'Culture of fear' is stifling Cuba, writes dissident

Havana, Cuba, Mar 30, 2010 / 19:41 pm

The coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Paya, sent a letter to former Polish president Lech Walesa, explaining that the “culture of fear” is seeking to stifle the Cuban people to prevent them from claiming their rights.

“You know well how the culture of fear attempts to drown people so they do not demand their rights,” Paya wrote. “You all broke that barrier.  Our people suffer from a totalitarian regime but they have also been buried in a cloud of lies that many in the world still believe.”

Paya sent his letter to mark the upcoming meeting between Walesa and Cuban dissidents Raul Rivero, Blanca Reyes and Carlos Alberto Paya.  “We will always be grateful to you and the Polish people for inspiring us by your example,” he continued.

Cubans want reform, and that means “rights for all, full freedom and national reconciliation,” Paya asserted.  “We fight peacefully for these changes, and because of their struggle for these changes, many of our Cuban brethren are still in prison in inhumane conditions. 

“The imprisonment of these peaceful Cubans is a sign of the imprisonment experienced by the entire Cuban nation.  Consequently, the changes in Cuba will only be true and just if all political prisoners are released,” Paya concluded.