Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 15:11:47 +0000 (GMT)
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Scott=20Hamilton?= <s_h_hamilton-AT-yahoo.com>
Subject: AUT: Fwd: Cubans Seek Referendum


   
 
Reuters
Friday, March 8, 2002; Page A21

HAVANA, March 7 -- In a move that is without precedent
under President Fidel Castro's 43-year rule, a group
of dissidents said it had gathered 10,000 signatures
to ask the Cuban parliament for a referendum on
political reforms.

"We are proposing a consultation with the people so
they decide about change," Oswaldo Paya, the main
promoter of the so-called Varela Project, said this
week.

The project is based on Article 88 of the Cuban
constitution, which states that citizens may propose
new legislation if it is supported by more than 10,000
voters.

Paya said the proposed referendum would ask voters to
decide on the need to guarantee the rights of free
expression and association; an amnesty for political
prisoners; more opportunities for private business; a
new electoral law; and a general election.

Cuba, which scorns dissidents as counterrevolutionary
pawns of a hostile U.S. government and anti-Castro
Cuban American groups, has publicly ignored the
project.

But Paya and others behind the campaign accused the
government of mounting a strong campaign of "threats
and persecution" to impede the collection of
signatures and delivery of letters to authorities.

The signatures, gathered by activists across the
Caribbean island of 11 million over the last year,
will be presented to the National Assembly in a few
weeks, after the 10,000 signatures have been checked
and ratified, Paya said.

"This has never been done before, it has no
precedent," he said. "It shows Cubans not only want
changes, but also are ready to face the risks to show
they want changes."



===="Revolution is not like cricket, not even one day cricket"

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