Dissident encourages dignity and rights for Cubans

CNA STAFF, Mar 22, 2010 / 11:56 am (CNA).- In an interview with CNA, the president of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Paya reiterated the need for a democratic change in Cuba and called on the international community to support this peaceful struggle without ideological bias. In the second part of his interview with CNA, Paya spoke of the complicated situation on the island that has caused some to lose hope. “First of all, our call is that people, whether they are believers or not, discover that they have the God-given capacity to be free. That is, they are born free and with rights. We say: Cubans have a right to rights.” “And we are sowing hope not in a foreign power nor in the demise of a dictator,” but we tell people to “discover your own dignity, discover your own rights and show solidarity out of love for your neighbor.” “In other words, the source of this liberation is not hatred, nor the desire to destroy others, but rather love, the unselfish love of oneself.” Referring later to the Varela Project, an initiative of the Christian Liberation Movement, Paya explained that it proposes “asking Cubans in a referendum whether or not they want these changes." The project, he continued, “is a peaceful path but it gives citizens the power, it gives citizens the ability to participate in public and economic life and vote on changes. Let the people be the ones to decide what is good, what they want, but above all in an atmosphere of reconciliation, in an atmosphere of brotherhood. This is very important, because we don’t want liberation resulting from a brother against brother confrontation.” “We don’t see the Christian Liberation Movement as the interpreter of the gospel ... but we do get light from the gospel, recognizing each human being as our brother. For this reason our motto is, ‘Cubans All, Brothers All, and Now Freedom’,” Paya said. He added that the central point of solidarity lies in “the liberation of all political prisoners. Why? Because they are prisoners for defending these rights. They are prisoners for calling for these peaceful changes, and nothing else.” “Let us seek out the truth together. Nobody has a monopoly on the truth. The truth is in God and we are all children of God. God gives freedom to human beings – to those who believe or do not believe,” Paya continued. “For this reason we speak in terms of liberation, not through violence or through hatred, but through the restoration of liberation, dignity, and the rights of each human being,” he concluded.