Canadian Parliamentary Hearing Reveals Unity of Cubans Against Weakened and Exposed Communist Regime

OTTAWA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Representatives of Cuban civil society gathered yesterday in Ottawa for government hearings, delivering a heart-felt and unanimous message to parliamentarians – the situation in Cuba is the result of the regime’s mismanagement and preference for repression and resorts, abetted by the actions of Canada, Spain, and other democratic countries around the world. John Suarez, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba and member of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, and Yaxys Cires of Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, travelled to Ottawa to join two other expert witnesses, giving a voice to Cubans in the face of the regime’s narrative and the support it still receives from some Canadian members of parliament who insist on laying the blame on the U.S. blockade and embargo.

Representatives of Cuban civil society gathered yesterday in Ottawa for government hearings, delivering a heart-felt and unanimous message to parliamentarians – the situation in Cuba is the result of the regime’s mismanagement and preference for repression

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“Yesterday’s hearing demonstrated the growing momentum of Cubans demanding freedom from an oppressive regime,” says John Suarez, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba. “Our independent testimonies revealed a clear and unambiguous picture of a regime that chooses investments in repression and resorts over the wellbeing of Cubans, time and time again. It is past time for policy change in places like Canada and Europe that help Cubans in need, not regime elites.”

Expert witnesses included Carolina Barrero Ferrer of Citizenship and Freedom group, Kirenia Carbonell of the Cuban Canadians Coalition, as well as Cires and Suarez. The witnesses were unanimous in their pleas to the Canadian government to stop directing humanitarian funding into the hands of GONGOS, non-governmental Cuban organizations controlled by the dictatorship, laying the blame on U.S. sanctions, and withholding condemnation of the regime’s misplaced priorities, corruption, and human rights abuses.

“Canada is an enabler of the dictatorship,” said Kirenia Carbonell, a human rights advocate and Cuban exile who lives in Canada. “Canada must stop supporting the regime. It’s hurting us, the people. It’s clear the regime is in a corner, blaming everyone else and their mother.”

In a country with broken infrastructure, collapsed agriculture, dysfunctional economy and lack of medicine, basic rights and freedoms, the regime, its apparatus and inner circle still find resources to build and operate fancy hotels, clamp down on its citizens, and incarcerate Cubans who dare speak out.

The hearings were organized by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, presided by the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, member of parliament for York South, Weston, Etobicoke. A few days earlier, the same committee received Cuban Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, who deflected any responsibility of the Cuban Communist party on the plight of Cubans.

The hearing is available to watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI5eFOgX4rw

About the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance
The Assembly of the Cuban Resistance is a parliament in exile, comprised of a host of non-governmental organizations working together to bring freedom to the oppressed people of Cuba. The Center for a Free Cuba is a member of the Assembly. The Cuban Observatory is an official observer.