June 16, 2002

By Rafael Alfonso

Huge numbers of people showed up early Saturday at more than 120,000 petition stations across the island and many more are expected. They will remain open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day until noon on Tuesday for a national referendum declaring Cuba's socialist system has the support of the people.

"I just want to get it out of the way," said Susana Marques, a 21-year-old student and one of the first who showed up at a signature gathering point in the coastal community of Coijmar, just east of Havana. "I don't want to have to wait."

"I'm in a hurry because I have to go to work," said Karel Maura, a 25-year-old port worker who arrived early at another station.

Many of the stations were set up inside neighborhood headquarters of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the island's largest mass organization with a vigilance committee on each residential block across the country.

Inside each station there were tables and chairs where people could sit and sign their names on a booklet that had room for 105 signatures.

"This is the system that we Cubans want," said Maira Pena, a 35-year-old university professor, who signed the document in her Havana neighborhood.

Minority opposition activists funded by Miami based "anti-Castro groups" that make up a signifcant membership of the U.S. Republican Party in Florida, offered a different kind of petition drive gathering no more than 3,000 signatures expressed doubts on their chances of success.

The national referendum has been seen as a "slap on the face" to critics of the country's political and economic system.

Cubans participate "for the same reasons they always do, for the same reasons they go to the marches," said Vanessa Camacho, a member of an "anti-Castro" organization in Miami. Camacho's parents fled to Miami soon after the revolution, they now own a nation wide food chain selling Cuban cuisine in the United States.

"The government obligates them, they have to go," said Fernando Ruas, who was let off with a warning by Cuban police on the day for swearing at volunteers at a petition booth. "If they don't go, they lose their jobs. And if they lose their jobs, they don't have any other way out."
Fernando Ruas refused to discuss his political affiliations with any of Cuba's tiny "dissident organisations."

Cuba's decision to undertake the constitutional amendment has been a savage blow to the United States and critics of the socialist island who wish for the economic embargo to be tightened.

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This may seem great to people who don't know anything about the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs). They were set up after the revolution to maintain the "revolutionary" spirit and crack down on "counter-revolutionaries" i.e. anyone who disagees with the regime. The CDRs are a horribly oppressive aparatus that creates snitches and snoops, people ratting out their neighbors, and so on. I would not be surprised if people were reprimanded or loose priviledges if they did not sign the petition. That's how the Cuban government works.

The same thing goes with those huge rallies. The government gives the people a day off of work and "encourages" them to attend the rallies. Those that don't are reported by the CDRs to the Party. I know because I've participated in marches against the embargo in Havana. I've talked to people, everyday Cubans, who will speak the truth if they don't feel they're going to be snitched out.

Let's see how many sign a similar petition after the embargo is lifted and Castro kicks the bucket...

It is Cuba which has killed appartheid in South Africa, with 40000 guerilleros in Angola (1975-1992)!

It is because of that, that America says Cuba is not démocratic !

Why US State says it is forbiden to go to Cuba ?

It is USA which is not democratic !

In USA the State make the 911 against the people !

Cuba do not make a 911 in Cuba !

Go to Cuba !

See this page to read what Fidel think of 911 and to see that Fidel like indymedia :

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/mayo02-4/21usa-i.html

just admit it...cuba kicked you yanqui butts!!! what have you got to say now????? ohhh!! "THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CDRS!!"

HAHAHAHA!

WELL DESERVED ASS KICKED!!!

:)

great article muchas gracias!

:)

no such thing as democracy, only a dictatorship of one class or another. I prefer a dictatorship of the proletariat than capitalism. Anything else is just rhetoric. Socialism is our only serious alternative. Prove us communists wrong? Impossible; nobody has ever been able to and nobody ever will.

Viva Cuba!

That tiny island is the greatest country on the face of the earth!

I have never been, but have two close friends who went to Cuba recently and they can vouch that Havana citizens are
not coerced into participating in marches. In fact, they
willfully participate because like mentioned above, it is
a day off from work and they are more than eager to give a collective middle finger to the U.S. govt. (not the U.S. citizens, who they do have respect for). The CDR is a reality, but only for those who have strict agendas for attacking and toppling Castro. Yes, the man is dictatorial and holds political prisoners (so does the US, see Mumia et. al.), but that is to prevent them from being co-opted by the US and CIA forces. Its a shame, but necessary. As Americans, who are we to judge when thousands of Arab-Americans have virtually disappeared since 911 (echoes of Argentina in the so-called "land of the free").

Castro is obviously not perfect, but I challege his U.S.
critics to focus on something more relevant, like our
own un-elected dictator who allowed an atrocity (911) to be
perpetrated against its own citizens.

Amen...