Democracy and Human Rights in Crisis: Lessons from the UN General Assembly and Forum 2000

"Each time the West made the wrong decision of support [for] what they call stability, instead of supporting the peoples right to be free they end up with the situation as the one we are facing today in our hemisphere, Latin America." - Rosa María Payá, Opening Panel of Forum 2000

Challenges and opportunities for Cuban democrats at the UN General Assembly and Forum 2000

Source: CubaBrief

There is an international crisis that finds both human rights and democracy in retreat around the globe. The roots of this crisis are found externally, with the rise of communist China as a great power, and internally with a crisis of values in established democracies.

On October 17th at the United Nations the 193-member General Assembly, elected Brazil and Venezuela to the region’s two vacant spots. Brazil obtained 153 votes, followed by Venezuela with 105 votes both beating Costa Rica, that obtained only 96 votes. The two countries will each serve three-year terms on the UN Human Rights Council beginning January 1, 2020. Costa Rica has the best human rights records of the three candidates, but did not garner enough votes to get elected.

The Washington Post reported on the consequences of this vote and quoted U.N. director at Human Rights Watch, Louis Charbonneau, who observed that “with the seat, Venezuela will try to undermine scrutiny of its abuses and the abuses of its allies,” and that in "votes on some issues can be close, so we don’t need countries like Venezuela who try to undermine the good work.” This vote is an insult to international human rights standards.

Meanwhile in Cuba, U.S. economic sanctions are impacting the Castro regime and forcing it to open up the economy to obtain more hard currency for the dictatorship. The prices of household appliances and other items have been lowered, but Cubans will have to purchase them in dollars.This is part of an effort to limit US economic leverage. The United States has tightened sanctions over the Cuban dictatorship to push for the Castro regime to end its bad actions in Venezuela. Paradoxically it is forcing the regime to open up economically to its own population.

Oved Lobel, a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, outlined the Cuban role in Venezuela in his June 6, 2019 article "What are Russia, Iran and Cuba doing in Venezuela?" in the publication The Strategist.

"Amid the continuing political, economic and humanitarian meltdown of Venezuela, an anti-American alliance consisting of Russia, Cuba and Iran is coalescing to counter US economic and diplomatic pressure on embattled President Nicolas Maduro. The anchor of the alliance is Cuba, which colonised Venezuela through its security services when Fidel Castro’s protege Hugo Chavez came to power in 1998. Castro then began shipping tens of thousands of barrels of oil a day back to Cuba, while Venezuela became what is widely considered a ‘mafia state’. He also expanded his relationships with the narco-terrorist insurgencies plaguing the region, most famously FARC and the National Liberation Army in Colombia. Cuba’s security services helped stand up loyalist paramilitary organisations called colectivos to terrorise opponents of the Maduro regime. More recently, Cuba assisted in creating the Special Actions Force, or FAES, which strikes at opposition figures."

Despite Cuba's role as a bad actor in Venezuela, and the unfolding crisis there, the European Union has pursued an engagement policy with the Castro regime while marginalizing the role of the Cuban opposition both at diplomatic gatherings in Cuba and international meetings in Europe. Leaders of the European Union have forgotten the lessons of 1989 and statues of Karl Marx are being erected in Europe once again.

In contrast to the European Union, much of European civil society has maintained its commitment to Cuban democrats and independent civil society.

Opening Panel of Forum 2000

Earlier this week, over two days on October 15th and 16th in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, Forum 2000 gathered to analyze the challenges to a democratic world order that defends human rights. Forum 2000 is a joint initiative of the late Czech President Václav Havel, Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa, and the late Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel that was founded in 1996.

Over the past 23 years beginning in 1997, Forum 2000 has organized an annual gathering to focus on pressing international issues. This year's Forum 2000 Conference theme was "Recovering the Promise of 1989" and looked back at the optimism of thirty years ago and the pessimism and challenges of today:

"Thirty years ago, the world was full of hope that, finally, democracy, freedom, and a global order based on peace and responsibility would prevail. In the tumultuous year 1989, people rallied against governments with a dismal human rights record and a lack of respect for the rule of law. Protests in Beijing, Berlin, or Prague coincided with ongoing or looming democratic transitions in Chile, Nicaragua, South Africa and elsewhere. Citizens globally asked for more freedom and democracy and hoped for a just society. Western democracies served as a model to which many looked up to.
Since then, the spirit of freedom and civic responsibility in new democracies, as well as in the more established ones, has faced many difficult tests and today, we are at perhaps one of liberal democracy's most demanding moments."

Cuban dissidents were prominently featured during this edition of the Forum 2000 Conference.

Lech Walesa and Rosa María Payá at Forum 2000

Cuban dissident Rosa María Payá took part in the opening panel, "Ambitions of 1989? Ambitions of Today?" at Žofín Palace, Forum Hall together with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakkol Karman, Mikuláš Minář, Šimon Pánek, Maia Sandu and moderator Jacques Rupnik. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Karman addressed how "bad choices are made between tyranny and terrorism," and she declared that "we will fight both. Any war against terrorism is also a war against dictatorship. Every dictator is a terrorist and every terrorist is a dictator."


Rosa María Payá warned of the dangers of ignoring the Castro regime in Latin America, citing her martyred father Oswaldo Payá who said "the cause of freedom is the cause of peace" and no strategy that ignores the authoritarian presence and interference of Castroism in Latin America will be successful in obtaining and maintaining either."

Manuel Cuesta Morúa responds to a question on the Forum 2000 anniversary panel

Cuban dissident Manuel Cuesta Morúa spoke on the anniversary panel, "30 Years of Czech Human Rights Policy Abroad: Achievements and New Challenges" in the Žofín Palace, Forum Hall with speakers Arzu Gebullayeva, Carl Gershman, and Alexandr Vondra.



During the panel discussion Carl Gershman highlighted the criminal nature of the Castro regime and the fact that Cuba's secret police had murdered Oswaldo Payá in 2012.

Tania Bruguera addresses Forum 2000 panel

Cuban artist Tania Bruguera took part in the panel discussion, "60 Years of Communism in Cuba" at Žofín Palace in the Conference Hall along with Wilhelm Hofmeister, Miriam Kornblith, and Danae Vilchez. According to the event description: "Cuba is one of the five remaining modern-day communist countries in the world along with China, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. Its communist regime, established in 1959, survived even the collapse of its one-time supporter, the Soviet Union. Despite the new constitution and the so-called 'transition of power' to the new President Miguel Díaz-Canel in 2018, Cuba remains a country ruled by a communist government. What lessons can Cuba learn from the countries that successfully overthrew their communist regimes in 1989? Is there a role for the international community and regional actors in supporting Cuba's eventual transition to democracy?"


This past week demonstrated both the challenges and opportunities for Cuban democrats.

International institutions such as the UN General Assembly are dominated by anti-democratic actors. The election of Venezuela to the UN Human Rights Council adds to the roster of the world's worst human rights offenders sitting on that body with the objective of neutralizing it.

This is due in part to the West's failure of prioritizing human rights over economic interests. The rise of China as an international power aggravates this negative trend.

On the other hand Forum 2000 continues its work of bringing together people of good will from around the world to engage in a democratic conversation on the pressing matters of the day. It also serves as a platform for democrats to network and coordinate their efforts.

This is of great importance to counter the coordination and networking of authoritarians and totalitarians to undermine democracies and international human rights standards.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and President of Poland Lech Walesa in the concluding panel of Forum 2000 explained the concept of solidarity. He described it as follows: "If you can't lift heavy weights, you need to ask somebody for help. The Soviet Union was such a weight. We asked Europe, the United States, and Canada for help and together we got rid of the system. Now we need the same spirit of global solidarity in the world."

The rest of the panels are available here.

Organization of American States holds Conference on Human Rights in Cuba

"We must take into account the violence being spread by the Cuban dictatorship. We can set out some examples to clarify. In Venezuela, this year the presence of the Cubans in the torture of people has been documented. It is estimated that the Cuban presence in Venezuela is 46,000 people, an occupation force that teaches torture and repression, that does intelligence work, that does civil documentation and migration work." -  Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization American States, December 7, 2018

On December 7, 2018 the Organization of American States held a Conference on Human Rights in Cuba that spanned the entire day. Below are the videos of the morning and afternoon sessions. It was a historic day that highlighted the human rights record in Cuba and how it negatively impacts the region.

Morning session



Afternoon session

The testimonies provided in these videos are of great importance and required viewing. Please share with others.

#PayaPrize: Castro regime reveals its totalitarian and repressive nature before region's democrats

Our interest is to bring Cuba closer to Inter-American values and principles and expand its achievements in science, health and education. - Luis Almagro, the Secretary General of the OAS

Award ceremony in Havana at 11:00am this morning

At 11:00am with her home surrounded by Cuban State Security and with the names of Mr. Luis Almagro and Ms Mariana Aylwin taped to two empty chairs Rosa Maria Payá and a small group of activists who had managed to evade the security cordon carried out the award ceremony. At the same time in Miami, Ofelia Acevedo and other Cuba Decides activists held a press conference to update what had been going on and she explained to The Miami Herald: “We have seen their level of intolerance, arrogance and contempt for others,” she said. “They feel attacked because other personalities in the world recognize not only the Oswaldo Payá award, but also because in Cuba there are people who think differently and have different alternatives.”

Ofelia Acevedo, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas's widow addresses the press

Earlier this morning Luis Almagro, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States reported over social media that he had been denied entry to Cuba by the Castro regime's immigration authorities.

Letter from @Almagro_OEA2015 to @RosaMariaPaya after being denied visa to travel #Cuba to receive #OswaldoPayá prize https://t.co/GTGfcMNSPt pic.twitter.com/EcvztU91Mw

— OAS (@OAS_official) February 22, 2017

He was the third high ranking Latin American democrat to be blocked from entering Cuba in the past 72 hours. A day earlier on February 21, 2017 former Mexican president Felipe Calderón was also told he would not be able to enter Cuba and on the evening of  February 20, 2017 former minister and member of parliament Mariana Aylwin, who is also the daughter of the former Chilean president Patricio Aylwin was declared inadmissible by the Castro regime's immigration machinery. The past seventy two hours should have dispelled any notions that the Castro regime has changed.

Cuba under General Raul Castro remains a totalitarian communist state that only legally recognizes the communist party, one educational system that it controls, one centrally planned economy that it also controls, regime monopoly over all media, and a communist moral code. Independent grassroots organizations are illegal and critical thought is punished.

Hannah Arendt, the political scientist who wrote The Origins of Totalitarianism, in a lecture on the profound difference between authoritarianism and totalitarianism delivered at Oberlin College on October 28, 1954: “If we look at it as a form of government, it rests on two pillars: on ideology and on terror. It is no tyranny because tyranny is lawlessness and because it is content with the political sphere in the more narrow sense of the word.” ...“Authoritarianism in many respects [is] the opposite of totalitarianism."

This is why a private award ceremony in Havana is turned into an international crisis because the totalitarian regime in Cuba refuses to tolerate international political figures recognizing dissidents, even if it is only to accept an award. Secretary General Almagro in a letter to Rosa Maria outlined the Castro regime's objections:

Last Thursday, OAS official Chris Hernandez-Roy was called to a meeting by the Consul of Cuba in Washington and the First Secretary of the Consulate during which the following was conveyed to him:

1. The surprise of the Cuban authorities at the reason for the visit
2. That they would not grant us the visa
3. That our entry to Cuba would be denied, (even in the case of traveling with a Uruguayan diplomatic passport)
4. Their “astonishment” at the involvement of the Secretary General of the OAS in anti-Cuban activities
5. That the reason for which we requested the visa is considered “an unacceptable provocation”
6. That the prize is not recognized by the Cuban state
7. They characterized the activities of “Cuba Decides” as undermining the Cuban electoral system.

Presenting a human rights award named after a nonviolent Cuban activist is according to the Castro dictatorship an "anti-Cuban activity" furthermore that the prize "is not recognized by the Cuban state" and "an unacceptable provocation." Finally the "Cuba Decides" campaign for a plebiscite within existing Cuban law according to the dictatorship is "undermining the Cuban electoral system." Cuban citizens cannot independently create a prize and offer it to someone for their good works without the permission and recognition of the Castro regime. Seeking to give Cuban citizens a voice to exercise their sovereignty is considered subversive by the Castro dictatorship.

Friends of Cuban Decides following the award ceremony in Havana.

 The Castro regime's embassy in Chile issued a statement worth analyzing to better understand the nature of the system being confronted by Cuban democrats that repeated many of the same points raised with Almagro but went further in libeling Cuba Decides: ... “as an illegal anti-Cuban group that acts against the constitutional order and that provokes the repudiation of the population, with the collusion and financing of politicians and foreign institutions, in order to generate internal instability and, at the same time, affect our diplomatic relations with other countries.”

The facts of the matter are that the dictatorship does not respect its own constitutional order if it in any way limits the regime. Furthermore dissidents are systematically disenfranchised from the economy to keep them marginalized. Finally there is no freedom of assembly or association and citizen initiatives such as the Varela Project are never aired over the official media which is the only mass media on the island. This is why some in the opposition have to seek funds outside of Cuba and access to international media with the hope that it will bounce back into the island.  Nevertheless the dangers of dissent far outweigh any benefits as the untimely deaths of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante would demonstrate and still need to be investigated five years later.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article134256469.html#storylink=cp

Communist regimes have a century long track record of killing dissidents and Cuba is no different, but it is important to remember that there are two types of executions. Thousands have been placed against the wall and executed by firing squad in Cuba, others have been victims of extrajudicial killings using a variety of methods ranging from poison, car "accidents", drowning or a shot in the back. However there is what Cuban writer Carlos Alberto Montaner called the "other wall"  and subtitled it "the assassination of character in Cuba" and his presentation in Spanish is available online that describes the killing of reputations.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo: May 15, 1967 - February 23, 2010

Even worse Cuban dissidents have been subjected to both types of execution. The case of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, who died on February 23, 2010 is a case in point. He was beaten down repeatedly and tortured over seven years in Cuban prisons for his human rights activism. Orlando Zapata Tamayo had collaborated on the Varela Project with Oswaldo Payá and engaged in human rights education campaign with Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet. His death while on hunger strike drew international attention and led to a posthumous campaign of slander by Castro regime agents to deny Orlando Zapata's history as an activist seeking to portray him instead as a violent criminal.

Today while taking part in a television program I heard first hand this execution by character assassination by a Castro regime apologist. The attack to slander and destroy the reputation of  Rosa Maria Payá using logical fallacies is underway. Under the vast majority of moral and ethical systems the ad hominem attacks, slanders and libels directed against Rosa are profoundly evil.

Communist morality has no problem with any of it because as the communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin observed in a speech to Russian communist youth on October 2, 1920:

"The class struggle is continuing and it is our task to subordinate all interests to that struggle. Our communist morality is also subordinated to that task. We say: morality is what serves to destroy the old exploiting society and to unite all the working people around the proletariat, which is building up a new, communist society."

Ronald Reagan understood the full significance of communist morality as defined by Lenin and identified how this was applied by the communist regime in Russia in 1983:

... "I pointed out that, as good Marxist-Leninists, the Soviet leaders have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is that which will further their cause, which is world revolution. I think I should point out I was only quoting Lenin, their guiding spirit, who said in 1920 that they repudiate all morality that proceeds from supernatural ideas -- that's their name for religion -- or ideas that are outside class conceptions. Morality is entirely subordinate to the interests of class war. And everything is moral that is necessary for the annihilation of the old, exploiting social order and for uniting the proletariat."

This is Machiavelli's the ends justify the means on steroids. Communist morality views revolution via class struggle as a moral imperative while at the same time dismissing traditional moral and ethical systems based in metaphysical absolutes as an instrument to control the working class.  

The outcome of this morally flawed system has been over a 100 million killed and counting, generations living in misery and the emergence of totalitarian dictatorships the world over preaching egalitarianism but delivering hardship and slavery to billions.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article134256469.html#storylink=cpy

Cuban democracy activist Rosa María Payá to address San Francisco Freedom Forum 2016

Oslo Freedom Forum experience arrives in the Bay Area on September 29, 2016

Tonight the San Francisco Freedom Forum commenced with an opening reception at 7:30pm sponsored by Humanity United. Tomorrow, September 29, 2016 will feature a full day of presentations beginning at 9:30am and the agenda is available online.

Rosa María Payá to address San Francisco Freedom Forum

Cuban pro-democracy activist Rosa María Payá will be speaking during the first session at 9:45am. Below is the description of the young activist prepared by the Oslo Freedom Forum:

Rosa María Payá, daughter of the deceased democracy activist Oswaldo Payá, is one of Cuba’s most vocal political dissidents. Payá serves as the president of the Latin American Network of Youth for Democracy, and is a member of the Cuba Decides campaign. In April 2014, Payá was detained in Panama before the Summit of the Americas in what has been criticized as a move of political intimidation. Since her father’s passing in a mysterious car accident in 2012, Payá has repeatedly called for a formal investigation into his death. She speaks around the world on his behalf and addressed a public letter to President Obama after the 2014 U.S. policy shift toward Cuba. 

In May of 2016 she spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum about her martyred father Cuban democracy leader Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas who died under suspicious circumstances on July 22, 2012.  

For more information about the Oslo Freedom Forum, please visit their website or watch a selection of talks from their speakers. Follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ for updates.

For more information or to purchase your tickets using PayPal or Bitcoin, please contact them at info@oslofreedomforum.com or +1 (212) 246-8486.

Quo Vadis Cuba? (25. 11. 2015): Rosa Maria Payá at the Václav Havel Library

"Totalitarianism does not tolerate participation. The ability of such a caste to govern depends on repression at all levels against those whose opinions and initiatives differ from those of the official elite." - Rosa Maria Payá


Rosa Maria Payá is the daughter of Oswaldo Payá Sardinas, one of the leading Cuban dissidents, author of the Valera Project, a friend of Václav Havel, who died in a car accident in 2012 under strange circumstances that have never been properly investigated.

Rosa Maria continues in the struggle for freedom of Cuba in the footsteps of her father and is now a member of a coordinating Commission of Cuban democratic opposition. The conversation in English about the future of Cuba was introduced and facilitated by Martin Palouš, President of the Václav Havel Library Foundation and Director of Václav Havel Program for Human Rights and Diplomacy at Florida International University.

Cachita's Feast Day and the Christian Liberation Movement's Founding

"Lift up your heart and do not succumb in the face of adversities, persevere in the way of good; tirelessly helping those oppressed by sorrows and afflictions: these are the important lessons taught to us by Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre." - Pope Francis

Former prisoner of conscience and MCL member Jesús Mustafa

 September 8, 2014 marked the feast day of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Cuba's patron saint known affectionately as Cachita and the 26th anniversary of the founding of the Christian Liberation Movement. Today the Christian Liberation Movement released an important statement recalling their founding and principled nonviolent position stating:

We were born there in the parish of the Cerro, one of the many neighborhoods of Havana. The background: The Circle of the Cerro. Then something more formal, The Circle of Cuban Christian Thought. This was banned and dissolved when it launched the first free Cuban publication, also prohibited, titled "People of God", proclaiming the source of liberation: when we said, "We must obey God before men", "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's, "But if God gives you Freedom, who is Cesar to take it away? "All men and women are my brothers and sisters." "We will not act violently or submit to violence," "You are my brother, I do not hate you, but I am not afraid of you."

Oswaldo Payá presenting the Varela Project before Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre (MCL)

Since 1961 in Miami the feast day is also celebrated on this day. Tonight  at the University of Miami's Bank United Center, Archbishop Wenski presided over the Mass. However at the beginning of the Mass Father Rumin of  Ermita de la Caridad (Chapel of Charity) said "Hear this: You can not be a devotee of the Virgin of Charity Charity live without," reported Rosa Maria Payá over twitter.

Celebrating the Feast Day of Our Lady of Charity in Miami

Over twitter Rosa Maria Payá observed: "the Church looks again at Cuba, Pope Francis sends letter to Cuba for Cobre Virgen of Charity celebration." In a second tweet she summarizes: "The Pope tells us we can not remain arms drooping bemoaning or passing the buck to others to do what is our own responsibility."

Pope Francis on Monday sent a letter to Archbishop Dionisio Garcia Ibanez of Santiago, Cuba encouraging Cuban Catholics to remain steadfast in their devotion to the Virgin Mary and highlighted three virtues: joy, service and perseverance.

 It appears that what Pope Francis is calling for came into existence in a neighborhood of the Cerro 26 years ago and continues to steadfastly follow the way of love and nonviolence in confronting injustice.

Regis Iglesias, a former prisoner of conscience and movement spokesman, posted the above Christian Liberation Movement logo along with the following message: "Happy XXVI Anniversary to all our brothers and sisters of the Christian Liberation Movement !!! We continue on with our Love of Cuba and our commitment to our Martyrs !!!"


The full text of Pope Francis' letter is reproduced below.  

His Excellency Dionisio Guillermo Garcia Ibanez
Metropolitan Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba
President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Cuba

Vatican, 8 September 2014

Dear Brother:

A few days ago, the venerated image of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre was placed in the Vatican Gardens. Its presence constitutes a moving reminder of the affection and vitality of the pilgrim Church of those luminous lands of the Carribbean which, for mor than four centuries, has addressed the Mother of God with that beautiful title. From the mountains of El Cobre, and now from the See of Peter, that small and blessed figure of Mary magnifies the souls of those who invoke her with devotion, as She leads us to Jesus, her divine Son.

Today as we fervently celebrate the feast of Mary Most Holy, la Virgen Mambisa¸ I join all Cubans who set their eyes on her Immaculate Heart to pray for favors, to commend to her their loved ones and to imitate her in her humility and devotion to Christ, of whose disciples she was the first and greatest.

Every time I read the Sacred Scriptures in the passages that speak of Our Lady, three words stand out to me. I would like to focus on them in order to invite the pastors and faithful of Cuba to put them into practice.

The first is rejoice. It was the first word the Archangel Gabriel addressed to the Virgin. “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). The life of she who has discovered Jesus is filled with such great interior joy that nothing or no one can take it from her. Christ gives to his own the necessary strength to not be sad or overwhelmed by thinking about the problems that cannot be solved. Sustained by this truth, the Christian does not doubt that that which is done with love engenders serene joy, the sister of that hope which breaks the wall of fear and opens the doors to a future of promise. “I am Our Lady of Charity,” was what the three Johns read on the tablet that was floating in the Bay of Nipe. How beautiful it would be if all Cubans, especially the young, could say the same: ‘I am a man or woman of charity:” I live to truly love, and thus not be trapped in the toxic spiral of eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. What joy is felt by one who authentically loves, through daily acts, and who is not among those who are full of empty words that are carried away by the wind.

The second word is arise. With Jesus in her womb, St. Luke says Mary arose and went with haste to serve her cousin Elizabeth, who in her old age was with child (cf. Lk 1:39-45). She fulfilled the will of God placing herself at the disposition of whoever needed her. She did not think of herself, she overcame all setbacks and gave of herself to others. The victory is for those who arise again and again without being discouraged. If we imitate Mary, we cannot just do nothing and merely complain, or perhaps pass the buck on to others for something that is our responsibility. Its not about doing great things but about doing them with tenderness and mercy. Mary was always with her people looking out for the little ones. She knew loneliness, poverty and exile, and she learned to create fraternity and to make her home in whatever place good would germinate. We implore her to make us poor in spirit, free of all pride, and to grant us a pure heart that sees God in the faces of the disadvantaged and patience that does not shrink from the difficulties of life.

The third word is persevere. Mary, who had experienced God’s goodness, proclaimed the great things He had done for her (cf Lk 1:46-55). She did not trust in her own strength, but in God, whose love has no end. For this reason she remained with her Son, whom everyone had abandoned; she prayed without failing together with the apostles and the other disciples, lest they lose their soul (cf. Acts 1:14). We too are called to persevere in the love of God and to persevere in loving the others. In this world, in which eternal values are discarded and all is mutable, in which triumphs are used and thrown away, in which people seem to have a fear of lifelong commitments, the Virgin encourages us to be men and women constant in good works, maintaining his words, which are always faithful. And this is because we trust in God and we place in Him the center of our live and of those whom we love.

We are to have joy, and share it with those around us. Lift up your heart and do not succumb in the face of adversities, persevere in the way of good; tirelessly helping those oppressed by sorrows and afflictions: these are the important lessons taught to us by Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, useful both for today and for tomorrow. In her maternal hands I place the pastors, religious communities, and faithful of Cuba, so that She might encourage you in your evangelizing commitments and in your will to make love the foundation of society. Thus you will not be lacking in a joy for life, a soul for service, and perseverance in good works.

To the children of the Church in Cuba I ask, please, pray for me, as I am in need of it.

May Jesus bless you, and the Blessed Virgin care for you forever.

Fraternally,

Francis

Remembering Project Varela's Importance to Cuba 12 years after first signatures turned in

Today is the 12th anniversary of Project Varela an initiative based on respect for the rights of persons. - Sayli Navarro, over twitter May 10, 2014
 

Regis Iglesias, Oswaldo Payá and Tony Díaz on May 10, 2002

 It was twelve years ago today that a small contingent of Cuban activists and human rights defenders marched up to the Assembly of Popular Power in Havana, Cuba to turn in 11,020 signatures of Cuban citizens proposing an initiative for human rights reforms based in existing Cuban law that was and is called Project Varela. Over twitter today Rosa Maria Payá Acevedo wrote: "On 12th anniversary of the first delivery of Project Varela our tribute to the brave Cuban citizens who led the initiative." She also invited in another tweet to use the hashtag #ProyectoVarela today.

Activists on their way to the Assembly of Popular Power with petitions

 On May 9, 2014 Regis Iglesias Ramírez, spokesperson for the Christian Liberation Movement based in Spain, posted a video that outlines the extreme nature of the governing regime in Cuba, and the challenges faced by the Cuban democratic resistance in their nonviolent stand for human rights and democratic reforms titled "The people sooner or later will have to impose their determination":
.

Project Varela was an important step in the auto-liberation of the tens of thousands of Cuban citizens who signed it and that is its most important legacy. However, two other of the many important things that it generated are that:

1) Following decades of successfully muzzling the voices of most Cubans and maintaining a propaganda offensive domestically and internationally that gave the impression of near unanimity with the regime's political project was finally broken. Tens of thousands of Cubans risking everything had said they wanted change.

2) Cuba's dissident movement portrayed as fragmented and ineffectual had managed to do what no other dissident movement had been able to do outside of Poland and that was to create a mass mobilization around clearly defined objectives within the existing constitution under Articles 88 g and 63 that placed the dictatorship on the defensive.

Fidel Castro's response was not only a wave of terror and repression but also of misinformation claiming in an interview with Barbara Walters that "Yes they [Cubans] have the right to petition, but not to change the Constitution." Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas on October 13, 2002 in a formal and public response to Fidel Castro clarified the objectives of Project Varela:

Besides the right to carryout the petition, the current Constitution in Cuba reflects the rights for which Project Varela seeks assurances in law.We publicly clarify to Mr. Fidel Castro that Project Varela does not request a change in the Constitution, but rather carrying out changes in the laws so that such rights that are in the Constitution are complied with and that the decision be taken by the sovereign people consulted in a Referendum.

On March 18, 2003 a large number of Project Varela petition organizers were arrested and sentenced in summary trials to long prison terms. Prior to that in June of 2002 the Castro brothers steamrolled through their own mandatory petition drive making the Cuban Constitution unchangeable with regards to its communist nature.

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas reviewing petitions

Twelve years later, now in exile in Miami after long years in prison, Tony Díaz Sánchez observes over facebook that: "The only bad thing that Project Varela has is that 12 years after its legal filing, it is totally valid."

Project Varela Activists back in the day

 Eduardo Cardet, member of the Coordinating Council of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) in Cuba in an interview with ACI Press that: "There are many people who are still signing it. That is why it remains still valid today because it adjusts to the Cuban reality where nothing has changed."

The regime in Cuba has not changed but Project Varela marks a clear before and after in the will of the Cuban people to express their desires for legal reforms to ensure that human rights are respected at great personal risk to themselves.

Long live Project Varela! Justice for Oswaldo and Harold. The time for the referendum is now.

People in Spanish names Rosa Maria Payá one of the 25 most powerful women

10 of 25

ROSA MARÍA PAYÁ

Profession: Human rights activist
Age: 24 years
Why we chose her:
Although she studied physics, the leader of the Christian Liberation Movement is dedicated to the fight for a democratic Cuba, asking for international support in order to conduct a plebiscite on the island that allows her countrymen to choose their political future.

 

ROSA MARÍA PAYÁ

Profesión: Activista de derechos humanos
Edad: 24 años
Por qué la elegimos:
Aunque estudió física, la líder del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación se dedica a luchar por una Cuba democrática, pidiendo apoyo internacional para que se realice un plebiscito en la isla que le permita a sus compatriotas elegir su futuro político.

2013 Democracy Award Panel & Ceremony

 NED honors young leaders from Zimbabwe, Russia,Pakistan, and Cuba

Glanis Changachirere,Vera Kichanova,Gulalai Ismail, Rosa María Payá (for Harold Cepero)
Photo taken from a tweet by Vera Kichanova

4:00 p.m.
Panel Discussion
"Our Democratic Future: the role of youth in advancing democracy"

5:30 p.m.
Reception and Award Presentation
Caucus Room 345, Cannon House Office Building


The National Endowment for Democracy (NED)’s 2013 Democracy Award will highlight the important role that youth are playing in advancing democracy in the world today.  In this, its 30th anniversary year, NED will honor three outstanding young people who are working in extraordinarily challenging environments to create a democratic future in their respective countries.  The Endowment will also make a posthumous award to a fourth young democrat whose life was cut short in the midst of his struggle.

The 2013 Democracy Award honorees are:

Gulalai Ismail, 26

Ismail is founder and chairperson of Aware Girls, a young women-led organization that seeks to provide a leadership platform to young women and girls of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan.  She has more than 10 years of experience working on leadership development for girls and young women; addressing gender based violence; encouraging peace and pluralism; promoting and protecting human rights; and striving to bring women in to the political mainstream.

Vera Kichanova, 22

Kichanova was elected in March 2012 as a municipal deputy in Moscow’s Yuzhnoye Tushino district. As a member of the municipal council she fights for more transparency on the part of the local authorities. Kichanova is an avid journalist and civic activist who has been arrested for her outspoken defense of democratic principles.

Glanis Changachirere, 30

Changachirere is the founding director of the Institute for Young Women Development (IYWD), which encourages marginalized young women in farming, mining, and rural communities to participate in Zimbabwean politics. IYWD has played an important role in calling for peaceful, democratic elections, and the need to guarantee space for the participation of all Zimbabweans in the political system, including the prevention of gender based violence.

Harold Cepero, (1980-2012)

Cepero was the leader of the youth wing of Cuba’s Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), the group that organized the Varela project -- a citizen petition movement that called for a popular referendum to establish the foundation for a democratic system in Cuba. With more than 25,000 Cubans publicly signing the petition, the Varela Project became one of the most creative challenges to the country’s totalitarian rulers. On July 22, 2012, Cepero was killed in a suspicious car crash along with Cuba’s most prominent democratic activist and founder of the MCL, Oswaldo Payá.
Rosa María Payá Acevedo, another young leader of the MCL and the daughter of Oswaldo Payá, will accept the award on behalf of Cepero and the Christian Liberation Movement.



http://www.ned.org/events/democracy-award/2013-democracy-award

Eleven Months After a Terrible Day for Cuba

"Its been 11 months without my father Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero. They were intentionally rammed and taken off the road..." - Rosa Maria Payá, over twitter June 22, 2013 at 10:07am

"And now freedom." Image by Rolando Pulido

 Eleven months seem so long ago and at the same time just like yesterday. Yes, its a contradiction but nevertheless true. It was a Sunday, and got the phone call leaving the movie theater..."They killed him. Oswaldo is dead."  Feels just like yesterday, that hollow feeling in the pit of the stomach at the horror of what had just happened. At the same time it seems so long ago. 

The vigils, masses, and funerals of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante. The painful losses suffered by two families who had already sacrificed much for Cuban dignity and freedom. The battle to get at the truth of what happened on that Sunday afternoon in Bayamo, Cuba. The survivors of the crash detained, drugged and threatened. The sordid bilateral agreements between states to cover up a crime in the favor of expediency and commercial interests.  

The international solidarity from people of good will around the world. Rosa Maria Payá and Regis Iglesias Ramírez speaking before the United Nations Human Rights Council to demand justice and truth for Oswaldo and Harold while at the same time calling for freedom of Cuba's political prisoner and for Cubans to follow the People's Path to an authentic nonviolent transition. This in the midst of death threats called into the Payá home and other members attacked with machetes. It all seems so long ago but in fact its been less than a year, and all I can say is that you are all in my prayers and my condolences for your loss. 

July 22, 2012 was not just a terrible day for Oswaldo, Harold and their families, friends and colleagues it was also a terrible day for Cuba. Two leaders that offered a way forward for Cuba without hatred and violence were cruelly taken away.

 

Thankfully, there is much that one can do. Letting others know about the life and work of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero. Following Rosa Maria Payá, Regis Iglesias and the Christian Liberation Movement over twitter and supporting the People's Path. Lastly, and just as importantly adding ones name to the growing list of signatures demanding an international and transparent investigation into the deaths of Oswaldo and Harold.

Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero