The Cuban opposition group Concilio Cubano ``is not dead,'' civil rights activist Leonel Morejon Almagro said Friday in Havana. Morejon, a co-founder of Concilio and the group's executive secretary, had just emerged from Ariza prison in Cienfuegos province after serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of authority. He spoke by phone with Radio Marti.

Concilio, a coalition of about 130 dissident groups, remains the best tool for Cubans to express their opposition to President Fidel Castro, Morejon said. He said it is ``a strong, independent and true voice of opposition'' to the government.

Concilio had scheduled a nationwide conference in Havana for Feb. 24, 1996, but many of its leaders were rounded up and imprisoned. The conference was canceled. On that day, Cuban warplanes shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes over the Florida Straits, an event that heightened the tension between Washington and Havana and dampened the activities of dissidents on the island.

That stage is past, Morejon said.

``To the degree that we can talk with . . . the other members of Concilio, a new plan will emerge,'' he said. ``We can then overcome the difficulties . . . and rejoin that wonderful movement called Concilio Cubano.''

The coalition's task involves not only Cubans on the island, but also Cubans in exile, Morejon said.

Its goal ``is family reunification. It's the ability to bring our voices together, to keep others from dividing us,'' he said.

Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald