Code to «educate» Cubans before constitutional reform presented in Miami

Members of the Cuban opposition inside and outside of Cuba presented today in Miami a code of rights and freedoms with which they seek the «civic literacy» of the citizens of the island before the process of constitutional reform currently underway.

Rosa Maria Paya, Manuel Cao, Ramon Saul Sanchez, Diego Suárez, Frank Calzon, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, Lia Villares and Lilo Vilaplana appeared today at a press conference in which they called «illegitimate» the project of reform of the Constitution that approved last week the unicameral Parliament of the island and will be submitted to popular consultation from next month.

Exiled journalist and writer Carlos Alberto Montaner could not attend but sent a message of support to the initiative that emerged from the Cuba Decide movement to distribute a letter inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and graphic and audiovisual material among Cubans on the island.

The objective is to facilitate the understanding of rights «that many do not know are for them», said the participants in the press conference.

The artist and activist Lia Villares will be in charge of this «graphic effort» to produce audiovisual capsules that will include animations and explanations of the rights code presented today in Miami under the slogan «Do not take them off, do not take them away »

«This code is essential, they are rights that Cubans do not recognize, with this we are going to start the civic literacy that is so necessary, it is never too late,» said Villares, who will work with film director Lilo Vilaplana.

The code recognizes the right of «habeas corpus» (remedy of amparo), the right to a fair trial, to property, to political participation, the right to strike, to freedom of association, of worship, labor and business union , among others.

Both the letter and the videos will be disseminated through digital platforms with the aim of reaching «the maximum number of Cuban workers.»

«If someone recognizes himself in this code, he uses it on the island, he has no political sign, if he comes to a worker and wants to discuss it in a communist assembly, go ahead,» explained writer and blogger Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo on the meaning «universal» of the document.

The initiative, seconded by opponents inside and outside the island, said the organization, comes after the announced reform of the Cuban Constitution, which will be submitted to popular consultation between the next August 13 and November 15.

«A referendum where there are no procedural guarantees, where neither Cubans nor the international community can have access to oversee the process, where there is no possibility of campaigning, and in no sense such a process is legitimate,» Rosa María Payá told Efe. who heads the Cuba Decide movement.

For this reason, Payá ensures that they will not recognize any law or constitution that «violates or violates» the code of rights and freedoms presented today, an «adaptation for Cuba» of the rights recognized in the Universal Declaration.

The Cuban opposition described this code as a «vision of the country». «This is what we want for Cuba, today’s demonstration is the common faith of all Cuban civil society and all those who will join the manifesto,» Payá explained.

For his part, Juan Manuel Cao, of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, one of the main drafters of the code, asserted his rejection of the Cuban constitution because it «violates human rights.»

«This document has been growing for years and it is a summary of the freedoms and rights that we consider that any law, also the maximum one (the Constitution) has to respect,» Cao said at a press conference today.

For his part, Frank Calzón, of the Center for a Free Cuba, said regarding the modernization of the current Magna Carta that while «homosexuals are allowed to choose their partner freely, Cubans should be able to choose their government or a newspaper that is not controlled by the government. »

Source: EFE