[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 105 (Monday, July 29, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             PROJECT VARELA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 26, 2002

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to once again draw attention 
to important developments in Fidel Castro's continued oppression of the 
Cuban people.
  Needless to say, this summer has proved to be a memorable one for 
Fidel Castro.
  It began on Friday, May 10, when 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 19th-century priest and Cuban independence 
hero, Padre Felix Varela, the Varela Project was the first-ever 
peaceful challenge to Castro's four-decade long control of the island. 
Varela received no funding or support from foreign organizations or 
foreign governments and is a grassroots effort by the Cuban people to 
call on their government to provide them with internationally accepted 
standards of human and civil rights.
  In an attempt to negate the effects of Varela, Castro scrambled to 
respond. Exactly one month to the day that Varela was delivered to the 
Assembly, Castro and his regime organized mass demonstrations all over 
Cuba in a sign of so called ``support'' for Cuba's socialist form of 
government. Castro began his own petition effort that asks members of 
the Cuban National Assembly to adopt an amendment to the Cuban 
constitution that stipulates that Cuba is a ``socialist state of 
workers, independent and sovereign, organized with all and for the good 
of all, as a unified democratic republic, for the enjoyment of 
political liberty, social justice, individual and collective well-being 
and human solidarity.'' Castro has supposedly ``obtained'' the 
signatures of approximately 98% of Cuba's voting population.
  However, Castro's poorly veiled attempt to erase the impact of the 
Varela Project has only backfired. As we near the middle of summer, 
Castro continues to strong-arm Cuban citizens into signing his 
petition, and word of the Varela Project continues to spread. Oswaldo 
Paya, Varela's organizer, continues to collect signatures and continues 
to garner the world's attention for his efforts.
  It is critical that we continue to draw attention to and commend the 
efforts of Paya, his fellow organizers and all those who have signed 
Project Varela. Castro cannot continue to hide behind his forced 
petition and continue to ignore Project Varela. If Castro is so assured 
of his having the support of the Cuban people, then he must schedule a 
referendum on Varela's reforms and allow the true voices of the Cuban 
people to be heard.




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