From: Directorio Revolucionario Democratico Cubano (directorio@netside.net)

To: Olga Cechurova (o.cechurova@agora.stm.it)

Subject: Campaign for a general amnesty

Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 15:42:28

FAMILY MEMBERS OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN CUBA BEGIN SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN FOR A GENERAL AMNESTY

Guantanamo, Cuba, June 3, 1998

Family members of Cuban political prisoners have initiated a national signature drive in Cuba calling for a general amnesty in the country. Berta Antunez Pernet, whose brother Jorge Luis Garcia Perez is one of Cuba's best known political prisoners, issued the statement from the city of Guantanamo in Cuba's western region.

Berta Antunez Pernet, who is also the president of the Pedro Luis Boitel National Civic Resistance Movement, an organization composed of family members of Cuban political prisoners, stated that "there can be neither a [political] opening nor a reconciliation while the category of political crimes exists in the Cuban penal code." She added that "the Cuban government should fully respond to the Pope's request to release all political prisoners."

In the document calling for the general amnesty, the family members also referred to the U.S. government's recent conciliatory measures towards Cuba, such as the lifting of the ban on direct travel and cash remittances, pointing out that there has been no corresponding gesture by the Castro regime. "If these measures manifest a desire for the easing of tensions by the United States government, then the justification used [by the Castro regime] to keep these men and women incarcerated has ceased to exist.'

Berta Antunez added that the signature drive has begun in all the provinces and that it has received great support from the citizenry. The petition form requires all citizens to write their name and addresses as well as their signature in order to state their agreement with a general and unconditional amnesty for all the political prisoners in the island.

For more information please contact :

Janisset Rivero at (305) 279-4416

Fax (305) 279-0488

A CALL TO ALL CUBANS FOR A GENERAL AMNESTY FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN CUBA

Mothers, wives, children, neighbors, friends and brothers in the island and in exile: we need your support and solidarity. We are the suffering mothers, daughters, and wives of today, who, just like those who raised their voices on May 20, 1954 in demand of an amnesty for their children, call on all those mothers who have their children with them to support us. It is time to end the existence of political prisoners in Cuba.

Today, 44 years later, we call on those same men who received a general amnesty from the prior dictatorship to cease their abuse and open the prison doors so as to release so many men and women, most of them young, whose only crime has been to aspire for change in our country. We call for a general amnesty for all our loved ones, who are incarcerated and suffer from harsh and unjust sanctions.

We ask for the lives of all the children of Cuba. We don't want any more lost at sea in fragile rafts, or killed, or mutilated in mine fields trying to escape to freedom. We don't want any more tears or suffering. We don't want to be separated from our loved ones, forced into exile or isolated in prison cells. We wish to live in peace. We want Pope John Paul II's request in his trip to our island to become a reality.

For all this to happen the following steps must be taken:

(1) There can no opening or reconciliation while the category of political crimes exists in the Cuban penal code. Only by eliminating the category of political crimes can we achieve the true liberation of all political prisoners and the return of all exiles, so as to begin a new chapter in our history.

(2) The government of Cuba should respond fully to the Papal request for the liberation of all political prisoners, for only a small number were released, most of whom were actually common criminals.

(3) The Cuban government must cease to justify the existence of political prisoners due to the existence of a supposed confrontation with the United States. President Bill Clinton has made U.S. policy more flexible. Cash remittances and direct flights have once again been allowed and the Department of Defense issued a document stating that Cuba no longer represents a military threat to the United States. Clinton has praised the educational and health care systems of the current regime. Therefore, if these measures manifest a desire for the easing of tensions by the United States government, then the justification used to keep these men and women incarcerated has ceased to exist.

The Cuban president should recall that when he was a political prisoner he was released thanks to a general amnesty issued by the prior dictatorship. We ask for freedom for our family members. For, as those other women stated 44 years ago, our hearts are imprisoned along with our children.