UNPACU and FANTU Unite!
On January 23rd and 28th of this year, the leaders of The Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and the United Anti-Totalitarian Forum (FANTU) held two working meetings in order to establish a significant merger of two leading non-violent activist groups currently operating inside Cuba.
According to an official statement issued by the leaders of the two groups, they agreed to the following terms:
First: Create, as soon as possible, one sole civil and non-violent opposition organization inside Cuba which will integrate the respective members of FANTU, whose current organization possesses members in the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, Mayabueque, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Avila, with those of UNPACU, whose members are located in the provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Granma, Las Tunas, Camaguey, and Havana.
Second: This new opposition group will contain not one political leader, but a select membership of leaders, as a practical way to combat autocracy, a phenomenon that has conspired within Cuba’s political confines dating back to the 19th century wars for independence and from which Cuba still suffers today.
Third: That the charges, structures, executive orders, rules and nominations of the new entity will be made known as soon as possible, due to the fact that at the current time various proposals are being discussed within the respective memberships. However, in practice we are already working together with the spirit of unifying our memberships for the permanent democratization of Cuba.
Fourth: This new organization, critical to the Castro regime, will be open to all Cubans who consider unity and the open discussion of political ideas as the only mode of defeating totalitarianism from which our country has suffered for 54 years.
The statement was signed “for freedom and democracy in Cuba” by the following leaders:
Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez,
Spokesman FANTU
Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia,
Coordinator General of UNPACU
Felix Navarro Rodriguez,
National Executive Secretary FANTU