Opposition organizations prepare to collect signatures to demand Demonstration Law in Cuba

Opposition organizations Cubans prepare a collection of signatures to demand aLaw ofManifestation on the island, according to a statement from the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba spread on networks.

The initiative promoted by members of a broad sector of the Cuban opposition and civil society will promote the collection of 10,000 citizen signatures to ensure that it is included in this year's legislative schedule of theNational Assembly of People's Power the debate and subsequent approval of a Demonstration Law, a request protected by article 61 of theConstitution Cuban, says the note released this Wednesday inFacebook by the opposition organization D Frente.

The statement states that on December 13, a group of nine Cuban citizens presented to the National Assembly of People's Power a request for the reinclusion in the legislative schedule of the first quarter of 2023 of the discussion of the draft Law on Demonstration and Meeting, which regulate some of the citizen rights included in article 56 of the Constitution.

They said that this petition was delivered by the independent lawyer Julio Alfredo Ferrer Tamayo, from the NGO Cubalex and that on January 24, 2023, the director of Population Assistance of the National Assembly, Carmen Aguilar Martínez, notified Ferrer Tamayo of the reasons why which this bill was not included, which has been postponed to an undetermined date for the possibility of its discussion.

“For this reason, we will include within the Cuba11J Initiative the collection of 10,000 citizen signatures, covered by article 164, paragraph k), to ensure that the debate and subsequent approval of a Law is included in this year's legislative schedule. ”, the note points out.

Likewise, they state that "the public expression of demands that we Cubans have been exercising with more and more determination, civic sense and maturity deserve and need to be protected and strengthened with the entire legal apparatus of the country."

“To this end, we urge all Cuban citizens residing in Cuba, both those who have already signed our initiatives and those who are also willing to sign this new Petition, to request the CERTIFICATION accrediting their status as ELECTOR,” he adds. the notice.

Furthermore, they explain that as established in article 156.2 of Law 131 or 'Law of Organization and Functioning of the National Assembly of People's Power and the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba', when a request or initiative is promoted by citizens , these must accompany certification validated by the National Electoral Council that accredits their status as voters.

They also commented that they will soon explain “what citizens should do and how they should act to request the CERTIFICATION accrediting their status as ELECTOR.”

“They are simple acts, already carried out by a citizen, that do not require direct payments or stamps, that strengthen us as citizens and that allow us an elegant civic exercise of our rights to enjoy rights. With the Constitution, we can; despite the repression and systematic obstacles that come from the government,” concludes the statement from the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba.