Cuba says 8 million back Castro petition
Posted on 06/19/2002 8:48:09 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Cuba says 8 million back Castro petition
Critics suspect many were coerced to sign anti-reform document
06/19/2002
HAVANA - More than 8 million Cubans signed petitions backing Fidel Castro's socialist government as part of a referendum drive that ended Tuesday, the government said.
The results will be presented to Cuba's National Assembly, which will consider a constitutional amendment declaring Cuba's socialist government to be "untouchable."
Castro loyalists said the results show that people do not want change.
President Bush last month demanded democratic change in Cuba, when he urged the Cuban government to discard socialism and hold free elections.
Mr. Castro, 75, responded with massive pro-government rallies and the referendum on socialism, which began Friday.
It asked Cubans whether they wanted to amend the 1976 constitution to make the socialist system sacred and unalterable. Virtually all of the country's registered voters agreed, according to the government.
But critics, noting that the signing of petitions was not secret, questioned whether most people signed of their free will. They said that some Castro loyalists had knocked on doors to ask people why they had not yet signed.
Critics also said Mr. Castro acted out of concern over the Varela Project, a dissident-led petition drive seeking democratic reforms.
Varela Project organizers turned in more than 11,000 signatures to the National Assembly last month, asking for free elections and greater civil and political liberties.
Cuban officials question the project's legality and accuse U.S. officials of funding it. American officials strongly back the Varela Project but deny financing it.
Many Cubans learned of the Varela Project only last month, when former President Jimmy Carter mentioned it in a televised speech to the Cuban people.
Varela backers say they continue to collect signatures and hope that the National Assembly will vote on their democracy proposals.
Brijido Morejon, 72, a retired construction worker, said he supports socialism, not the Varela Project.
He said he hopes that the signatures will show hardline Cuban exiles the "mafia," as he calls them that Mr. Castro remains popular.
"People should be convinced of that by now," he said.
More in depth reporting by the US media morons.
Hmmmmmm...yet thousands of Cubans have been risking their lives FOR DECADES to escape this island 'paradise'. Intelligent, industrious Cubans that have voted with their rafts.
Cuba Libre!
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