The following is an appeal from the emergent Polish Committee for Solidarity with Cuba. This statement was first ratified in a committee board meeting on April 24 and presented at the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba (ICDC) conference in Berlin.

The world, accustomed to barbarities, will direct its attention to Havana only when Fidel Castro’s influence decreases. Meanwhile, Cuban jails are filled with people that have a different point of view from the authorities regarding what is beneficial for their country. Thousands of Cubans prefer to risk their lives escaping in a raft through the sea than to remain on the island. At the same time, for many poor people in Latin America who experience injustices, the Cuban system appears to be socially just.

We, the Poles, who have experience living under a communist regime for 50 years, know that the vision of general equality is a fallacy. Freedom and development cannot be substituted with mobilization against an external enemy and avoidance of the genuine problems facing the country.

Fidel Castro is living his last days. There is an opportunity for the return of democracy. The end of the totalitarian regime is coming. There are concerns about the uncertain future. We understand you and we assure you, Cuban friends, that a distorted capitalism ruled by egotistic interest groups is not the only alternative to a totalitarian regime. A market economy, liberty, and good living conditions in Cuba are possible if you make it happen. It will depend on all those who feel Cuban, regardless of whether they come from Santiago, Havana or Miami, when the dream of a free Motherland becomes a reality.  

The history of the Polish lesson can make choosing the proper path to change from a totalitarian regime to democracy easier. It will be a path without bloodshed. It will be a path without fighting between the government and society. The Cuban people can release their positive energy as Poland did in 1989 when adversaries sat at one table in order to construct the future. We wish you the same.

We would like to assist you, just as the international community helped Poland through its own tumultuous times. In this way we can repay our indebtedness to those who helped us achieve freedom. 

-          Lech Wałęsa

-          Leszek  Balcerowicz

-          Władysław Bartoszewski

-          Czesław Bielecki

-          Seweryn Blumsztajn

-          Bogdan Borusewicz

-          Zbigniew Bujak

-          Mirosław Chojecki

-          Izabela Cywińska

-          Tadeusz Fiszbach

-          Jarosław Gugała

-          Prof. Mirosława Grabowska

-          Prof. Marcin Król

-          Krystyna Kurczab – Redlich

-          Prof. Jacek Kurczewski

-          Irena Lasota

-          Marcel   Łoziński

-          Bogdan Lis

-          Adam Michnik

-          Stefan   Niesiołowski

-          Marek Antoni Nowicki

-          Janusz   Onyszkiewicz

-          Ryszard Schnepf

-          Maciej Stasiński

-          Jose Torres

-          Ewa Wanat