Posted on 06/22/2002 6:03:05 PM PDT by bradactor
Castro Calls Meeting on Constitution Sat Jun 22, 6:48 PM ET
Fidel Castro ( news - web sites) has called a special parliamentary session for Monday to approve inscribing Cuba's socialist system as "untouchable" in the nation's constitution — a move backed by a massive signature drive.
In a letter read on state television early Saturday evening, Castro agreed to National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon's request for a special session to approve the proposed constitutional change.
Alarcon previously had announced that lawmakers would meet in regular session on July 5, and the proposal had been expected to be approved then.
But because of "historical transcendence" of the proposed amendment, Alarcon asked Castro on Friday to call a special session sooner.
The constitutional change was the subject of a campaign by the communist system's national support groups, which say they gathered 8.1 million signatures — more than 99 percent of the island's legal voters aged 16 and older.
Opposition leaders say the signature campaign was the government's response to their own petition, which collected more than 11,000 signatures seeking a referendum asking voters if they favored reforms such as freedom of expression, the right to own a business and an amnesty for political prisoners.
Most Cubans first heard of effort, known as the Varela Project, last month in a speech by former President Jimmy Carter when he visited the island.
Organizers of Varela Project campaign delivered their petitions to the National Assembly on May 10 and have received no response.
Varela Project supports say that the official campaign to declare Cuban socialism "untouchable" is the government's response to their own drive to force a democratic opening in this still closed society.
The government, however, maintains it is protesting recent statements by President Bush ( news - web sites) who declared on May 20 that American travel and trade with the communist island would not be eased unless Cuba embraces democracy.
The problem isnt finding people to sign a petition. The problem is getting those people to sign their names legibly while a gun barrel is sticking in their ear.
there will be silence on the American Left.
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions,
Jimmy has found that it makes for a very smooth ride.
You could hear a pin drop.
"So Napoleon, with the help of his dogs, slaughters anyone who is said to be disloyal. '...the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon's feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood, which had been unknown there since the expulsion of Jones.' To top it off, Napoleon outlaws Beasts of England, which had served as one of the only remaining ties between Animal Farm and old Major."
"But when Muriel reads the writing on the barn wall to Clover, interestingly, the words are, 'No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.'"
"The 7 Commandments are abridged for the last time, simply reading, 'All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.'"
Carters signature is prolly the first one on it
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