International Cuba Conference:
Dutch Progressives Rap Cuban, US Policies

Noordwijk (Holland), 19 April (EFE) - The International Conference on Cuba, which took place on the Dutch coastal city of Noordwijk, has concluded with a declaration condemning the violations of human rights that take place in Cuba, as well as the Helms-Burton law that reinforces the US economic embargo against that country.

The resolution presented at the conclusion of the conference whose theme was "Cooperation or Confrontation: How to Promote Democracy in Cuba", was signed by the three progressive political parties comprising the Dutch government coalition -- the Liberal (VVD), Progressive (D66) and Labor (PvdA) Parties.

The remaining participants, which included experts from the European Union, the United Nations, the US and the Cuban Democratic Platform, did not subscribe to the text, since it was a symbolic concluding document and the delegations present were unofficial representatives of those institutions.

The resolution condemns the "structural repression of human rights and any form of social or economic opposition" in Cuba, as well as the Helms-Burton law which "does not help the promotion of human rights or democracy" there.

The document demands that the Cuban government take concrete steps towards holding of free elections and authorize "freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, an independent judiciary, and a pluralist democracy. It also asks that Havana recognize that "the electoral process is a genuine right, an essential part of democracy".

The declaration went on to urge the Cuban government to "halt all arbitrary arrests and political intimidation", and pressed for the liberation of "all prisoners of conscience" who, according to the Cuban opposition representatives present at the conference, currently number 1,300 persons.

Similarly, the Dutch progressives solicited the abolition of the death penalty and "arbitrary executions" in Cuba, and curbs against "police brutality".

The coalition parties, which govern the country that currently occupies the Presidency of the European Union, also called on Washington to convert the Helms-Burton law in an "objective political instrument for changes in Cuba".

Translated for CubaNet by Miguel Casuso, 4/22/97