US Senate unanimously passes a resolution honouring Jose Daniel Ferrer
On Jan 12, 2022, Senator Rick Scott presented a resolution in the United States Senate honouring José Daniel Ferrer García, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, Cubadecide promoter and president of the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba. Ferrer has been a freedom activist for 30 years. It has been declared Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International on two occasions and it is the 2020 Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom laureate. The senate resolution which was passed unanimously, also honours all Cuban Democracy activist and condemns the “illegitimate communist Cuban regimen’s human rights abuses.”
Background
Senator Rick Scott was one of the signatories of the Miami Declaration of the Transatlantic Parlamentary Forum held in Miami on Nov 20, 2021. This new group seek to coordinate actions in favor of Cuba's freedom in Europe, the United States, Canada and Latin America. Members of the forum include senators, congressmen, Euro-deputies from Spain, Holland, Canada and the United States and is open to any legislator who joins it under the Miami Declaration.
Canadian Senator Leo Housakos gave an impassioned and historic speech in support of the forum which stressed that Cuba is living "the longest dictatorship in the entire Latin American continent".” He criticized the Trudeau government's relations with Havana and asked the Canadian Prime Minister to put himself on the right side of history.
Parliamentarians from Europe, the United States and Canada founded a forum to denounce the illegitimacy of the Cuban regime and demand the release of political prisoners, among other measures.
Miami, FL. This Saturday, November 20, legislators from the European Parliament and the congresses of Spain, Holland, Canada and the United States founded the Transatlantic Forum for a Free Cuba with the participation of many civil society, opposition and Cuban exile organizations. The event, organized by the Cuba Decide platform, was held at Miami's City Hall and allowed representatives of the Cuban civil society to offer their testimony to the legislators on the human rights violations carried out by the regime against the Cuban people. The opening remarks were given by OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro and Rosa María Payá, founder of the Cuba Decide initiative, who said that "this Forum aims to coordinate actions in favor of Cuba's freedom on both sides of the Atlantic".
Dita Charanzova, vice president of the European Parliament, indicated that: "The European Parliament has been very clear: the regime must respect human rights and release all political prisoners. If it does not do so, there must be consequences".
Canadian Senator Leo Housakos said: "It is long overdue to listen to the Cuban people, to have a say in their destiny and in the future of their children. Until that happens, it is up to us, who are not subjected to this brutal regime, to speak up for those who are being silenced." Hermann Tertsch, MEP, added: "This forum of parliamentarians must mobilize parliaments, governments and the media". Boris Dittrich, Dutch senator said: "We support freedom for all, to associate and to express oneself, that is why we demand that all political prisoners be released".
U.S. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart read the Miami Declaration, which had the unanimous vote of all the founding legislators of the Transatlantic Forum, among which are MEPs José Ramón Bauzá of Spain, Carlo Fidanza of Italy and David Lega of Sweden; U.S. Congressmen María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez; and Spanish Congressmen Valentina Martínez and Víctor Gonzalez Coello, among others.
U.S. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart read the Miami Declaration, which had the unanimous vote of all the founding legislators of the Transatlantic Forum, among which are MEPs José Ramón Bauzá of Spain, Carlo Fidanza of Italy and David Lega of Sweden; U.S. Congressmen María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez; and Spanish Congressmen Valentina Martínez and Víctor Gonzalez Coello, among others.
With the signing of the Miami Declaration, the Transatlantic Forum for a Free Cuba was inaugurated and the first commitments made by the legislators were established, among which is to "influence the executive powers of their countries and institutions to denounce the illegitimacy of the Cuban regime whose system and representatives have never been freely elected by the citizens and to support the Cuban people in recovering their sovereignty.... they cannot treat the government representatives in Cuba as their peers, but must demand in every international forum the right to democracy, multipartyism and free elections for the Cuban people. "