Dear Christian Science Monitor editor,

Your editorial “Challenge to Castro” (10/07/03) has some errors.

It states that “Cuba’s constitution calls for holding a referendum if 10,000
people support it.” Not quite.

Imagine, out of a total adult population of 6.7 million, all that is needed
is 10,000 people to compel the Cuban government to hold a referendum on its
social, economic and political system! That will make Cuba the most
democratic and referendum prone country in the world. [10,000 people does
not even come to  0.25% of Cuba's total adult population].

Something does not compute - politically speaking. Perhaps someone needs to
get a copy of the Cuban constitution (the Spanish language version, please!)
as well as the pertinent legislation on the procedure for petitioning,
processing petitions and holding referenda.

Somehow those details are never mentioned, but as the Mexican comedian
Cantinflas used to say - “it is the little detail that makes the
difference.”

The petition that was submitted in 2002 (and its repeat in 2003) has many
flaws. For starters, all the signatures have to be notarized. Oswaldo Payá
was informed of this by the authorities in 2002. But he never acknowledged
it. But, who cares about legal formalities or procedures anyway?

Apparently your editorial writer is not aware of the reply that the
Constitutional Commission of the Cuban National Assembly delivered to Mr
Paya on two different occasions in 2002. All the errors made by the
petitioners were stated. They should have heeded the indirect advice that
the Cuban legislators had given the opposition. But that did not happen.

Neither journalists nor editorial writers (or foreign politicians) seem
interested in knowing what were the procedural flaws in the petition. When
it comes to opinions about Cuba the conclusion comes first, then one looks
for the facts.

Prof. Nelson P Valdés
(Visiting Professor)
Duke University

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