USAID PUSHES DOWN THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY OF THE INDEPENDENT FARMERS IN CUBA GACIC, Miami, October 25, 2000

Inter Agency Working Group, on October 24th invalidated the proposal to assist the independent farmers inside Cuba. David E. Mutchler Senior Advisor and Coordinator of the program USAID for Cuba has alleged that under the Helms-Burton Law only people who are suffering “repression” by the Cuban government should be entitled to any assistance. Tacitly, by his decision, Mr. Mutchler has implied that the independent farmers are not victims of repression, ignoring more than 50 cases of reported repressive actions, among them arrests, life-threats, illegal fines and essentially the violation of the Human Right to Development of these farmers to make a living in their own farms. Sequence of actions of repressions. (Text only aviable in Spanish)
The ”Helms-Burton Law”, meaning the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996, in its Section 109, Paragraph A, regarding Authorization of Support, considers 4 kinds of assistance: (1) for informational matters, (2) to victims of political repression, (3) to democratic and human rights groups, and (4) for international human rights monitors. Clearly, it is not only for victims of political repression, whom evidently the independent farmers are, but also for democratic and human rights groups; the independent farmers naturally and by action fit genuinely in this category.
Mainly it has to be understood that the Cuban Socialist State is based on one Party: the Communist Party. Any citizen who does not belong to the Party, or does not follow the Party doctrine, is consequently cast out of any social, economic or political activities. The Absolutist State is indeed structured on one political philosophy. The political repression is institutionalized, and therefore requests for individual cases are very clearly unrealistic. The National Alliance of Independent Farmers of Cuba (ANAIC) hopes that Mr. David E. Mutchler reconsiders his decision.