Cuban dissident leaders react to President Obama's announcement to normalize relations with Castro's brutal and racist dictatorship:
"
Sadly,
President Obama made the wrong decision. The freedom and democracy of
the Cuban people will not be achieved through these benefits that he's
giving -- not to the Cuban people -- but to the Cuban government. The
Cuban government will only take advantage to strengthen its repressive
machinery, to repress civil society, its people and remain in power."
-- Berta Soler, leader of
The Ladies in White.
"
[Alan
Gross] was not arrested for what he did, but for what could be gained
from his arrest. He was simply bait and they were aware of it from the
beginning... Castroism has won, though the positive result is that Alan
Gross has left alive the prison that threatened to become his tomb."
-- Yoani Sanchez, Cuban blogger and independent journalist,
14ymedio.
"
The
Cuban people are being ignored in this secret conversation, in this
secret agreement that we learned today. The reality of my country is
there is just one party with all the control and with the state security
controlling the whole society. If this doesn’t change, there’s no real
change in Cuba. Not even with access to Internet. Not even when Cuban
people can travel more than two years ago. Not even that is a sign of
the end of the totalitarianism in my country."
--Rosa Maria Paya, daughter of murdered
Christian Liberation Movement leader, Oswaldo Paya.
"
[Obama's
announcement] is horrible and disregarding the opinion of [Cuban] civil
society sends a bad message. The acceptance of neo-Castroism in Cuba
will mean greater support for authoritarianism in the region and, as a
consequence, human rights will be relegated to a secondary role."
-- Antonio Rodiles, head of
Estado de Sats.
"
Alan
Gross was used as a tool by the Castro regime to coerce the United
States. Obama was not considerate of Cuban citizens and of the civil
society that is facing this tyrannical regime.
In Miami, Obama
promised that he would consult Cuba measures with civil society and the
non-violent opposition. Obviously, this didn't happen. That is a fact, a
reality. He didn't consider Cuba's democrats. The betrayal of Cuba's
democrats has been consummated."
-- Guillermo Fariñas, former Sakharov Prize recipient.
"
The
Obama Administration has ceded before Castro's dictatorship. Nothing
has changed. The jails remain filled, the government represents only one
family, repression continues, civil society is not recognized and we
have no right to assemble or protest... The measures that the government
of the United States has implemented today, to ease the embargo and
establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, will in no way benefit the
Cuban people. The steps taken will strengthen the Castro regime's
repression against human rights activists and increase its resources, so
the security forces can keep harassing and repressing civil society."
--Angel Moya, former political prisoner of the Black Spring (2003).
"
We
are in total disagreement with what has transpired today. It's a
betrayal of those who within Cuba have opposed the regime in order to
achieve definitive change for the good of all Cubans."
-- Felix Navarro, former political prisoner and co-head of the
Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU).
"
It's
discomforting that the accounts of the Castro regime can grow, as the
first step will be more effective repression and a rise in the level of
corruption."
-- Jose Daniel Ferrer, former political prisoner and co-head of the
Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU)
"
This
is a betrayal that leaves the democratic opposition defenseless. Obama
has allied himself with the oppressors and murderers of our people."
-- Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez," former political prisoner and head of the
National Resistance Front.
"
I feel as though I have been abandoned on the battlefield."
-- Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, former Cuban political prisoner and U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.
