Exactly half
a year ago, Fidel Castro's regime imprisoned 75 representatives
of the Cuban opposition. More than 40 coordinators of the Varela
Project and
more than 20 journalists and other representatives of various
pro-democracy
movements landed in jail. All of them were sentenced in mock trials
to
prison terms ranging from six to 28 years -- merely for daring
to express an
opinion other than the official one.
Yet the voices
of free-thinking Cubans are growing louder, and that is
precisely what Castro and his government must be worried about.
Despite the
omnipresent secret police and government propaganda, thousands
of Cubans
have demonstrated their courage by signing petitions backing Project
Varela,
which is based on provisions of the current Cuban constitution
and calls for
holding a referendum on freedom of speech and assembly, the release
of
political prisoners, freedom of enterprise and free elections.
The Castro
regime's response to Project Varela and to other initiatives has
been at
best disregard and at worst persecution.
The latest
wave of confrontations, accompanied by anti-European diatribes
from the Cuban political leadership, can be regarded as nothing
other than
an expression of weakness and desperation. The regime is running
short of
breath -- just as the party rulers in the Iron Curtain countries
did at the
end of the 1980s. The internal opposition is growing in strength
-- even the
police raids in March failed to bring it to its knees. Times are
changing,
the revolution is aging together with its leaders, and the regime
is
nervous. Castro knows only too well that there will come a day
when the
revolution will perish with him.
Nobody knows
what will happen then. But when that time comes, the clearer it
is across the world that freedom, democracy and prosperity in
that country
depend on support for its dissidents, the better the chances for
a future
peaceful transition to democracy.
It is the
responsibility of the democratic world to support representatives
of the Cuban opposition, regardless of how long the Cuban Stalinists
cling
to power. The Cuban opposition must have the same international
support as
did the representatives of political dissent in Europe when it
stood
divided. Statements of condemnation for the government's repression,
combined with specific diplomatic steps coming from Europe, Latin
America
and the United States, would be suitable means of exerting pressure
on the
regime in Cuba.
It cannot
be claimed that the U.S. embargo on Cuba has brought about the
results desired. Neither can this be said of the European policy,
which has
been considerably more forthcoming toward the Cuban regime. It
is time to
put aside transatlantic disputes about the embargo on Cuba and
to
concentrate on direct support for Cuban dissidents, prisoners
of conscience
and their families. Europe ought to make it unambiguously clear
that Castro
is a dictator, and that for democratic countries a dictatorship
cannot
become a partner until it begins a process of political liberalization.
At the same
time, European countries should establish a "Cuban Democracy
Fund" to support the emergence of a civil society in Cuba.
Such a fund would
be ready for instant use in case of political changes on the island.
The recent
European experience with peaceful transitions from dictatorship
to democracy, be it earlier in Spain or later in the countries
of Central
Europe, has been an inspiration for the Cuban opposition. Europe
in
particular should not hesitate. It is obliged to act by its own
history.
Vaclav Havel
is former president of the Czech Republic. Arpad Goncz is
former president of Hungary. Lech Walesa is former president of
Poland.
