Cuba dissidents propose vote on freeing prisoners

Cuba dissidents propose vote on freeing prisoners
Reuters
Thursday, April 8, 2010; 6:57 PM

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban dissidents proposed on Thursday that the public
vote on whether the island's political prisoners should be freed, while
Cuba said its enemies are using human rights to "demonize" it.

The dissidents acknowledge their idea is unlikely to be accepted, but
said they suggested it to end an impasse between the government and
dissident hunger striker Guillermo Farinas, who is seeking the release
of 26 ailing political prisoners.

"Why not leave the solution of this matter in the hands of the people?"
Francisco Chaviano said in a press conference held by dissident group
Agenda for the Cuban Transition.

He said the referendum, which would be unprecedented in Cuba where the
Communist Party is the only legal political party, could be held in
conjunction with upcoming municipal elections.
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Voters could be offered three options, he said: free all of Cuba's
estimated 200 political prisoners, free just the 26 supported by
Farinas, or keep all of them behind bars.

Cuba has been criticized internationally and urged to release its
political prisoners since the February 23 death of jailed dissident
Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died after an 85-day hunger strike to protest
prison conditions.

Farinas, in the 44th day of a hunger strike in the central city of Santa
Clara, has said he also is prepared to die for his cause.

But on Thursday Cuba repeated President Raul Castro's declaration, made
in a speech on Sunday, that the government will resist international
pressure on human rights.

Cuba's enemies, it said in a front-page editorial in Communist Party
newspaper Granma, have launched a "new crusade to demonize" the island
and "discredit the revolutionary process, destabilize the country and
provoke conditions for the destruction of our social system."

It quoted Castro, who said in his nationally televised speech that Cuba
would "never give in to blackmail."

If Farinas did not change his "self-destructive" attitude, he and his
supporters would be to blame for his death, not the government, Castro said.

Chaviano said his group would like to think its suggestion would be
considered, "but unfortunately the government never has given reason for
that type of hope."

Farinas told the dissident group he would end his hunger strike if the
referendum were held, but said in a telephone interview from Santa Clara
he did not expect it to happen.

"I don't have any hope that the government will accept this proposal
because it has always arrogated the right of speaking in the name of the
people without consultation," said Farinas, 48, who has conducted 22
previous hunger strikes.

Farinas, a psychologist and writer who stopped eating and drinking the
day after Zapata's death, has been receiving fluids intravenously in a
hospital since collapsing March 11.

The government, which characterizes dissidents as "mercenaries" working
for the United States and other enemies, has described both Zapata and
Farinas as common criminals.

(Reporting by Nelson Acosta; Editing by Jeff Franks and Eric Walsh)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/08/AR2010040805083.html