From Oswaldo Paya's Cuban Forum Campaign, via Misceláneas de Cuba:
WE THE CUBAN PEOPLE:We want liberty.
God created all human beings free and as such freedom is an inalienable right. Cubans want to be free. Free to express ourselves, to dream, to create, to work, to travel, to elect, to create and to display our faith.
Cubans want to be free in order to live with dignity and brotherhood.
We are calling for all the rights of all Cubans, because we are entitled to have all of our rights: civic, political, economic, social, and cultural, like all human beings.
They are merely words, at a time when what is needed is action to achieve freedom in Cuba. However, this declaration does lay out what the goals for a free Cuba should be.
Read the whole thing below the fold.
En español, aquí.
WE THE CUBAN PEOPLE:
We want liberty.
God created all human beings free and as such freedom is an inalienable right. Cubans want to be free. Free to express ourselves, to dream, to create, to work, to travel, to elect, to create and to display our faith.
Cubans want to be free in order to live with dignity and brotherhood.
We are calling for all the rights of all Cubans, because we are entitled to have all of our rights: civic, political, economic, social, and cultural, like all human beings.
Cubans want a state with the rule of law in which the Constitution and the laws guarantee rights with direct, transparent and unequivocal expression, in such a way that neither the State, nor the government, nor any other institution or individual could annul or restrict the freedom of Cubans, nor partially or completely deny any of their rights.
There is no legitimate argument to deny the rights and fundamental freedoms of Cubans.
We demand freedom of religion and respect for political pluralism and the diversity of ideas that exist in our society.
The law should guarantee the right of association in social organizations and political parties for all citizens, rights that today are buried, because only the Communists can have a political party.
Many Cubans are not Communists and the right to organize themselves legally and participate in political life according to their convictions should be respected.
We reclaim the sovereignty of the people and their sovereign right to elect, design, determine and change their political, social, and economic system, to make it free, more humane, more fraternal, and more just, and to have the right to choose leaders in free and democratic elections.
We will struggle by civic means until right of the people to bring about changes in the Constitution or to draft a new one, and to modify the laws, is respected. We will present legal initiatives to obtain the respect for all the rights of all Cubans and a better quality of life.
We defend popular sovereignty, national independence, and the sovereignty of our Nation which, as Father Félix Varela taught us, are inseparable.
The rulers of society must be the sovereign people and not a political party. It is up to Cubans and only Cubans to define and decide the future of Cuba freely and democratically, as a sovereign and independent country, without interventions, nor foreign interference, from the north, south, east or west.
This is why we do not accept foreign laws that pretend to decide on the present or design the future of Cuba, or economic dependence, or also political alliances that deny the independence, interests and vocation of peace and liberty of the Cuban people.
We defend the dignity and honor of Cubans and reject the politics of exclusion, exploitation, and humiliation against Cubans in their own country to give advantages and privileges to foreign companies and individuals that exploit workers and enjoy in complicity the lack of rights that Cubans are subject to.
We want camaraderie and peace with all the nations of the world, with all cultures, beliefs and races.
We proclaim that all Cubans are brothers and that Cuba is the Nation and Homeland of all Cubans, whether they live inside or outside of Cuba, because we are only one people and all the rights of all Cubans must be respected.
The nation is our land, our skies, our seas, our history. The Nation can not be confused with the revolution or with socialism, because the Nation encompasses all that we have and all that we are as a Nation.
All Cubans comprise the Nation, those of us who live in Cuba and those who live outside of Cuba.
We proclaim full rights as Cubans to all those who were banished, are in exile, or emigrated for whatever reason, as well as to their children.
We denounce the official classification of “definitive exit from the country,” which is applied to those who emigrate as a cruel punishment of dispossession and banishment.
We reclaim the right of all Cubans to freely exit and return to the country, without conditions, nor impositions and also the right of those who live outside the country to establish themselves once again in Cuba.
We call for the immediate release of all those who are imprisoned for peacefully defending, promoting, and exercising universally recognized human rights.
We also propose a dialogue among all Cubans, without exclusions, about an ample and generous general political amnesty, on the basis of love, goodwill, truth and forgiveness, in the search for justice and national reconciliation.
We proclaim that this is the hour of dialogue and reconciliation and all of us should work with good will for understanding, respect and peace among Cubans.
An authentic participation of citizens in a national dialogue, in political life, and in the decision on the changes that Cuba needs, is only possible on the basis of legal recognition and respect in practice, of freedom of expression and other civil and political rights.
Cubans want a new life and no one can deny us the profound changes that we have desired and hoped for many decades.
Liberation is the term that completely expresses the changes that we Cubans want. And liberation means freedom and rights, reconciliation and justice, respect for life, brotherhood and progress, participation and equality of opportunities.
If we can not be in agreement about the past, we can and should be in agreement about the future.
The Cuban people and in particular the new generation, want to live in peace, in an environment free of pretense, fear, hate and resentment, without retaliation or revenge.
We reclaim trade union freedoms and justice for workers and peasants and the right of Cubans to have economic freedoms, to work freely and to have businesses and their own companies for the benefit of their families and society.
We do not want to continue in this oppressive and inefficient system, in which workers and the majority of Cubans suffer from poverty and can not even say that they are poor.
Under the current regime, humble people suffer anguish and many times persecution in their daily search to make ends meet and survive, while institutionalized corruption has been established, in which some are granted immense privileges and a life of riches because of their positions in areas of political and military power.
We do not hate classes, nor do we hold any other type of hate. We only want the people to be given what is theirs and for equal opportunities to be available to all, as well as the right to a better life through honest work.
We also do not want an extreme political or economic model in which political power, market power, and other interests are placed above human dignity, the rights of individuals, equality, social justice, and the common good.
We oppose the situation in which Cuba, its resources and inhabitants, are treated as private property as well as any unbridled process of privatization in which our country might be plundered and parceled out like a pie.
With economic freedoms and their own initiatives and creative labor, Cubans can overcome poverty and progress towards strengthening the solidarity of our society.
We are determined to maintain and hand down to our children all the positive things that the Cuban people have achieved with love and with their labor throughout the years.
We Cubans want to maintain and improve, as rights for all, free education and public health and all that constitutes as a social benefit.
Education should not be an instrument of political domination, but rather of the development of the individual in all aspects; educating oneself for liberty. We demand respect for the right of parents to educate their children according to their faith, beliefs and values.
We call for the cessation of political and ideological demands and conditions on children, youth, and students, from the first grade level through the university level, and respect for liberty of conscience, expression and association.
We believe that it is time for true equality to exist and for all spaces of participation in society to be opened without exclusions.
In Cuba there isn’t a clash of generations, but rather that the new generation is also deprived of the rights that their parents and grandparents were denied. We demand the space and rights for youth to live their own era and set their own course for society and also for the elderly, adults, children, and all men and women, without discrimination or exclusions against any individual, for being believers or non-believers, nor on the basis of race, religion, age, political opinions, ideas, sex, national origin, economic position, or other detriments against human dignity.
The official politics and laws concerning housing have submerged and maintained millions of Cuban families under a situation of true human calamity, as there has been much more persecution, prohibition, arbitrariness, corruption, favoritism, and dispossession than solutions.
For the good of the family, we Cubans are calling for a new housing law, opportunities and plans to overcome this calamity, while at the same time we confirm that no Cuban individual or family will be expelled from the home which they inhabit, nor from their land, nor will they be dispossessed of their property, nor do they have any debt to pay the former owners.
The laws must guarantee freedom of expression and movement for all. The methods of watching over and controlling the public as well as all forms of oppression against citizens and interferences in their private lives must cease, so that Cubans will no longer need to look to the side or close their windows before opinionating and so that everyone can publicly and freely demonstrate and express themselves with respect.
We want to overcome the culture of fear forever. The media is of the people and is paid by the people and should therefore permit access to all citizens and to all opinions.
The solution to inequality, and disparities among regions, is not internal migration, but instead to achieve equal development in all of Cuba. But the persecution, harassment, humiliation, and discrimination against Cubans just for moving from one province to another in search of opportunities and to escape misery must cease immediately.
Never again will Cubans be declared illegal in their own country, nor will some Cubans be used to repress others.
Cuba is only one and is home to all Cubans.
Let us promote a civic and peaceful movement for liberation and reject terrorism, violence, confrontation and hate among Cubans because we are all brothers.
A movement that seeks personal and collective liberation, on the basis of love and solidarity, that calls upon citizens to refuse to submit to the oppression and lies and to be aware of their rights and their duty to participate in the solution to the problems of our society.
Only by peacefully reclaiming our rights will we be protagonist of our own history and achieve freedom and changes to the laws, so that they guarantee these rights.
Liberation is not to pit some Cubans against others, but rather for all to work together for the good of all.
And so victory will be for all.
Cuba will be reborn free and in peace and as our apostle, José Martí prophesized, all of us will establish, “a new nation of sincere democracy.”
This is the declaration of the people of Cuba.
Cuban Forum Campaign
For more information visit www.oswaldopaya.org or contact Francisco De Armas and Julio Hernández, International Representatives, Christian Liberation Movement, (787) 549-1805, [email protected], [email protected]
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