Cuba Decide proposes the use of a binding plebiscite as a technical tool to initiate a transition into democracy. The citizens would be able to accept or reject the following question:
“Are you in agreement with the convening of free, fair and plural elections that exercise freedom of expression and of the press, and organizing freely in political parties and social organizations with total plurality? Yes or no?”
Why a plebiscite?
We Cubans remain deprived of our voices and democratic means to be able to build the prosperous and open society we desire. The citizen initiative Cuba Decide is necessary for the realization this tool for the people to express themselves and sovereignly decide on the change to a democratic system that respects the plurality of Cuban society. We have chosen this path because:
- The necessity for profound change on the Island grows more evident each day among the people.
- There exists a contradiction between the Vienna Declaration adopted by the Cuban State in 1993, which states that: “Democracy is based on the will of the people, freely expressed, to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural regime, and in its full participation in all aspects of life ” and the declaration of the economic, political and social system as irrevocable, included in the Cuban Constitution since 2002.
- The arbitrary constitutional changes of 2002 and 2019, the government repression and the Cuban legal system not only prevent the minimum conditions necessary for the holding of free, fair and plural elections, but also contradict the will of democratic change to a plural system. Furthermore these conditions contradict the will of more than thirty-five thousand Cubans on the island and more than thirty thousand exiled Cubans who signed in support of the Varela Project.
- It has been more than 65 years since Cubans have been able to participate in free elections or society as a whole. The absence of this atmosphere of law and self-determination has plunged the people into poverty and has led Cuba into economic and social failure, accompanied by the constant mass exodus of its citizens.
It is time for Cuba to decide!
How does a plebiscite work?
In order for the result of a binding plebiscite to be considered legitimate it must guarantee the following conditions:
- The independence and impartiality of the electoral body in charge of organizing the process, so that all votes are counted accurately, fairly, equally and transparently.
- The presence of national and international observers at all critical stages.
- The freedom to conduct an election campaign using the freedoms of expression and of association to their fullest extents, as well as equal access to the census, the electorate and the media, including those that are state-controlled or owned.
