Raul Counting on U.S. and Europe to Save Regime

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This week, Cuban democracy activist Guillermo Fariñas visited the headquarters of the Belorussian opposition movement, Charter 97, in Warsaw, Poland.

According to Charter 97:

For his civic and political activities Guillermo Fariñas spent over 11 years in Cuban prisons. He went on hunger strikes 23 times. During one of the hunger strikes he nearly died and was taken to a resuscitation department. The Cuban regime was compelled to make concessions and fulfill his demands for the release of 52 dissidents from prisons.

In October 2010 Guillermo Fariñas became the winner of Andrei Sakharov prized, founded by the European Parliament. Cuban authorities for long refused to let him out of the country. Only this year, under the pressure of international community, the dissident was allowed to go abroad. The award ceremony will take place in Brussels on 2 June. Before this event Guillermo Fariñas visited Poland.

“You are all heroes for me”, the Cuban dissident said, when the meeting’s participants were introduced to him.

Guillermo Fariñas told about the current situation in his country and how Cuban authorities fight the opposition. It turned out the situation was identical to the Belarusian.

“Special services are constantly trying to separate their opponents. They create artificial competition and play off dissident groups one against another. It is important for Raul Castro for the opposition to remain scattered”, the dissident said.

He noted that the Cuban regime has been lately compelled to somewhat soften the repression against the opposition and make certain concessions in social and economic spheres. According to him, the authorities are preparing for a “transition stage” and counting on Western loans and lifting of the US sanctions. It is exactly for this reason that they are studying the experience of other dictatorial countries in Havana, including Lukashenka’s Belarus. At the same time Guillermo Fariñas is convinced that Raul Castro can take the reformer’s mask off any moment. There are still dozens of political prisoners in Cuba’s prisons. The dissident does not rule out new provocations against him.