COLLABORATE AS A VOLUNTEER OR WITH YOUR DONATION SO THAT “CUBA DECIDE” CAN CONTINUE FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE OF THE CUBAN PEOPLE.
María Corina Machado’s struggle in Venezuela has several parallels with that of Oswaldo Payá in Cuba, although their contexts are different. In the late 90s, Payá launched the Varela Project, which sought changes in the law to guarantee basic rights that were at least nominally included in the Cuban constitution. The ultimate goal was a binding referendum so that the Cuban people could vote for a change in the communist system in Cuba. Like María Corina, Oswaldo used an electoral strategy to push for democratic transition.
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CUBA AND VENEZUELA
María Corina has developed and executed a winning strategy with great intelligence and courage. In Venezuela, although the process was heavily unbalanced and under repression, at least a type of competitive, though not free, election was allowed. In Cuba, Fidel Castro simply violated his own constitution to prevent any possibility of a referendum. In both cases, mobilizing the people was as important as the act of voting. While in Venezuela, political parties could campaign on the streets, in Cuba, owning a cellphone was a crime. Even so, tens of thousands of Cubans signed for freedom. In both Cuba and Venezuela, the dictators responded by breaking their own rules and increasing repression.
INFLUENCE OF COMMUNISM IN LATIN AMERICA
It is important that the world supports María Corina. The world, with some symbolic exceptions, left the Cubans alone. With the Venezuelans, there is still hope that history may turn out differently. The governments of the Americas paid a high price for abandoning the Cuban democratic movement in the 2000s. Since then, the Castros expanded their influence throughout Latin America. They created repressive bodies in Venezuela that still uphold the regime, exported their model to Nicaragua, and fostered massive migration crises in the region, leading to more organized crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking into the United States. Additionally, they have been key allies of Russia and China on this side of the world.
The governments of the Americas paid a high price for abandoning the Cuban democratic movement in the 2000s. Since then, the Castros expanded their influence throughout Latin America.
Inside Cuba, the Castros closed any legal loophole that could have been used to start a transition. In 2012, they murdered Oswaldo Payá, attempting to eliminate a democratic alternative. However, they failed. Cubans still want to be free. Today, we continue the Varela Project through the Cuba Decide Campaign, which calls for a Binding Plebiscite: a national vote to change the system from communism to democracy.
We know that to force the continent’s longest-lasting dictatorship out, we need citizen mobilization and a few international allies willing to pressure the generals in power. These allies were also absent when the Cuban people rose up massively on July 11, 2021, and the response was the same state terrorism we now see in Caracas.
To force the continent’s longest-lasting dictatorship out, we need citizen mobilization and a few international allies willing to pressure the generals in power.
Cuba Decide is an initiative for citizen and international mobilization to change the system towards democracy and the Rule of Law. It seeks to subject the regime to the sovereign will of the people at the ballot box and pave the way for change. Now you also know the reality and the proposal. You can be part of the change and support the right to decide from the Cuban people. Change is in your hands. Join in.
