25 minute silent vigil to protest 25 years of justice denied for 37 Cuban victims of the "13 de Marzo" massacre

To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” - Elie Wiesel, Night

On Wednesday, July 10th at 8:00pm Cuban dissidents Rosa Maria Payá Acevedo, Sirley Ávila León together with former political prisoners Basilio Guzmán, Raudel Bringas and Cuban exiles Frank Calzon, Mario Felix Lleonart, Yoaxis Marcheco and their daughter, and several other civil society activists carried out a 25 minute silent vigil to protest 25 years of justice denied for 37 Cuban victims of the "13 de Marzo" massacre.

The vigil commenced with Reverend Mario Feliz Lleonart leading the vigil participants in a prayer for justice and concluded 25 minutes later with another prayer.

We gathered at 8:00pm and were joined by others until 8:30pm and a short time later began the 25 minute silent vigil. While we waited to start passersby asked us about the posters we carried and why we were in front of the Cuban embassy.

We explained to them that on July 13, 1994, a group of 72 Cubans, including children and women, tried to escape from the Island of Cuba aboard an old tugboat. State Security Forces, and four Cuban State boats of the Havana regime intercepted the boat 7 miles off the coast of Cuba, with water jets from pressure hoses pulled people off the deck, tore the children from the arms of their mothers and sank the tugboat. 37 people were murdered, 11 of them children.

Comienza nuestro homenaje a las víctimas del Remolcador, 37personas asesinadas por órdenes directas de los dictadores
25mins of silence for 25years of impunity:
1994 The Havana Regime deliberately sank a tugboat killing 37Cubans including 10children#StopImpunity #NoMasImpunidad pic.twitter.com/pp1MeiDg28

— Rosa María Payá A. (@RosaMariaPaya) July 11, 2019

In this spirit of sharing knowledge and spreading the word we share the link to the 1996 IACHR report that investigated this event.  We also list below the names and ages of the 37 victims.

Hellen Martínez Enriquez. Age: 5 Months
Xicdy Rodríguez Fernández. Age: 2
Angel René Abreu Ruíz. Age: 3
José Carlos Niclas Anaya. Age: 3
Giselle Borges Alvarez. Age: 4
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte. Age: 5
Juan Mario Gutiérrez García. Age: 10
Yousell Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte. Age: 11
Yasser Perodín Almanza. Age: 11
Eliécer Suárez Plasencia. Age: 12
Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte. Age: 17
Miladys Sanabria Leal. Age: 19
Joel García Suárez. Age: 20
Odalys Muñoz García. Age: 21
Yalta Mila Anaya Carrasco. Age: 22
Luliana Enríquez Carrazana. Age: 22
Jorge Gregorio Balmaseda Castillo. Age: 24
Lissett María Alvarez Guerra. Age: 24
Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro. Age: 25
María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez. Age: 27
Leonardo Notario Góngora. Age: 28
Jorge Arquímedes Levrígido Flores. Age: 28
Pilar Almanza Romero. Age: 31
Rigoberto Feu González. Age: 31
Omar Rodríguez Suárez. Age: 33
Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel. Age: 34
Julia Caridad Ruíz Blanco. Age: 35
Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega. Age: 35
Eduardo Suárez Esquivel. Age: 38
Martha Mirella Carrasco Sanabria. Age: 45
Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez. Age: 45
Rosa María Alcalde Puig. Age: 47
Estrella Suárez Esquivel. Age: 48
Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero Alamo. Age: 48
Amado González Raices. Age: 50
Fidencio Ramel Prieto Hernández. Age: 51
Manuel Cayol. Age: 56 

Finally, we invite those in the South Florida area on Saturday, July 13, 2019 to the Museum of the Cuban Diaspora located at 1200 Coral Way where Jorge Garcia, who lost 14 family members in the "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre will give a presentation of an edition of his book on the subject that has now been translated to English.  Ramon Saul Sanchez and Marcel Felipe are co-hosting the event. 

What I saw in Cuba and its future by Rosa Maria Payá (In Spanish)

 

What I saw in Cuba and its future by Rosa Maria Payá 

Monday, April 18, 2016 at 6:15pm

Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American 

Casa Bacardi

1531 Brescia Avenue

Coral Gables, Florida 

6:15pm cocktails

7:00pm program and presentation

Obama administration Cuba policy summed up one year later: #FakeChangeInCuba

#Cuba10D Those who would negotiate with the dictatorship should know that this is what the dictator understands as the "normalization of relations" - Rosa Maria Payá over twitter on December 16, 2015

Picture posted by Rosa Maria along with tweet at the top of the page

 The Free Cuba Foundation is a youth movement founded at Florida International University that has been a steadfast advocate for human rights and freedom in Cuba. Last year we published an open letter titled "Not in Our Name" on December 29, 2015 after a discussion between members. A version of this letter was published in The Huffington Post on January 31, 2015. We stand by our statement and wish to highlight elements that have proven prescient.

"As was the case in 1996, this policy of appeasement had dire consequences for the democratic opposition in Cuba, which suffered several setbacks over the next four years. Prisoner-of-conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo died on hunger strike under suspicious circumstances in 2010; Ladies in White founder Laura Inés Pollán Toledo died from a suspicious illness in 2011; and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero died in the summer of 2012, under circumstances that point to a state security killing. Rising violence against opposition activists, including machete attacks, is a new and disturbing phenomenon."

Unfortunately, following this new relationship between the United States and Cuba the pattern of violence against activists was escalated by the Castro regime. Cuban human rights defender, Sirley Ávila León, age 56, was gravely wounded in a machete attack in Cuba on May 24, 2015 by Osmany Carrión who had been sent by state security agents. She lost her left hand while raising it to block a machete blow to the head. She suffered deep cuts to her neck and knees, lost her left hand and the machete cut through the bone of her right humerus leaving her arm dangling.

Cuban State Security arranged machete atack against dissident on May 24, 2015

 Sirley Ávila León, a one time delegate of the People’s Assembly of Majibacoa worked through official channels to represent her community but when they ignored her requests to keep a school open she went to the international media and was later removed from office. She joined the democratic opposition. This led to escalating acts of repression by state security against the 56-year-old mother of two culminating in this attack. She is still in danger and her assailant is free to walk the streets of Cuba.

Augusto Monge (FCF) assaulted by Cuban State Security in Panama

 At the same time in our original statement we expressed the concern that the regime's violence would escalate not only in Cuba but also overseas due to the impunity granted by the Obama administration:

FCF is concerned that releasing the three remaining spies, including Gerardo Hernandez -- who was serving two life sentences, one of them for conspiracy to murder four members of Brothers to the Rescue in exchange for Gross and an unknown Cuban intelligence operative -- may lead to the Castro regime murdering more innocents inside and outside of Cuba. 

 We never thought that one of our founders, Augusto Monge, while attending the Summit of the Americas in Panama on April 8, 2015 would be brutally assaulted by Cuban diplomats and state security agents while laying a wreath for José Martí in a public park in an attack that could have easily ended in fatalities.

The fact that the President of the United States still met with Raul Castro following this and other incidents of violence at the Summit, including acts of repudiation coordinated and carried out by Castro regime officials and agents only substantiates our original concern. This indifference to the regime's violent maneuvers in Panama that included assaults on U.S. citizens sends a dangerous signal to enemies of the United States on the low priority placed on the safety and security of Americans. We did predict that this new policy would embolden the worse elements in the Castro regime:

"[T]he signal sent to the hardline elements within the regime is clear: operating with criminal impunity delivers results. This was the same message sent by President Clinton in 2000."

Martin Luther King Jr. in his 1958 book Stride Toward Freedom observed that "True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." Unfortunately, the trends in Cuba under the current totalitarian regime is generating huge tensions in the population which is why millions have fled the island over the past 56 years and why after this December 17, 2014 policy announcement by the Obama administration has resulted in a wave of 70,000 Cubans so far in 2015 fleeing to the United States. The lesson is clear, there will be no peace until Cuba is truly free.

Reverend King in the above mentioned book also explained in strategic terms why a resistance movement should and must remain nonviolent in order to achieve liberation:

"A mass movement of a militant quality that  is not at the same time committed to  nonviolence tends to generate conflict, which  in turn breeds anarchy. The support of the  participants and the sympathy of the uncommitted  are both inhibited by the threat that bloodshed  will engulf the community. This reaction in turn  encourages the opposition to threaten and resort to force. When, however, the mass movement  repudiates violence while moving resolutely toward its goal, its opponents are revealed as the instigators and practitioners of violence if it occurs.  Then public support is magnetically attracted to the advocates of nonviolence, while  those who employ violence are literally disarmed  by overwhelming sentiment against their stand."

When elements in the Civil Rights movement abandoned nonviolence in favor the Black Power Movement and the Black Panthers the great victories stopped and the negatives began to pile up. The Free Cuba Foundation has learned this lesson from history. We will continue to resist and fight injustice using all the nonviolent weapons at our disposal.

Over the past year we have marched, fasted, held silent vigils to remember the victims of regime violence, taken part in a caravan, called for a boycott, protested against Hillary Clinton's position on Cuba, challenged hypocritical positions with regards to violence against women, spoke out and refused to go along with the narrative that young people approve this policy protesting the failed Obama-Kerry Cuba policy on the streets of Miami on the day the U.S. embassy in Havana held its flag raising ceremony and shouted down Raul Castro and his entourage at the Cuba Mission in New York City.

We will be taking action again today on the one year anniversary of this disastrous policy announcement in a peaceful protest. Tomorrow we will honor the memory of a great friend not only to Cubans but oppressed peoples around the world: Vaclav Havel. We will be wearing our trousers short to honor his memory on December 18th and invite you to join us in this international action.

Every year since the week following the 1996 shoot-down, FCF members have joined together to hold a silent vigil at Florida International University on February 24th between 3:21pm and 3:27pm at the times both planes were blown up by Castro's MiGs in remembrance of Armando, Carlos, Mario, and Pablo who gave their lives in service to others in a continuing demand for justice. This tradition has been maintained for the past 19 years and next year on Wednesday, February 24, 2015 at 3:21pm we will gather with the families of the four martyrs. This past year Miriam de la Peña addressed the commutation of Gerardo Hernandez's sentence at FIU the day before President Obama arrived on campus to address immigration.

We will continue to demand justice and freedom for Cuba. Today, December 17, 2015 the Free Cuba Foundation is asking friends of freedom to use the hashtag #FakeChangeInCuba in English and #CambioFraudeEnCuba in Spanish to let the world know that no positive change has occurred as a result of the current U.S. policy on Cuba.

International Human Rights Day at Miami Dade College: Cause for Celebration and Protest

"Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth." - Liu Xiaobo, Chinese prisoner of conscience and Nobel Laureate

International Human Rights Day is a day to highlight the many remaining human rights challenges and the universal consensus found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  We salute Miami Dade College honoring human rights pioneer Ricardo Bofill on December 9, 2015, the eve of International Human Rights Day. Free Cuba Foundation members also celebrate Mayor Tomas Regalado of the City of Miami declaring today Ricardo Bofill Day during the Miami Dade College event. Both human rights defenders Ofelia Acevedo and Carlos Alberto Montaner celebrated the life and work of Ricardo Bofill.

Ricardo Bofill with Mayor Tomas Regalado (Photo by Rosa Maria Payá)

Sadly we are not in a celebratory mood with the activity planned for International Human Rights Day itself  with Eve Ensler's One Billion Rising Voices celebration of International Human Rights Day. One Billion Rising Voices claims to be a global movement seeking to end violence against women and girls through benefit productions of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In late October she visited Cuba and performed her works there and met with Mariela Castro ( the dictator's daughter) and did not publicly raise the issue of systemic regime violence against Cuban women who dissent.

Therefore in an effort to raise attention to the violence visited on Cuban women by the Castro dictatorship Eve Ensler met with and did not speak about the Free Cuba Foundation has produced three posters highlighting cases of violence against Cuban women by agents of that regime. The posters highlight instances of regime violence from 2011, 2013 and 2015. There are many more cases.

Laura Pollán was repeatedly beaten by the Castro regime’s agents between 2003 and 2011 for rising up for human rights in Cuba. The Ladies in White founder who through nonviolent marches demanded Cuban prisoners of conscience be freed died under suspicious circumstances on October 14,2011. She had been a school teacher.

On Sunday, July 21, 2013 Sonia Álvarez Campillo was brutally beaten by agents of the Cuban government for her dissent and suffered lasting physical damage.  Over twitter the aftermath of the attack was posted by her daughter Sayli Navarro who tweeted the above quote and independent journalist Ivan Hernandez Carrillo tweeted: "This is the Lady in White Sonia Álvarez Campillo after today's first act of repudiation against the Ladies in White."

Cuban human rights defender, Sirley Ávila León, age 56, was gravely wounded in a machete attack in Cuba on May 24, 2015 by Osmany Carrión who had been sent by state security agents. She lost her left hand while raising it to block a machete blow to the head. She suffered deep cuts to her neck and knees, lost her left hand and the machete cut through the bone of her right humerus leaving her arm dangling. Sirley Ávila León, a one time delegate of the People’s Assembly of Majibacoa worked through official channels to represent her community but when they ignored her requests to keep a school open she went to the international media and was later removed from office. She joined the democratic opposition. This led to escalating acts of repression by state security against the 56-year-old mother of two culminating in this attack. She is still in danger and her assailant is free to walk the streets of Cuba.

Our purpose is to bear testament that Cuban women have been brutalized by a 56-year-old dictatorship in Cuba that systematically violating human rights today. Unfortunately, International Human Rights Day in Cuba is a day of crackdowns and repression against nonviolent dissenters. Hopefully Eve Ensler will receive this message and in the future speak up for Cuban women subjected to brutal repression for having the courage to speak their mind and demand freedom. It is ironic that in a hemisphere were women have been elected to the highest office in the land as has been the case in Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, and elsewhere that a dictatorship run by two brothers for 56 years in a patriarchal and chauvinist manner would be celebrated by someone claiming to be a feminist and defender of women.

Activist shouts down Raul Castro's motorcade as it arrived at the Cuban Mission in NYC

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." - Elie Wiesel, Nobel Lecture 1986

Rolando Pulido (Left) Augusto Monge (Center) Rosa Maria Payá (Right)

The reasons to protest the Castro regime are numerous and well documented. On September 28, 2015 Cuban exiles from around the country gathered in New York City in front of the United Nations and  in front of the Cuban Mission to the United Nations to protest against Raul Castro and his dictatorship. 

Towards the end of the day, when most of the protesters had left, FCF founder Augusto Monge on his way back from lunch happened upon Raul Castro and his motorcade returning to the Cuban Mission. In the video below, you can hear Augusto Monge denouncing Raul Castro, the dictatorship's delegation and calling for the freedom of jailed artist and prisoner of conscience Danilo Maldonado known as "El Sexto."
 

The high price paid by the Obama administration to re-launch the U.S. embassy in Cuba

A shameful legacy

Despite what the Obama Administration and mainstream media would have you believe the United States and the Castro regime have had extensive diplomatic contacts since 1977, military contacts since 1994, and trade since 2000. This is why when Obama pledged on December 17, 2014 the objective of normalizing diplomatic relations the Castro regime was able to raise numerous demands that the United States has complied with that undermine U.S. security and credibility. Below are the top three:

• Releasing Castro spies on December 17, 2014 serving life prison sentences, including one for conspiracy to murder three U.S. citizens and one resident. 
• Secondly, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary removing the Castro regime from the list of state sponsors of terrorism on May 29, 2015. 
• Finally, on July 27, 2015 watering down the State Department's human trafficking report for political aims including ignoring the severity of sex trafficking in Cuba and the use of slave labor.

Secretary of State John Kerry will be in Havana, Cuba to raise the flag at the US Embassy on Friday, August 14, 2015 and that would be the perfect day to remind the world the price paid in compromising not only the national security of the United States freeing terrorist spies and letting ones guard down as to the terrorist threat posed by the dictatorship but also undermining the credibility of the State Department's report on human trafficking and respect for human rights. Above and below are images that we encourage you to click on and share with others on social media or print them out to use in public protests to hold the administration accountable.

Rosa María Payá returns to Cuba to place flowers on her martyred father's tomb

Rosa María Payá returns to Cuba lays flowers at her father's tomb, demands justice

Rosa María Payá at Colón cemetary in Havana where she left flowers at her father's tomb. In the video below she outlined the purpose of her visit and calls for solidarity. Please share the video and help spread the word.

Ángel Carromero speaks to the Cuban exile community about what happened on July 22, 2012

On the third anniversary of Laura Inés Pollán Toledo's untimely death, Ángel Carromero speaks to the Cuban exile community about what happened on July 22, 2012

Ángel Francisco Carromero Barrios presented his book tonight (October 14, 2014) on the July 22, 2012 attack that killed Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, and Harold Cepero Escalante. 

He was introduced at the Institute of Cuban and Cuban American Studies by Ofelia Acevedo and Rosa Maria Payá Acevedo to packed room of primarily Cuban exiles.
 

No More Che Day Student Initiative

Cubans suffer the weight of the myth created by the mega-operation of intelligence of exportation called Cuban Revolution, that has turned murderers like Che Guevara into global youth icons. - Rosa María Payá Acevedo  Iberoamerican Vanguard Summit Octuber 14, 2013.

No More Che Day 2014

October 9th marks the day in 1967 when an icon of hatred and political intolerance met his end violently in the jungles of Bolivia. It is easy to understand why the dictatorship in Cuba celebrates his memory and death but it is not so easy to understand why UNESCO does. The Argentine Maoist's legacy is a lamentable one that spread death and repression across the Americas and Africa:

Che Guevara was an admirer of Mao Zedong and his formulation of guerrilla warfare is adapted from the Chinese leader. Che published influential manuals Guerrilla Warfare (1961) and Guerrilla Warfare: A Method (1963), which were based on his own experiences and partly chairman Mao Zedong's writings. Guevara stated that revolution in Latin America must come through insurgent forces developed in rural areas with peasant support. His international legacy of glorifying violence through an erroneous analysis of guerrilla warfare, based on his experiences led to bloodbaths in Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chiapas, Congo, Angola and decades of military dictatorship and political violence. Nevertheless it could have been worse. Another disciple of Mao Zedong who adapted his theories was Pol Pot, who unlike Che achieved power in 1975 after a guerrilla struggle in Cambodia. He carried out a radical revolution modeled after Mao and ended by killing 25% of the entire population of his country: Cambodia.

In 2010 the Free Cuba Foundation had as a guest speaker Félix Ismael Rodríguez, the CIA agent responsible for capturing Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Bolivia in 1967. This year we will distribute posters and fliers exposing the facts about Ernesto "Che" Guevara as part of No More Che Day organized by the Young America's Foundation that exposes who he was: 

"Che Guevara was an international terrorist and mass murderer. During his vicious campaigns to impose Communism on countries throughout Latin America, Che Guevara trained and motivated the Castro regime's firing squads that executed thousands of men, women, and children. "

We will make the case for boycotting those who use Che as an "icon" of rebellion at the same time we'll advocate rejecting the Che icon in favor of embracing more authentic figures of resistance such as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas.

Gandhi, King and Payá: Three Resistance Icons Worth Honoring

"13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre 20 Years Later: Still Demanding Justice

"State crimes are never an issue exclusive to the families of the victims." - Rosa Maria Payá over twitter, July 10, 2014

Twenty minutes of silence for 20 years without justice: Silent Vigil on July 13 at 3:00pm

.
The Free Cuba Foundation has made a global call  for people of good will to hold a twenty minute moment of silence asking: "Please share and encourage friends wherever they are on July 13, 2014 at 3pm to join in a 20 minute moment of silence. Gather in a group or individually and take a photo at the end of the vigil holding up the above image calling for justice or whatever you have at hand. "  On Sunday at 3:00pm members of the Free Cuba Foundation will be gathering at the main fountain at Florida International University [Facing the Library] 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL (rain or shine) for a twenty minute silent vigil.


For more information on activities in your area visit their facebook page or e-mail them

 "Lights of Liberty Flotilla in Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Massacre of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Sinking

In the Florida Straits and in Miami the Democracy Movement is organizing a flotilla on Saturday, July 12, 2014 called the "Lights of Liberty Flotilla in Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Massacre of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat sinking that will leave Key West from the Key West City Bight Marina and go in front of Cuba on Saturday, July 12, 2014 to hold a ceremony in memory of the victims of the massacre and others murdered by Castroism and to launch powerful lights of freedom, which will be seen from Havana and other points of Cuba. Inside Cuba, members of the opposition and the Democracy Movement led in the island by  Jose Diaz Silva and the people in general will draw near to the Malecon and other points on the coast with candles and flowerr to throw them into the sea and to see the "Lights of Freedom" launched by the flotilla.

For more information visit their facebook page or call 305-264-7200.

Mothers and Women Against Repression (MAR) will Remember Victims of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre

On Sunday July 13, 2014- the twentieth anniversary of this crime against humanity. - MAR for Cuba will hold a rosary for the victims of the"13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre, on the grounds of the Cuban Memorial Monument, that is located on Coral Way & SW 112 Avenue, at 10 AM, after which a wreath of flowers will be deposited in their memory.

For more information contact  Sylvia G. Iriondo at 305-934-7302 or visit their website.



Collective Action "A light for mine" in tribute to victims of the "13 de Marzo"tugboat and all Cubans who've lost their lives at sea at dusk on July 12, 2014

Estado de Sats and For Another Cuba have called for an international campaign. The collective action “A light for mine” will be a tribute to the victims of the tugboat “13 de Marzo” and all Cubans who have lost their lives at sea, trying to escape a suffocating reality during 54 years.  It is also a tribute to the Cuban family and a call to hope and spiritual rebuilding of our nation.

 
This July 12 on the eve of the anniversary, at  dusk Cubans, anywhere in the world, will light a candle in front of the ocean , a bridge, a lake, a river, on your door, balcony or in the privacy of your home (in this case for the repression that doubles in Cuba on this date) For Cuba's disconnect with the world, Cubans living abroad can help promote this symbolic action inviting relatives and friends on the island to participate and share in turn photos and pictures of the same in the social networks.

Let's light a candle this July 12 to remember the friend, the family member who didn’t make it, the son who never appeared.

- See more at: http://www.estadodesats.com/2014/06/una-luz-por-los-mios.html#sthash.JZOcqy3a.dpuf

For more information on the collective action visit their campaign page  or Por Otra Cuba

20th Anniversary of the abominable sinking of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat off the coast of Havana on July 13, 1994

Our Lady of Charity  (La Ermita) is holding a Special mass and vigil: 

We will join together in prayer for the victims and their families and for Liberty and Justice to soon reach Cuba.

Mass: Saturday July 12, 2014
Location: 3609 South Miami Ave Miami, Fl. 33133
Time: 8:00pm

After the Mass united with our brothers in the Island and in different parts of the world we will have a candlelight vigil in their memory in the Sea wall of Our Lady of Charity. 

Don't miss it!

For more information on the Mass and vigil visit their facebook page or official website.

Human Rights Foundation and Cuban Democratic Directorate call for Twenty Minutes of Silence for Twenty Years of Impunity


The Cuban Democratic Directorate (CDD) and the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), have called for a symbolic nonviolent protest action in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the murder of 37 Cuban passengers of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat, who on July 13, 1994 were killed by agents of the Cuban government for trying to escape the island. The demonstration will take place on July 10 at 12:00 noon outside the headquarters of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Cuba to the United Nations (UN), located at No. 315 Lexington Avenue in New York City. Human rights activists, members of international civil society and Cuban exiles will gather in front of the embassy in order to hold twenty minutes of silence for each of the twenty years that this crime has remained unpunished.

For more information on the silent vigil visit the official announcement in English or Spanish and for additional questions contact: Jamie Hancock, jamie@thehrf.org, 212-246-8486 or
Janisset Rivero, jrrivero1969@gmail.com, 305-220-2713

  
CUBA: Young Leaders Group, Center for a Free Cuba and the Cuban Democratic Directorate Call for Twenty Minutes of Silence for Twenty Years of Impunity

Human rights and civil society organizations have called for a symbolic nonviolent protest action in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the murder of 37 Cuban passengers of the “13 de Marzo” Tugboat, who on July 13, 1994 were killed by agents of the Cuban government for trying to escape the island. The demonstration will take place on July 10 at 12:00 noon outside of the Cuban Interests Section located on 2630 16th Street NW in Washington DC. Human rights activists, members of international civil society and Cuban exiles will gather in front of the embassy in order to hold twenty minutes of silence for each of the twenty years that this crime has remained unpunished.

For more information contact:

Frank Calzon, Center for a Free Cuba 202- 427-3875

Jose Luis Garza, Cuban Democratic Directorate 305-220-2713

Rudy Mayor, U.S. Cuba Democracy PAC’s Young Leaders Group 786-393-9068

Democratic Thought of Oswaldo Payá Teach-In: Is Cuba Changing?

 If what we do for Cuba, we do not do for love, better not do it.- Bishop Agustín Román

Rosa Maria Payá Acevedo, Sayli Navarro & Henry Constantin in La Ermita

Is Cuba Changing? Yes (Cubans) and No (Dictatorship)

The portrait of Bishop Agustín Román alongside the Virgin of Charity accompanied three young Cubans who have and continue to sacrifice much for Cuba's freedom. Friday night they took part in the “Peña del Pensamiento Democrático de Oswaldo Payá” that loosely translates into the "Democratic Thought of Oswaldo Payá Teach-In" held at the Bishop Agustín Román Salon. Eleven years ago Bishop Agustín Román had accompanied Oswaldo Payá in a gathering with the community in the same building in the Salon Varela.

Both have been called home and are no longer with us physically but last night they were there with us in spirit.

The three youths Rosa Maria Payá Acevedo, Sayli Navarro and Henry Constantin each gave their vision of the current situation on the island and prospects for real change in short presentations. The rest of the evening was spent in a question, comment and answer session that went on later into the night.

The conclusion that one arrives at after listening to the presentations and the exchange with the audience is that the Cuban people are changing but the Castro regime is not. The Castro brothers are doing what they've always done since 1959 adapt to changing circumstances in order to hang on to power by any means necessary.

After 54 years, Cubans are tired and want to be free, but the last free elections held in Cuba were in 1950. Imagine for a moment - 64 years without exercising the right to vote.

The legacy of Bishop Agustín Román and Oswaldo Payá is one of love and resistance to injustice. If Cuba is to achieve a lasting and positive change it will require their spirit of nonviolence and resistance to be embraced by a majority of Cubans along with the knowledge of how to carry it out using elements that are constructive and when need be obstructionist.

In that spirit we make a public request that in the future a series of  "teach-ins" on Oswaldo's nonviolent political thought along with a more profound examination of how to apply it in the present.

Christian Liberation Movement Letter to the European Union: A Defining Moment

Honorable Foreign Ministers of the European Union:

We are writing to you with the certainty that our position is properly valued, as befits the responsibility of the position that you hold. We Cubans are going through a defining moment in our history. The economic crisis and the rise of the opposition movement are converging, despite the dangerous escalation of violence, arbitrary arrests, beatings and suspicious deaths in the last two years as numbers indicate especially against members of civil society. A government that has ever been elected by its citizens is now trying to convince the international community that it is making democratic changes. Reforms realized in Cuba to date, alleviate or do not the situation of a small percentage of the population. They do not guarantee recognition of human rights kidnapped for 55 years , but what they have done is increase social inequality and establish themselves with new mechanisms of control, because the government provides privileges and permissions but not rights . Reforms that serve to excuse those who on behalf of their economic interests seek to justify the totalitarian regime in Havana .

We do not understand the reasons which led to the lifting of obstacles to negotiate a treaty of cooperation with the Cuban government and the possible lifting of the common position. We put to you two questions without which a dialogue between democracies and those in power in our country could hinder the possibility of a democratic transition in Cuba. We hope that the sunset clause on human rights that is negotiated contribute to:

1.Put an end to the impunity of State Security of the Cuban Government , noting the willingness of the European Union to promote an independent investigation in an International Court or with the UN framework to clarify the circumstances in which Oswaldo Payá (Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament ) and Harold Cepero died. We hope that in ethics and consistency in ethics you will support the resolution of the European Parliament (Article 69) of December 11, 2013, (2013 /2152 ( INI ) ) to prevent similar incidents continuing to occur on the island. We consider that one should require the immediate stop to the violence against members of civil society , the release of political prisoners and the possibility of an independent investigation into the suspicious deaths of O. Payá and H. Cepero .

2. Enable the realization of a plebiscite that offers the option to citizens of expressing if they want to participate in a process of free and pluralistic elections with democratic guarantees. In this manner we ask you to support effective citizen participation, taking into account the recognition given by the European Union to the Varela Project. An initiative of legal change supported by more than 25,000 citizens, based on the current Constitution, proposed the realization of the plebiscite.

We are not opposed to the negotiation process that is a fact and we offer our participation as free agents of Cuban civil society, representing a political alternative, with over 25 years in the island and in exile. Respectfully we want to warn that there are still many reforms that the Cuban government can make, even internationally, without starting a real democratic transition. In the confidence of the fidelity that you profess to democratic values ​​we know that you understand that the absence of both above points that we proposed in the process of negotiations could signify a support for the maintenance in power of the oppressors. Cubans have been capable of designing a path for the transition, we have the hope that you will accompany them through it.

Coordinating Council of the Christian Liberation Movement.

ABC ......... However, opposition organizations like the Christian Liberation Movement have already made it known from inside Cuba that " we do not understand the reasons which led to the lifting of obstacles to negotiate a treaty of cooperation and the possible lifting of the common position common " considering the dangerous escalation of violence , especially against members of civil society as the numbers of arbitrary arrests , beatings and suspicious deaths in the last two years indicate. "

Original Spanish text and slightly different version by Rosa Maria Payá Acevedo published in El Mundo on January 30, 2014.