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_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Cuba ________________
Dissidents claim petition victory
A call for constitutional reform
The leader of a Cuban political dissident group has announced that his
organization has collected enough signatures to force a constitutional
referendum, which could lead to dramatic changes in the country’s government.
Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, leader of the Christian Liberation Movement—a political dissident group inspired by Catholic teachings—announced on February 7 that his group has collected 10,000 signatures on a petition calling for a constitutional referendum.
The existing Cuban constitution allows for a referendum when 10,000 signatures are collected. But in the years since the Castro government came to power, no one has ever before amassed enough support to invoke that provision.
Paya said that his group’s petition campaign—called the Varela Project in honor of the 19th-century national hero (and Catholic priest) Felix Varela—has collected the signatures despite intense government opposition. “The government has arrested, threatened, harassed, and kidnapped some 300 promoters of the Varela Project in the last year, but none of this has prevented us from achieving our goal,” Paya said.