WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States dismissed on Friday Cuban President Fidel Castro's campaign for signatures supporting the communist system, saying he was trying to obscure popular support for a reform petition. Posted on 06/14/2002 1:09:58 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States dismissed on Friday Cuban President Fidel Castro's campaign for signatures supporting the communist system, saying he was trying to obscure popular support for a reform petition.
Defying U.S. calls for political reform, Castro announced on Thursday a nationwide campaign to support a petition in favor of making the socialist system "untouchable."
Critics said his aim was to squash a dissident attempt to seek moderate internal reform and guarantees of civil liberties through a popular referendum known as the Varela Project.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker agreed.
"Instead of addressing this peaceful plea for change, Castro has chosen to manufacture an alternative petition supporting the current constitution and to intimidate the population into signing it," he told a daily briefing.
He added: "Obviously, given Castro's control over the Cuban population, he is no doubt going to try to get more signatures on this than on Project Varela.
"No matter what the outcome, he's not going to be able to obscure the fact that one important thing has occurred with Project Varela, and that's it's succeeded in getting 11,000 Cubans to brave Castro's tyranny and to call for change."
President Bush has offered to ease the U.S. restrictions on trade and travel to Cuba, provided the Cuban government holds free and fair elections, liberalizes the economy and allows independent trade unions.
Beginning Saturday, Cubans will be able to sign petitions over a four-day period in support of Cuba's economic, political and social systems, Castro said during a live appearance on state television. More than 120,000 petition stations will be set up around the island, said Castro, who established the country's socialist system in 1961, two years after he came to power with the triumph of the 1959 revolution.
The constitutional amendment was proposed Monday by the island's popular support organizations, which are linked to the Communist Party of Cuba. Opposition activists say the government's appeals for public support of its socialist system are a response to the Varela Project, an initiative that would ask voters if they favor civil liberties including freedom of speech and assembly, the right to own a business, electoral reform and amnesty for political prisoners.
Most Cubans first heard of the Varela Project in mid-May, when former President Carter mentioned it in a live, uncensored television address to the Cuban people. Castro's initiative also comes less than a month after President Bush called for democratic reforms in Cuba. In a May 20 address, Bush promised not to lift American trade and travel restrictions until Cuba holds competitive elections and undertakes other deep reforms. Castro said the referendum would give Bush his answer.***
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