Exiles, dissidents draft post-Castro democracy plan

Published Saturday, February 21, 1998, in the Miami Herald

Exiles, dissidents draft post-Castro democracy plan

Cuban exile organizations and representatives of dissident groups on the island met Friday at Florida International University to draft a 10-point plan for a transition to democracy in a post-Castro Cuba.

The document, An Accord for Democracy in Cuba, proposes that the proposed social and political structure be based on Cuba's Constitution of 1940. Among other recommendations, it calls for the legalization of political parties, free elections, an amnesty for all political prisoners and respect for human rights.

Seventy organizations signed the document, including the South Florida-based groups Brothers to the Rescue, Agenda Cuba, Independent and Democratic Cuba, and the Cuban Liberal Union. The Cuban American National Foundation and Cuban Unity were absent, however.

Island-based groups included the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, the Youth Movement for Democracy, the Democratic Solidarity Party and the National Union of Opponents. However, three major dissident groups sent no representatives: Concilio Cubano, the Socialist-Democratic Trend, and the Cuban Committee on Human Rights and National Reconciliation.