A Historic Event..

...or so Coco Fariñas and Elizardo Sánchez termed the gathering of some of the most well-known members of the Cuban opposition to launch a joint effort: Agenda for the Transition. Here are its basic tenets:

* The liberation of political prisoners.
* The immediate cessation of government repression against the political opposition.
* An end to the embargo imposed by the Cuban regime on the Cuban people's fundamental freedoms.
* The substitution of a democratic state for a totalitarian state.

In a dispatch about the event, independent journalist René Gómez Manzano makes much, deservedly so, about the show of unity. Attending were some of the most familiar names:

María Antonia Hidalgo Mir, Idania Yanes Contreras, Félix Antonio Bonne Carcassés, Margarito Broche Espinosa, Francisco Chaviano González, Guillermo Fariñas Hernández, Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez), René Gómez Manzano, Roberto de Miranda Hernández, Vladimiro Roca Antúnez, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello and Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz.

According to another account, Hector Palacios was not there because of medical treatment in Spain, and Oswaldo Payá who did not respond to his invitation, signalled that he was "open to a future incorporation with the group," promising to keep channels of communication open.

As Gomez indicates when he has access to news accounts about the event, he hopes not to see "the divided Cuban dissidents" or "the fragmented internal opposition in Cuba" for once. Amen.