More than 30 Cuban opposition organizations, from outside and inside the island, ask US President Joe Biden, in a letter known to EFE, not to talk with Cuba until Cubans “can decide their destiny.” and keep the country on the list of sponsors of terrorism.
The signatories of the letter, which will be delivered this Thursday at the White House, reject “appeasement policies” and warn of the threat that “the Cuban dictatorship” represents for “the lives of millions of Cubans and the national security of the United States.” United States and the rest of the continent.
Among the organizations that address President Biden are the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), whose leader, José Daniel Ferrer, has been imprisoned since 2021, the Ladies in White, the Democracy Movement, Plantados hasta la libertad, the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba , Foundation for Pan American Democracy, Promoters Cuba Decide and others.
The letter, entitled “Lend a hand to the Cuban people”, is addressed to Biden so that “through him” it also reaches the rulers of the democracies of the American continent and the rest of the world and motivated by the meetings held by officials of the US Government and Cuba since 2022.
The most recent, on judicial cooperation, was held in Havana on January 18 and 19.
“OUTRAGE” OF THE OPPONENTS
The opposition organizations express their “indignation” because these meetings have not dealt with issues such as the “humanitarian crisis” in Cuba, of which they make an extensive review, or the repression, which they describe as “State terrorism”, unleashed against the population after the peaceful protests of July 11, 2021, of which they also give numerous examples.
“This type of dialogue without clear conditions, which equates the US rule of law with Castro’s criminal legality, can only weaken the national security of the United States and put Cubans on the island and in exile in a situation of special vulnerability,” they affirm. .
Opponents of the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel ask Biden that “the United States not make concessions to the Cuban regime” without first taking a series of steps in Cuba, such as the unconditional release of all political prisoners, the end of the repression and respect for fundamental human rights.
Also that there be economic freedom and free mobility and definitive and irreversible steps for the realization of free, fair and multiparty elections, they add.
“Any relationship with the authorities of the regime must have the previous conditions as its center and priority objective or it will be used by the Cuban regime to the detriment of our people,” they say.
“Totalitarians only respond to pressure,” they point out in the part of the letter in which they ask that Cuba not be removed from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
According to opposition organizations, Cuba has strengthened strategic relations with China and Russia and today is “the best transatlantic ally of (Vladimir) Putin (Russian president) in diplomatic and media support for the invasion of Ukraine.”
“Foreign terrorists responsible for the death of citizens in our region” are refugees on the island, they add.
Lastly, they urge “the government of the United States and all the democracies of the world to take all necessary diplomatic, economic, and legal measures to address the threat that the Cuban regime represents, curb impunity for criminals in power in Cuba, and support the Cuban people in their just effort for freedom and democracy”.
In statements to EFE, two of the signatories of the letter, Julio M. Shiling and Rosa María Payá, explained their reasons.
The daughter of the late dissident Oswaldo Payá, founder of the Christian Liberation Movement, assured that “the absurd thing is not to talk.
“The dangerous thing is that these talks – added the promoter of Cuba Decide – are one more step in the list of concessions that this administration has initiated without demanding elementary conditions of respect for human rights, rights for which Cubans have been gambling life and liberty.”
“The United States has to understand the risk to its national security that the Castro dictatorship causes it. This document is an alert that they should attend to,” said Shiling, from the Patria de Martí organization.
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