A United Message to the Seventh Summit of the Americas

A United Message to the Seventh Summit of the Americas / Cuban
Opposition, Civil Society and Democratic Social Actors
Posted on April 4, 2015

Cuban Pro-democracy Organizations on the Island and in Exile bring:

A UNITED MESSAGE TO THE SEVENTH SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

Cuban Opposition, Civil Society and Democratic Social Actors

The Summits of the Americas must be the place for participation and
representation of all the democracies in the Americas. Of their States
and of their free citizens. All this passes through the increasing
incorporation of civil society and social actors in the process of the
Summits, such that the topics of discussion acquire real significance
and it is required of governments that they represent their people.

Here we present: In the roles of the Cuban opposition, civil society and
the democratic social actors that we have assumed, after a long struggle
of establishment and strengthening, principles of agreement expressed
from a rich diversity, in the Agreement for Democracy, in the Points of
Cuban Consensus, in the proposals of the Forum for Rights and Freedoms,
and the Open Space Four Points of Consensus.

Our shared mission is the defense and promotion of all democratic
principles, fundamental freedoms and human rights, that comprise the
cultural, historical and political base in this hemisphere, thanks to
this rich diversity.

It is clear that a strong civil society is only possible where the
independence of citizens is recognized and their rights and fundamental
freedoms are respected. The Seventh Summit of the Americas is the
opportunity for the Western Hemisphere to recognize the legitimacy of
independent Cuban civil society within the lsland and the Diaspora as a
valid interlocutor of the Cuban people.

It is also the scenario to make clear that the full insertion of the
Cuban government in the inter-American system is incompatible with the
principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

This is because of:

1. the repression in Cuba of those who exercise the rights of
expression, assembly, association and demonstration,
2. the existence of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience,
3. the constant harassment of the nascent entrepreneurial sector,
4. the unwillingness to ratify the United Nations Covenants on Civil and
Political Rights; and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, signed by
the government but not ratified by the National Assembly of People's Power,
5. the existence of a single party regime that does not allow the
rotation of power,
6. the refusal to consult the Cuban people about their future and the
inability of citizens to choose between political alternatives, and
7. the prohibition of multi-party representative democracy.

None of the goals of this Summit, which as opposition and civil society
we support, may be achieved while Cuba denies the human rights,
understood in their entirety, of the Cuban people.

"I am Cuba" is our motto of identity, with which most of our
alternatives are committed to working together, in order to return Cuba
as a free and sovereign nation to a hemispheric environment where
democracy and institutional respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms prevail.

Source: A United Message to the Seventh Summit of the Americas / Cuban
Opposition, Civil Society and Democratic Social Actors | Translating
Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/a-united-message-to-the-seventh-summit-of-the-americas/