IRI Launches New Website and Report on Cuba’s Democratic Resistance

September 17, 2003

--Six months after the Cuban government seized and imprisoned dozens of political dissidents, the International Republican Institute (IRI) unveiled new online and print resources on the progress and predicament of the pro-democracy movement in Cuba.

ON THE WEB: Database of Cuban Political Prisoners

The Institute now hosts a Web site that displays the backgrounds and condition of the 78 dissidents arrested by Cuban security services in March 2003. Most of those were sentenced to long prison terms in subsequent trials conducted by the Castro regime, and many are denied access to proper medical care.

ANNUAL REPORT: Steps to Freedom 2002

The “Steps to Freedom” report, an IRI-supported publication of the Cuban Democratic Directorate (Directorio), chronicles the activity of the civic resistance movement in Cuba over the course of 2002. According to the report, this movement in Cuba carried out 959 acts of nonviolent resistance, founded 20 independent libraries, launched six new newsletters and built several independent medical clinics. The report can be obtained by writing or calling IRI.

IRI and Cuba’s Democracy Movement

The online database of Cuban political prisoners and the “Steps to Freedom” were products of IRI’s longtime cooperation with the Directorio, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting democratic change and human rights in Cuba.

Last week Orlando Gutierrez, the Directorio’s national secretary, spoke at IRI’s Washington headquarters about the progress of the democratic movement has made both within Cuba and around the world since the March crackdown.

“It should not surprise us at all that the regime reacted the way it did. But the opposition has not been destroyed,” said Gutierrez. “There are still hundreds of men and women throughout the country who are willing to take risks to denounce the violations that are being committed and who continue to carry out acts of civic resistance.... Now it is up to the international community to continue supporting these activists.”

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