[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 66 (Tuesday, May 21, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H2809]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    PROJECT VARELA, A HISTORIC STEP TOWARD DEMOCRATIC REFORM IN CUBA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to Project 
Varela, a historic step towards democratic reform in Cuba.
  On Friday, May 10, over 11,000 citizens of Cuba took a courageous 
stand and petitioned the Cuban National Assembly to hold a nationwide 
referendum vote on guarantees of human rights and civil liberties.
  Named for the nineteenth century priest and Cuban independence hero, 
Padre Felix Varela, the Varela Project received no funding or support 
from foreign organizations or foreign governments. This was a 
grassroots effort by the Cuban people to call on their government to 
provide them with internationally accepted standards of human and civil 
rights, including freedom of speech, the right to own a business, 
electoral reform and amnesty for political prisoners. This is the 
largest nonviolent challenge to Castro's decade-long, single-party 
control of the Cuban Government.
  With its 11,000-plus signatures, the project qualifies under article 
88 of the Cuban constitution, which states if the Cuban National 
Assembly receives the verified signatures of 10,000 legal voters, a 
referendum on the issue should be scheduled. Unfortunately, Cuban 
officials have given little hope for the project's success, stating 
that the national assembly is unlikely to agree to accept the petition 
and follow through with their constitutional obligation to hold a 
referendum vote.

                              {time}  2115

  Mr. Speaker, the ultimate goal of U.S. policy towards Cuba has always 
been to promote the island's peaceful transition to democracy. Many of 
my colleagues have varying views on the best approach to achieve the 
democracy; however, we can all agree on the importance of a grass-roots 
democratic effort like Project Varela.
  That is why I plan to introduce, Mr. Speaker, a resolution praising 
Project Varela and calling on the Cuban government to accept the 
petition and to hold the referendum. I urge all of my colleagues to 
join with me in commending the citizens of Cuba for actively exercising 
their constitutional rights and taking a stand for the rights of all 
Cubans.

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