Top dissident opens new dialogue towards transition in Cuba
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Oswaldo Paya, the
Sakharov prize-winning Cuban dissident, launched Tuesday a new national
dialogue aiming to chart a course for political and economic transition.
Paya unveiled his plans two weeks after the United States announced fresh
measures meant to help speed an end to President Fidel Castro's rule.
Paya, who has led programs seeking political and economic opening from within
Cuba's communist system, has rejected external efforts at designing a Cuban
transition. "The most important thing is that
in this process, we Cubans ourselves design a transition program and start
experiencing responsible democratic participation in defining and readying the
future of our society," Paya said in a statement delivered to AFP.
His idea is to hold local gatherings to discuss a document that addresses
economic, political and social issues and possible solutions. Paya's 70-page,
nine-chapter road map lays out "a path of reconciliation" toward democracy.
The document foresees a democratic government being installed under a
presidential college composed of three members. Its members, who would have to
reside in Cuba, would be charged with overseeing a transition to democracy.
Paya received the European Parliament's 2002 Sakharov Prize for human rights.
The leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, he is among the dissidents
who spearheaded the Varela Project, an unprecendented public challenge to the
only communist government in the Americas. It seeks a referendum on economic
and political opening from within the current system.
Paya stressed that for Cubans to take part in the new dialogue, they did not
need to back the Varela Project.
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