Posted on 06/18/2002 11:11:28 PM PDT by kattracks
Castro: Nearly All Cuba Voters Sign Petition Declaring Socialist System 'Untouchable'H A V A N A, June 18 —
HAVANA (AP) Nearly 99 percent of Cuba's registered voters signed a petition declaring the island nation's socialist system "untouchable," Fidel Castro's government said Tuesday.
Pedro Ross Leal, head of the Confederation of Cuban Workers, told an evening government television program that preliminary results showed about 8.1 million of Cuba's 8.2 million registered voters signing the document.
Cuba's population is about 11 million.
Cuba's mass organizations, which are tied to the government and ruling Communist Party, began collecting signatures Saturday morning and stopped Tuesday at noon.
The document expressed support for a constitutional amendment declaring Cuba's economic, political and social system "untouchable" meaning it cannot be changed.
Signatures were gathered at more than 120,000 neighborhood sites nationwide, mostly by the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, local vigilance groups organized block by block.
Opposition leaders said the effort was in response to their own signature drive, known as the Varela Project.
Activists last month submitted more than 11,000 signatures to the National Assembly seeking a referendum asking voters whether they favor civil liberties such as freedom of speech and assembly, the right to own a business, electoral reform and amnesty for political prisoners.
But Castro said the government effort responded to a President Bush speech on May 20. Bush said he would not ease American trade or travel restrictions against the island unless Cuba embraces democratic reforms, including competitive elections.
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Please, don't leave us in the dark, Associated Press, what are the FINAL results? I can't take the suspense.
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