Exiles say civil resistance a success
A campaign for Cubans to resist Castro's rule has 'taken off,'
organizers say.
Posted on Thu, Aug. 02, 2007
BY ANDRES AMERIKANER
aamerikaner@MiamiHerald.com
Chalk it up to Fidel Castro's illness, to economic struggles or to
spontaneous unrest, but Cuban exiles in Miami say their one-year
campaign to encourage civil resistance on the island has been a success.
''The campaign has taken off,'' said Orlando Gutiérrez, national
secretary of the 200-member Directorio Democrático Cubano, or Cuban
Democracy Directory, in a news conference Wednesday. ``The struggle
increasingly has public support.''
Last year, 10 Miami-based exile groups came together to start
broadcasting television, radio and online ads featuring well-known Cuban
exile artists to the island. Fliers and bumper stickers were
distributed. Short ads starring artists such as Jon Secada and -- most
recently -- singer Amaury Gutiérrez and TV personality Boncó Quiñongo
were aired.
The objective: To get Cubans to stop cooperating with their government,
Gutiérrez said.
''The regime can't handle the idle arms of 12 million Cubans,'' he said.
``If we all unite in noncooperation, we're going to achieve change.''
The groups provided dozens of examples, many from independent
journalists inside Cuba, of civic resistance in the past year. For
example, a sticker with the word ''change'' placed on a bust of José
Martí in Santa Clara in September 2006; a labor unionist who was
arrested for handing out the group's pamphlets in December 2006; and
signs reading ''down with Fidel,'' ''change'' and ''I do not cooperate
with the dictatorship'' seen in San José de las Lajas in Havana province
in June.
Another indicator of success, Gutiérrez said, is Raúl Castro's speech on
July 26, in which he chided ''social indiscipline'' stemming from wage
protests.
The campaign does not call for violent resistance, said Angel De Fana,
director of Plantados Hasta La Libertad Y La Democracia En Cuba, a group
that represents former political prisoners. Although all forms of civil
disobedience are welcome, he said, they are aware that Cubans live in fear.
''If we asked them for violence, they'd probably reject it,'' said De
Fana, who spent 20 years in a Cuban prison and arrived in Miami in 1984.
Still, leaders of the exile groups said the time is ripe for change on
the island, and support in Miami is peaking.
De Fana said his organization's events in the streets of Miami attract
more cheers, screams of support and honking than ever before.
Gutiérrez said his group has received a large influx of members in their
20s.
''I think the absence of Fidel has shaken up the regime,'' Gutiérrez
said of Fidel Castro's illness and transfer of power to Raúl. ``This is
an environment that has never been seen before.''
The groups will gather this Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at Southwest
Eighth Street and Southwest 27th Avenue to pass out fliers and stickers
about the campaign.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/190060.html
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