July 10, 2007
MTI, Hungary, June 28, 2007.
The MDF supports the Cuban democratization, MDF (Hungarian Democratic Forum) party spokesman Szabolcs Kerék-Bárczy told the Hungarian News Agency (MTI) on Thursday, after party president Ibolya Dávid met with a delegation of Cuban opposition leaders in the Parliament.
The MDF initiates a five-party statement to be issued by the Hungarian Parliament called "Together for a Democratic Cuba", the spokesman said after the party leader met with an 11-member delegation of Cuban opposition members living abroad, led by Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat. The proposed statement reads: "We, parties of the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary would like to express our solidarity and support for the Cuban people struggling for the democratization of their country. We strongly believe that all human beings including the Cuban people have a right to human dignity and freedom, democratic institutions, and true pluralism."
Ibolya Dávid is volunteering to be guardian of a female prisoner and would like to contact her family, the spokesman said. The MDF unequivocally supports the Cuban democratization, he added.
MDF's President is taking the initiative to persuade Hungary's UN ambassador to push the UN Human Rights Council to review its decision not to pay special attention to the human rights situation in Cuba any more. Szabolcs Kerék-Bárczy emphasized Ibolya Dávid's gesture to wear a white dress at the meeting in order to express solidarity with women whose relatives were imprisoned. Since a 2003 initiative, female relatives of the imprisoned have protested oppression in Cuba wearing this outfit, he said.
A member of the delegation Calixto A. Navarro told the MTI that Hungary, just like Cuba, has experienced communist oppression. He stressed that the purpose of their visit was to build solidarity between the Hungarian people and their government and the Cuban people. Hungary can direct the EU's attention to Cuba, he claimed. We want the same liberties as the ones Hungary is now enjoying, he added. "Hungary can be the voice of Cuba, it can help Cuban political prisoners and their relatives", said Calixto A. Navarro. He then went on to say that if political prisoners are named, it becomes increasingly difficult for the Cuban regime to torture them.
He said there are approximately 330 political prisoners in Cuba, most of them civil activists, writers, and journalists. Even women are imprisoned, he emphasized. He also stressed the fact that the scale of oppression has increased since Fidel Castro’s illness, and civil resistance has also been reinforced.
President of the Alliance of Young Democrats (FIDESZ) Viktor Orbán met with the delegation on Tuesday. After the meeting foreign affairs cabinet chair of FIDESZ Zsolt Németh announced that FIDESZ politicians and MPs are taking up personal guardianship of Cuban political prisoners; it was Viktor Orbán who first announced his intention to do so.
On Tuesday, the delegation met with János Kóka, the President of the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) as well. SZDSZ is also joining the "Adopt a political prisoner" campaign, the party informed the press after the meeting. In addition, SZDSZ is planning to take concrete action in partnership with the Cuban democratic opposition. The party is working on forging strong partisan ties with the Cuban Liberal Union, and is trying to direct attention to the human rights violations in Cuba with continuous campaigns, the party told the MTI.
The Cuban opposition members visiting Budapest also met with Mayor of Budapest Gábor Demszky and the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Budapest-based International Centre for Democratic Transition informed MTI on Wednesday that it is hosting the delegation of the Cuban opposition in Budapest with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The 11 members of the delegation are Cubans living abroad who actively take part in promoting a peaceful and democratic transition in Cuba. The aim of their meetings in Hungary is to collect information on the process of the negotiation-based Hungarian transition, and the possibilities for its application in Cuba.
Taken from the Embassy of Hungary site.
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