HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro announced a petition campaign Thursday on a constitutional change that would declare the socialist system as "untouchable," defying calls at home and abroad for democratic reforms. Posted on 06/14/2002 4:28:47 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro announced a petition campaign Thursday on a constitutional change that would declare the socialist system as "untouchable," defying calls at home and abroad for democratic reforms.
Beginning Saturday, Cubans will be able to sign petitions over a four-day period in support of Cuba's economic, political and social systems, Castro said during a live appearance on state television.
More than 120,000 petition stations will be set up around the island, said Castro, who established the country's socialist system in 1961, two years after he came to power with the triumph of the 1959 revolution.
The constitutional amendment was proposed Monday by the island's popular support organizations, which are linked to the Communist Party of Cuba.
Opposition activists say the government's appeals for public support of its socialist system are a response to the Varela Project, an initiative that would ask voters if they favor civil liberties including freedom of speech and assembly, the right to own a business, electoral reform and amnesty for political prisoners.
Most Cubans first heard of the Varela Project in mid-May, when former President Carter mentioned it in a live, uncensored television address to the Cuban people.
Castro's initiative also comes less than a month after President Bush called for democratic reforms in Cuba. In a May 20 address, Bush promised not to lift American trade and travel restrictions until Cuba holds competitive elections and undertakes other deep reforms.
Castro said the referendum would give Bush his answer.
With "the proverbial organizational ability acquired by our people, their culture, and their political conscience, this important step will be made, and at the end there will remain absolutely no doubt about how the people of Cuba feel and think," he added.
"Millions of Cubans will also give, in the same way, an appropriate and resounding response to the liberator who no one invited: Mr. W. Bush," Castro said of President Bush, using a shortened nickname he recently adopted.
Castro said the petition campaign would be organized by the island's official popular support organizations and "it will not be a state activity."
After citizens weigh in, there will be a debate and the National Assembly will "have the final word," the Cuban president said. All changes in Cuba's 1976 constitution, adopted during Castro's rule, must be decided by the unicameral National Assembly.
Castro, who turns 76 in August, has repeatedly insisted that Cuba will remain socialist after he's gone. His designated successor is his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, who turned 71 earlier this month.
On Wednesday, Castro called out millions of people to march in hundreds of communities around the country in support of the constitutional proposal declaring that the system cannot be changed. The government said 1.2 million people marched in Havana alone.
Castro himself led the early morning march in Havana, down the Malecon coastal boulevard and past the U.S. Interests Section, the American mission.
The Varela Project activists on May 10 submitted more than 11,000 signatures to the National Assembly soliciting a referendum, but have not received a formal response.
Castro has said nothing publicly about the Varela Project. But the proposal to describe the socialist system as "untouchable" in the constitution indicates that the current leadership is not in the mood for change.
Carter had suggested that the Varela initiative be published in the state media. But that has not happened, and most Cubans still do not know what it says.
In comments to international media, communist officials have accused Varela Project organizers of being on the U.S. government payroll - something the activists deny. Authorities also have described what they say are legal and technical problems with the referendum proposal, giving it little hope for success.
More details about the unusual initiative will be given Friday night on the government's daily evening television program, Castro said.
I guess they'll have to sign or lose rations.
I'm shocked! Shocked! Shocked, I tell ya!
I'm so disappointed...I thought Carter's trip would've ushered in democracy in Cuba! I'm so disappointed.../sarcasm.
I wonder if Jimmy will have more success mediating talks with Hugo Chavez and Venezuelans calling for his head.
Good morning to you JohnHuang2!!
;^)
Anybody remember the "Old Guard" of the USSR in the 1980's?
They were changing leadership faster the Italians. Of course, they were all dying off, ostensibly of old age.
NUTS
A brief State Department note underscored that tensions between Chávez government authorities and U.S. citizens in Venezuela remain high. The U.S. Embassy in Caracas has issued a protest over ''threatening remarks made to a U.S. diplomat at Maiquetia International Airport by authorities there, as well as mistreatment of two U.S. diplomats and a U.S. citizen teacher by local Venezuelan authorities during a weekend fishing trip,'' the department statement said.***
Hmmmmmm....
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