Published Monday, May 3, 1999, in the Miami Herald
Foundation's goal: Ensure respect for human rights
In her March 30 Readers' Forum letter, Cuba provoked?, Julia Polanco
implied that the Free Cuba Foundation was partially responsible for
creating the conditions in Cuba that led to the shooting of Danish student
Joachim Lovschall [who on March 29, 1997, was shot to death by a Cuban
soldier for allegedly crossing into a military area]. Furthermore, Ms.
Polanco cited her own experience in Argentina in the 1970s and her own
``eerily similar'' experience.
During the 1970s, some 30,000 young Argentines ``disappeared'' (were
murdered) during the ``Dirty War'' that Ms. Polanco mentioned. Tortures
and killings were widespread, and justice was absent. It took the
overthrowing of the military junta in the 1980s to ensure that those
activities wouldn't happen now in Argentina. They still happen in Cuba.
The massacre of 41 men, women and children on July 13, 1994, is one more
example.
On March 13, 1997, we signed the Florida International University
Declaration in which we declared our ``determination to work for a
nonviolent transition toward a democratic society under the rule of law,
devoid of any vindictiveness and equally comprising all Cubans.''
Joachim Lovschall was murdered because of the lack of the rule of law
and respect for human rights. The purpose of the Free Cuba Foundation is
to ensure that state-sanctioned murders end, and that the human rights of
all be respected.
JOHN SUAREZ
Coordinator,
Free Cuba Foundation
Miami
Copyright 1999 Miami Herald