| El Nuevo Herald Published Thursday, April 9, 2009 Dissidents define congressmembers visit as "positive" By Agence France Presse A CubaNews translation by Giselle Gil Edited by Walter Lippmann Cuban dissidents evaluated today the visit of seven American congressmen as positive. The congressmen in Cuba explored the possibilities of a dialogue between the two countries. The opposition considered that a normalization of relations will take away arguments from the government. Every contact is positive, I think. If relations get back to normal, totalitarianism in Cuba would loose its major argument for justifying repression and national disaster,” said dissident economist Oscar Espinosa. For moderate dissident Manuel Cuesta, the congressmen’s trip was “very positive”, because it signaled the “beginning of the thawing of the bad relations” between Washington and Havana. “[The visit] is in agreement with everything we have always said about advancing dialogue” and “it weakens the logic of being under siege that the Cuban government has always claimed regarding relations with the United States and internal stasis”, he said. Miriam Leyva, who belongs to the political prisoners’ wives group ‘Women in White’, said, “it is important that tensions be eliminated, because they have only served as an excuse for the Cuban government to repress and justify problems.” During their five day stay in the island, the American legislators had meetings with Cuban President Raul Castro, 77 years old, and his brother Fidel Castro (82) away from power since 2006 due to an illness. In an article he wrote on Monday on the visit of the Afro American representatives, Fidel Castro affirmed that Cuba “is neither afraid” of a dialogue with the United States, nor does it “need confrontation to exist, as some fools think.” The dissidents, considered as mercenaries at the service of Washington by the Cuban government, expressed that although a dialogue takes place, the possibility of the normalization of relations is still far in the future. “The dialogue has already started, because they were received by the highest echelon”. But, “we have to wait for Obama to express his policy towards Cuba”, said Marta Beatriz Roque, while Vladimiro Roca said, “ it is very difficult to have a dialogue with someone who has not the will to respect other peoples opinions.” |
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El Nuevo Herald
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