Dueling Headlines
Castro Acts to Crush Reform Move, according to the Telegraph:
Fidel Castro, Cuba's leader, marshalled the island's communist machine at the weekend to crush an unprecedented pro-democracy petition campaign, which called for a national referendum on political and economic freedoms.Ignoring the dissident petition, which had more than 11,000 signatures despite police harassment and death threats, Mr Castro threw open 120,000 "petition stations" across the country and invited the seven million registered voters to approve his own constitutional measure, which declares the socialist system "untouchable".
Mr Castro's campaign is being co-ordinated by the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution, small offices in each city block and neighbourhood which monitor the population for political loyalty and control access to good jobs, education and items such as telephone lines, televisions and rationed goods.
Most Cubans are expected to sign Mr Castro's petition.
(Of course, in the grand tradition of totalitarian referenda, "no" wasn't on the ballot. Overwhelming indeed.)
Posted by Dr. Frank at June 17, 2002 06:10 PM | TrackBack