8, 2008 until his untimely death nearly 10 years later. 

It is likely that he died of a cancer made terminal by politically motivated neglect. Today marks five years since his passing. After eight years in "unofficial detention" his widow Liu Xia was finally allowed to leave China on July 10, 2018.

Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. However, he was prevented from attending the prize ceremony.

In 2017 Xiaobo passed away while held in isolation under guard. pic.twitter.com/5gXJKMcOeH

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) July 13, 2026

Liu Xiaobo  was one of the authors of Charter 08 and signed it along with more than three hundred Chinese citizens. The Charter is a manifesto that was released on December 10, 2008, the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It calls for more freedom of expression, human rights, more democratic elections, the privatization of state enterprises and economic liberalization and would collect over 10,000 signatures.

 Charter 08 is reminiscent of the Varela Project that was initially signed by 11,020 Cubans in May of 2002 calling on the Cuban government to respect international human rights norms and engage in the same kind of reforms. Both were inspired by Vaclav Havel and Charter 77. Lamentably, the author of the Varela Project, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, founding leader of the Christian Liberation Movement and a youth leader of the same movement, Harold Cepero Escalante were both extrajudicially executed twelve years ago on July 22, 2012 in a crash engineered by the Cuban dictatorship's agents.

The demand for justice remains unfulfilled in all these cases, but we must not despair.

We bear witness embracing truth and memory in defiance of the attempt to whitewash and forget. 

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel explained the importance of doing this in his 1986 Nobel Lecture on why it is important to remember:  

"To forget the victims means to kill them a second time. So I couldn't prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a second death." ... "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." 

In 2017, I was present at a candlelight vigil in Washington, DC on July 17th organized by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to pay my respects for Liu Xiaobo and demonstrate my solidarity with Chinese human rights defenders.

 On Saturday July 11, 2026 I was in front of the Cuban embassy in a vigil in solidarity with Cubans jailed for taking to the streets in over 50 towns and cities across Cuba, in remembrance of Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, and Christian Barrera Díaz during the 11J protests, for the 37 victims of the July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre and in remembrance of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante both killed by the secret police on July 22, 2012, and for Liu Xiaobo. Together with15 others I said prayers for these victims of communism, their loved ones, and for justice.

Today, July 13, 2026, we visited the Cuban and Chinese Embassies and briefly picketed the,, and distributed information to passersby.

We continue to remember, and demand justice. 

July 11, 2022
Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, Age: 36
Christian Barrera Díaz, Age: 24

July 13, 2017
Liu Xiaobo, Age: 61

July 22, 2012
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Age: 60
Harold Cepero Escalante, Age: 32

July 13, 1994
Hellen Martínez Enriquez. Age: 5 Months
Xicdy Rodríguez Fernández. Age: 2
Angel René Abreu Ruíz. Age: 3
José Carlos Niclas Anaya. Age: 3
Giselle Borges Alvarez. Age: 4
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte. Age: 5
Juan Mario Gutiérrez García. Age: 10
Yousell Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte. Age: 11
Yasser Perodín Almanza. Age: 11
Eliécer Suárez Plasencia. Age: 12
Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte. Age: 17
Miladys Sanabria Leal. Age: 19
Joel García Suárez. Age: 20
Odalys Muñoz García. Age: 21
Yalta Mila Anaya Carrasco. Age: 22
Luliana Enríquez Carrazana. Age: 22
Jorge Gregorio Balmaseda Castillo. Age: 24
Lissett María Alvarez Guerra. Age: 24
Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro. Age: 25
María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez. Age: 27
Leonardo Notario Góngora. Age: 28
Jorge Arquímedes Levrígido Flores. Age: 28
Pilar Almanza Romero. Age: 31
Rigoberto Feu González. Age: 31
Omar Rodríguez Suárez. Age: 33
Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel. Age: 34
Julia Caridad Ruíz Blanco. Age: 35
Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega. Age: 35
Eduardo Suárez Esquivel. Age: 38
Martha Mirella Carrasco Sanabria. Age: 45
Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez. Age: 45
Rosa María Alcalde Puig. Age: 47
Estrella Suárez Esquivel. Age: 48
Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero Alamo. Age: 48
Amado González Raices. Age: 50
Fidencio Ramel Prieto Hernández. Age: 51
Manuel Cayol. Age: 56 

Dr. Ricardo Bofill, founder of the Cuban human rights movement. Requiescat in Pace

 "I can't understand the hatred towards me. Because, really in the only field I’ve done battle, is the field of ideas." - Dr. Ricardo Bofill, 1987 in "Nobody Listened" documentary 

Dr. Ricardo Bofill in a PBS documentary in 2005

The founder of the human rights movement in Cuba passed away on this day seven years ago in Miami. Ricardo Bofill Pagés co-founded the Cuban Committee for Human Rights in 1976, dedicated his entire life to defending human rights and suffered years in Cuban prisons for it.

This blog has celebrated the work of Dr. Bofill over the years and will do so again today. His story and legacy changed the course of a nation, and the outcome is still playing out today. The 400th blog on this site was dedicated to him.

Honrar honra.Ricardo Bofill, una referencia ineludible en la defensa de los DD.HH. de los cubanos. pic.twitter.com/IwCGlPsxtt

— Regis Iglesias (@maverick18mcl) December 10, 2014

 On December 10, 2014 Regis Iglesias, spokesperson of the Christian Liberation Movement at 1:40pm posted a picture of Ricardo Bofill over twitter with the text: "Honoring honor. Ricardo Bofill, an essential reference in the defense of Human Rights of Cubans." He was and remains correct in his assessment of this man.

Ricardo Bofill, President of the organization that initiated the civic movement during 

the first exposition of dissident art, shortly before an assault by repressive forces

 In the 1987 documentary Nobody Listened, directed by Néstor Almendros and Jorge Ulla the world was introduced to Ricardo Bofill and the nonviolent human rights movement on the big screen.  Dr. Bofill is interviewed and discusses his circumstances as a dissident in Cuba engaged in the battle of ideas:

"I can't understand the hatred towards me. Because, really in the only field I’ve done battle, is the field of ideas. In this field I’ve had no response just prison and the police. And I don’t know why because the revolution controls all mass media. They have editorials, journalists, even many writers in the world. I don’t know why the response, time and again, has been jail. The response should come in the field I fight in, with ideas. I was arrested again in 1983. On that occasion, I was sentenced to 17 years in jail accused of activities in the Cuban Committee for Human Rights and the last period of prison began. For reasons of health and others I know not of in 1985 I was placed in the status I’m now in which is “conditional liberty with restriction of movement.”

Fidel Castro was asked the name of the human rights defender in another interview. The Cuban dictator dismisses his importance, but it is obvious in the context of his answer that he knows very well who this lone activist is, and views him as a threat.

Dr. Ricardo Bofill in the documentary Nobody Listened in 1987

 Why do they view Bofill's movement as an existential threat? The Castro dictatorship's ideology and revolution are based in violence and blood shed. The July 26, 1953 assault on the Moncada Barracks is a failure not only in the short term defeat suffered by Castro's forces but in the long term degradation of Cuban society and the abandonment of dialogue, moral and ethical restraints in favor of a cult of violence nurtured by a dictatorship now in its 60th year in power. 

Even the men responsible for doing this now complain about the society their revolution has created.They blame Cubans for their poor behavior and customs. Of course men and women with sound moral groundings who speak clearly what they believe and defend human dignity and freedom have an unfortunate tendency to die under suspicious circumstances in Cuba.

There are two traditions battling for control in Cuba. One tradition, embodied by the Castro regime, based on violence and the destruction of the other has dominated Cuba's political discourse for over half a century. It views dissent as treason and demands unanimity; the only acceptable ideas belong to the dictatorship. 

The second, an older tradition that built the institutions of Cuban democracy in the 19th Century using nonviolent means, who founded companies with a social conscience such as Bacardi, that contributed to the common good until forced out of their homeland, and of the democrats who helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 are still there in Cuba's nonviolent civic resistance movement.

This is the movement founded by Ricardo Bofill and a handful of activists on January 28, 1976 that today is  a nationwide movement of thousands who are nonviolently engaged in the battle of ideas and the defense of human rights. Today's repression across the island continues to demonstrate that the Castro regime is terrified of what Ricardo Bofill started.

In an open letter written in 1986 Dr. Bofill rejected regime slanders and staked out their position as a movment: "We have nothing to do with the CIA, we do not participate in violent acts, we have no other weapon than the word, and we are going to use it while we have a breath of life left."

In 1988 he was forced out of the country by the dictatorship, but continued his human rights work from exile in Miami, while Gustavo Arcos remained and continued to do the work in Cuba.

Dr. Bofill meets President Reagan in The White House in 1988

 It is a long and frustrating struggle to achieve the freedom of a country in the grip of totalitarian rule. One must neither over estimate or underestimate what has been achieved and what remains to be done. This is a marathon, not a sprint that requires persistence and faith, not despair. 

Dr. Bofill told me that 35 years ago and it still holds true today.

This is what he did, and Dr. Ricardo Bofill's legacy will live on in Cuba and in the end will triumph over the forces of brute force and tyranny.

Requiescat in pace Professor.