Let there be light Sixth Part Extraordinary 110

Despite the civic, legal and democratic value of the #VarelaProject, which earned #OsvaldoPaya the #SakharovPrize for Freedom of Thought by the #EuropeanParliament, and praise from former U.S. President #JimmyCarter, in a speech in May 2002 in Havana, the #Castros' dictatorship responded with the usual cowardice, meanness and deceit. His Foreign Minister, #FelipePerezRoque, declared on April 9th, 2003 that the Varela Project was part of the strategy of subversion against #Cuba, conceived, sponsored and directed from the outside; however, the dismissal for conspiracy of the said chancellor later in 2009, demonstrated the project viability need and the true feelings of #Cubans, even within the Party and Government circles, towards the abolition of #Castro regime. Moreover, the forces of the State Security, the Ministry of Interior, and the unfair and manipulated Ministry of Justice, undertook several actions against the Cuban people, infiltrating the organization of the Varela Project, and chasing, harassing and imprisoning several of its activists, seizing signatures, fining and threatening activists and signers, and forcing adherents to cancel their signatures. The Inter-American Commission on #HumanRights reported the arrests of 75 political prisoners with sentences of 6-28 years after being accused and convicted of acts "against the independence or territorial integrity of the state", in the context of what is known as the #BlackSpring of Cuba. Many of those arrested were not aware of the charges or access to lawyers until just before their one-day trial presided over by a judge subordinate to the #CommunistParty. In the next review we will analyze the response of the Committee on Constitution and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba to the Varela Proyect initiative. To be continued...