On Thursday an anti-regime group launched the Five Freedoms (5L) citizens' initiative against Totalitarianism, "the people's answer to the economic package," which offers solutions to overcome the serious socio-economic crisis suffered by Cubans and put an end to the oligarchic state of GAESA.
This new type of popular resistance movement is non-violent, proactive, inclusive and massive, as defined by activist Iván Hernández Carrillo, one of its promoters, and seeks to bring together "workers, agricultural laborers, students, entrepreneurs, public employees, retirees and even military and communist militants" to force "the tiny political elite to immediately and unconditionally undertake real and profound change in Cuban society," not referring to Cuba's civil servants, but rather to the system they have been administrating for 65 years.
In order to "curb hunger and prevent violence," the initiative focuses "in a first stage, on the path to full freedom," on the "destatization of Cuba" and is based on five basic freedoms that, in turn, would put an end to "five forms of internal state subjugation."
Thus, "freedom from terror" consists of an "end to repression and the one-party political dictatorship;" "economic freedom," of an "end to the internal restrictions on free enterprise; "freedom of expression," of the "end of censorship;" "freedom association," of an "end to the prohibition of citizen organizations;" and "freedom of movement," of an "end to exile and the exclusion from Cuba's exiles as a community."
According to Hernández Carrillo, the 5L (5 Libertades) movement arose amidst the new social unrest that began with the historic 11-J protests, which revealed that "there are millions of citizens who need and demand change, even if they are not associated with dissident organizations."
"It is necessary for this massive force for change to be able to point to a set of widely supported demands underpinning their spontaneous actions," added Hernández Carrillo in the presentation of the initiative, which includes a demand for immediate and total freedom for all Cuban political prisoners.
According to the independent trade unionist, the movement's demands and approaches presented on Thursday "are based on previous study of documentation issued over several decades by pro-democracy organizations, both on the island and in exile." Without being new, "they represent a careful selection of those demands that are coming to the fore today, in the midst of this crisis, and about which there has always been solid consensus."
According to the activist, "identifying with common demands will facilitate the actions - complementary, autonomous and non-centralized - of many citizens who today, whether they belong to an organization or not, want to multiply their efforts to end the totalitarian system that is at the root of the current crisis."
In the 5Ls "there is no formal membership that can be infiltrated by the oppressors, nor do the participants have to reveal their identities to others. Their actions are not placed on a predetermined public calendar, which would facilitate the efforts of those who would crack down on them," said Hernández Carrillo.
The movement also lacks any hierarchical structure. "The initial promoters we reveal today are just that: a group of citizens who wanted to give this initiative its first boost. It does not constitute national leadership," he said.
The signatures endorsing the 5L campaign include those of the pedagogue and political prisoner Félix Navarro, poet and political prisoner María Cristina Garrido, exiled doctor Alexander de Jesús Figueredo, economists Jorge Sanguinetti and Emilio Morales, musician Paquito D’ Rivera, priest Alberto Reyes, art historian Carolina Barrero, and political scientist Juan Antonio Blanco, among other figures.
Iván Hernández Carrillo insisted that "there will be no leadership structure," but that it is essential to "centralize the messages of this initiative to protect them from the political police's disinformation actions."
The movement will have "a spokesperson in Cuba and another abroad, in case the first is silenced or detained. In my case, being the original promoter of this idea, and in response to the suggestion of other people in the group supporting it, I have taken on the role. I do so in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the independent trade union organizations of which I am a member or at which I have managerial responsibilities," he added.
"The door to begin to emerge from this national crisis —the worst in Cuba's history— is the struggle for those five basic freedoms, with a comprehensive scope. The granting of some limited economic freedoms, which would allow the oligarchy to, at some point, try them out in order to appease the current protests, will not be enough," said Hernández Carrillo.
According to the activist and the other promoters of the 5L, respect for economic freedoms is necessary to "guarantee food, decent wages and pensions, stable public services and other urgent needs" of the people, but "other civil and political rights are also required, without which the economic concessions made can always be reversed."
"Cuban society will not tolerate new experiments, nor does it want to listen to old rhetoric calling for new sacrifices. Freedom is the way out," Hernández Carrillo said.
This is why the promoters of the initiative will first work to "reach every Cuban, in the streets, bodegas, pharmacies, offices, universities, shops, and military and police units."
"We issue this call to every Cuban, without exception, both civilians and military. It is time for civic responsibility; for concerted action for freedom, not for discord. We will all win when change comes. Ending totalitarianism is the essential first stage in the struggle to achieve a democratic society in which the rule of law and economic freedom prevail. One without the current political and economic monopolies of a party and its oligarchy. A society in which we all have a place. A Cuba with everyone, and for everyone. The one that we deserve," he concluded.
Initial group promoting the Five Freedoms (5L)
1) Iván Hernández (worker/trade unionist)
2) Lisandra Orraca (independent agricultural worker
3) Félix Navarro (pedagogue/political prisoner)
4) Alexander de Jesús Figueredo (doctor)
5) María Cristina Garrido (poet/political prisoner)
6) Nancy Alfaya (religious activist for racial and women's equality)
7) Eduardo Zayas-Bazán (pedagogue, author and founder of the National Association of Cuban American Educators)
8) General Rafael del Pino (pilot)
9) Paquito D' Rivera (musician, winner of several Grammys and other international honors)
10) Enrique Patterson (academic and writer)
11) Jorge Sanguinetti (economist)
12) Padre Alberto Reyes (priest)
13) Carolina Barrero (art historian)
14) Juan Antonio Blanco (historian, conflictologist)
15) Elena Larrinaga (historian)
16) Marthadella Tamayo (pedagogue)
17) Yunisey Santana González (wife of a political prisoner)
18) María Matienzo (journalist)
19) Óscar Casanella (scientist/entrepreneur
20) Magdelidia Hidalgo (producer and TV
21) Roland Behart (financial consultant
22) Emilio Morales (financial consultant)
23) Vilino Irina (businessman)