Activists Deliver 10,000 Varela Project Signatures to Cuba’s National Assembly

Activists Deliver 10,000 Varela Project Signatures to Cuba's National
Assembly / 14ymedio
Posted on March 24, 2016

14ymedio, 24 March 2016 – On Thursday morning several activists
delivered 10,000 signatures on the Varela Project, which are in addition
to the 25,404 signatures previously provided to this legislative body.
Participating in the delivery were Rosa Maria Rodriguez from the
Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), Saily Navarro and Rosa Maria Paya,
members of the Cuba Decides campaign, along with former political
prisoner of the 2003 Black Spring, Felix Navarro.

The dissidents transported the signatures to the headquarters of the
National Assembly on 42nd Street in Havana's Playa district, in a box on
which was written "Proyecto Varela" with the logo of Cubadecide. This
afternoon Rosa Maria Paya will hold a press conference in the
municipality of Cerro, about the current status of the initiative, which
was promoted by her father Oswaldo Paya, leader of the MCL.

The activists commented that initially the National Assembly officials
seemed "confused" at the delivery of the signatures. However, after
making several call, they accepted the signatures in the Assembly's
Department of Correspondence.

The Varela Project seeks to promote political reforms on the Island
aimed at "greater individual freedoms," according the press release from
its organizers. The text reaffirms the "constitutional right" of Cubans
to push for a change to "democratic pluralism." To achieve this, "more
than 35,000 Cubans, with residence in the country, signed their names,"
along with their identity card numbers "as a way of supporting the
Varela Project."

After delivery the of the signatures, Rosa María Payá, president of the
Latin American Network of Youth for Democracy, said that "we are
advocating for them to respond to thousands of signatories of the Varela
Project and to the rest of the Cuban people, with the holding of a
binding plebiscite for citizens to decide their future in freedom."

The National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba's Committee on
Constitutional and Legal Affairs did not respond to more than 25,000
signatures presented initially by the Varela Project and instead amended
the constitution to make socialist character of the Cuban state
irreversible.

Source: Activists Deliver 10,000 Varela Project Signatures to Cuba's
National Assembly / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/activists-deliver-10000-varela-project-signatures-to-cubas-national-assembly-14ymedio/