You also can be a part of it!
The signatories below, members of Civil Society Organizations of the American Hemisphere, categorically reject the initiative taken by the President of Ecuador Rafael Correa and the ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) bloc of countries to invite Cuba to the Summit of the Americas, to be celebrated on April 14 and 15 in the city of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
Regrettably, ever since Cuba’s suspension from the OAS (Organization of American States) was lifted at the General Assembly that took place in June 2009 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the one-party regime ruling Cuba has failed to make any progress in the field of civil and political liberties. Consequently, the Cuban regime is excluding itself from the Organization and therefore from attending the Summit of the Americas, having failed to bring its internal norms into line with the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
Among the most self-evident aspects in which Cuban values are considered to be contrary to those laid out in the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the following are particularly worth noting:
Article 1: The peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy, and it is the obligation of their governments to promote and defend it.
Article 3: Essential elements of a representative democracy include: the respect of human rights and basic freedoms, access to and the exercise of power in accordance with the rule of law, the holding of regular, free and fair elections based on secret balloting and universal suffrage as an expression of the sovereignty of the people, a multi-party regime with a plurality of political organizations, and the separation and autonomy of powers.
Article 4: Essential to the exercise of democracy are: transparency in political activities, probity, responsible public administration on the part of governments, the respect of social rights, and the freedom of the press and of expression.
Article 7: Democracy is indispensable to the effective exercise of universal, indivisible and interdependent basic freedoms and human rights embodied in the constitutions of democratic states and in inter-American and international human rights instruments.
Article 8: The Member States reaffirm their intention to strengthen the inter-American system for the protection of human rights for the consolidation of democracy in the Hemisphere.
Article 9: The eradication of all forms of discrimination- gender, ethnic and racial discrimination in particular- and of the various forms of intolerance, as well as the promotion and protection of the human rights of indigenous and migrant peoples, and the respect of ethnic, cultural and religious diversity in the Americas contribute to strengthen democracy and public participation.
Article 10: The promotion and strengthening of democracy require the full and effective exercise of workers’ rights and the enforcement of the core labor standards identified in the International Labor Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
Article 23: Member States are responsible for organizing, conducting and guaranteeing free and fair electoral processes.
Article 26: The OAS considers democracy to be a life system based on freedom and the improvement of economic, social and cultural conditions for the peoples of the Americas, and will thus continue to develop programs and activities aimed at promoting democratic practices and principles and at consolidating a democratic culture in the Hemisphere. The OAS will be holding consultations and cooperating with the Member States on an ongoing basis, taking into account the contributions of civil society organizations working in such fields.
We would also like to ask the Government of Colombia and General Secretary of the OAS to discuss in the next Summit of the Americas the suggestions presented before the body on April 13, 2011 and endorsed by 203 democratic referents in Cuba, proposing the following:
-That Member States instruct their diplomatic representatives in Havana to comply with Article 1 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter at their embassy headquarters, offering members of the Cuban Civic Movement recognition, protection, and access to the internet. These individuals, victims of the personal insecurity generated by a state which applies its legislation to expressly punish the exercise of civil, political and economic freedoms, are actively engaged in the non-violent promotion of a political opening in their country.
-That so long as the Cuban government denies its citizens the right to freedom of association, the OAS should consider the participation of the Cuban civil society in the organization through the special recognition of the groups which make up the Cuban Civic Movement, thus putting an end to the illegality imposed on them by their anti-democratic regime through its repressive legislation against the most fundamental civil and political liberties.
Jaime Malamud Goti (Argentina), Daniel Sabsay (Argentina), Sergio Fausto (Brazil), Patricio Navia (Chile), Luis Alberto Romero (Argentina), Jorge Olivera Castillo (Cuba), Sylvina Walger (Argentina), Violeta Mercedes Granera Padilla (Nicaragua), Ricardo Emilio Lafferriere (Argentina), Jorge Villena (Peru), Gabriel Palumbo (Argentina), Lemis Tarajano (USA), Oscar Espinosa Chepe (Cuba), Ricardo del Pino Barbán (Cuba), Yesenia Alvarez (Peru), Pamela Asturizaga (Bolivia), Eduardo Matías López Ferrer (Mexico), Carlos Sabino (Guatemala), Carlos José María Facal (Argentina), Eduardo Viola (Brazil), Héctor Ricardo Leis (Brazil), Jorge Castorberi (Cuba), Andrés Cañizález (Venezuela), Daniel Edgardo Pérez (Argentina), Ricardo López Göttig (Uruguay), Óscar Álvarez Araya (Costa Rica), Verónica Repond (Argentina), Carlos Gervasoni (Argentina), Gonzalo Bustamante Kuschel (Chile), Aleardo Laria (Argentina), César Mimbela Valencia (Peru), Gabriel Salvia (Argentina), Marcela María Moreno (Argentina), Tristán Rodríguez Loredo (Argentina), Viviana Giacaman (Estados Unidos), Alma Ramírez (México), Elenis Rodríguez (Venezuela), Jorge Elías (Argentina), Francisco Jeria (Chile), Nazly Escalona (Venezuela), Hugo Machín (Uruguay), Micaela Hierro Dori (Argentina), Peter-Alberto Behrens (Argentina), Romeo Pérez Antón (Uruguay), Fernando Ruiz (Argentina), Barbara Joe (Estados Unidos), Heinz R. Sonntag (Venezuela), Jessica Valentini (Argentina), Bernabé García Hamilton (Argentina), Sabrina Ajmechet (Argentina), María Sáenz Quesada (Argentina).
