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WE ARE MORE

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Eliecer Avila. Poland. 24 March 2103.

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ELIECER AVILA: Greetings to all Cubans inside and outside the country.

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I have to tell you that right now I am very proud and grateful

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for the support I have received from all of you since our story began.

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A story that, well, you knew something of this humble servant

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and I knew many of you, who from the very beginning...

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showed your solidarity and your approach that continues to this day.

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The time has come, friends, to do something more than words.

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We believe that this great movement that has been created around the opinions

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around the ideas for the future that many of us share

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it is time for action..

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and to create together an organization that allows us to have a louder voice

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a clearer voice, a cleaner and more forceful voice, facing the reality we want to transform.

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Fortunately, I was born in one of the most humble parts of the Cuban countryside

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and at the same time I studied in the capital of all Cubans.

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This has given me a broad vision of the national reality

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also because I have been able to share experiences and conversations

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with hundreds or thousands of Cubans within the country, and now, through this opportunity

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I have done exactly the same thing outside of Cuba.

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And I can affirm for you, with total confidence, that we are more

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those of us who today want to build a modern state

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with a government that has a different policy toward its citizens

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precisely because it is elected by those same citizens

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and because of this it is a legitimate force that represents them.

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We want to have a state where all Cubans have the opportunity to develop ourselves

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economically as well as professionally and spiritually, inside our own country.

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We want to have a state that, above all, respects all of our families

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and we also want to do much to unite the many many families

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who today continue to suffer from a distance being separated from their loved ones.

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We want to add our grain of sand to promote policies, laws

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projects within Cuba that allow us to build this reality.

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To build a country that works for Cubans, or works for many of us

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or that works for more than none of us. Because that's how it should be!

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Because Cuba is our great home.

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We have our private space, but we do nothing

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to transform what happens within the walls of our home

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so when we step into the street, everything is destroyed.

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There is no tolerance. We can't express ourselves.

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We have to speak in whispers in case someone hears us, and there can be consequences

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simply for thinking differently.

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We want to transform this reality with the help of all of you

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and we know there are many others fighting in their own ways to achieve the same goals.

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But we want to fight in our way for the same objective

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and we have the right to do so.

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We want to focus our fight from a professional point of view

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from an in depth knowledge of the reality every Cuban lives

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to be able to have ideas on how to transform it.

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We are counting on a fight focused on the reasons that each Cuban has

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to fight for this change.

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What do the workers need?

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What do our teachers need?

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What do our students need?

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What do our professionals need?

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What, in the end, do we all need to make the reality of our country what we want it to be?

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From this point of view we believe we have an immense field of action within which to work.

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And what we need, is the question of numbers.

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The government constantly says that the majority of people support it.

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We recognize the real thinking of many people on the street.

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We know the majority don't support maintaining the situation we are now in.

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But how can we demonstrate this?

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Once and for all we have to demonstrate that we are more.

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Or at least we are some.

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And we, independent of the number, we have to have the courage

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to defend our right to express ourselves.

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As a majority or as a minority.

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At the end of the day we are Cubans, and one Cuban, even alone, who has a different idea

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deserves the respect of the other 11 million.

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Because that is a State of rights.

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Where no one can pass over a single individual.

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And I believe that what we want, to build a more prosperous country, a more modern country

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more tolerant and more democratic at this time, is not just one Cuban

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nor are we hundreds, nor are we thousands.

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We believe we are millions who have this desire

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and there are millions also, those who today are outside Cuba, who have this desire

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this dream shared with those of us inside.

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So all this potential, we want to use it to make this idea a reality.

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I have decided to begin to form this organization at this time

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because taking into account the objective conditions

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that we have within Cuba for communicating

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it would be impossible to articulate this within Cuba.

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But my objective is precisely to reach this Cuba, that we cannot access

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because of media censorship, but that now, the new technologies

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open a new door for us, a new opportunity.

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What is happening, in my judgment, in the Cuban political landscape of today

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especially within people who disagree in some way with the official politics

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is that we are creating a model where one person proposes, speaks and executes actions

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and has great international support, that says, "Oh, great!"

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"What you're doing is great!" - "You're so brave!"

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But to me, it doesn't seem that this road takes us very far.

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We need to convert all this support

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we need to convert all these favorable opinions

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all these shared ideas into a movement that has real form and real strength.

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And that can also inspire respect from the government itself.

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If this movement doesn't come together

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if this movement doesn't take off and reach sufficient strength

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the Communist Government, despite being aware of our ideas

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shared by many within the people, by many Cubans

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who have every right to participate in Cuban politics

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who have had to leave Cuba, and have their family and work in a different place.

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Although the government is aware of this it is never going to sit down to negotiate.

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It is never going to compromise.

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So, I believe a lion can eat a hundred sheep one by one.

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Now, if a hundred sheep directly confront the lion we will see what happens.

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And we don't want to eat the lion, we want to talk to the lion.

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That's in the first place.

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But we also want the lion to respect us

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and we will only be able to earn this respect if we are capable of translating all this support

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that we see on Facebook, all this support that we see on Twitter

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all this support that we see on the web

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we have to translate it ultimately into a significant political movement

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with names and surnames. With courage. With strength.

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It's preferable, as our grandparents said, to turn red [from anger] once

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than to be pink for a lifetime [ up with something].

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And think about it: It's cheaper to fix things in our own country

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than to support the people who live in our country for their whole lives.

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Think: We will not all win

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if we don't join together, and manage to truly negotiate, to truly move this great rock

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that is Cuban politics, this great uphill battle.

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Once the rock begins to move

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then the future will be easier in some ways, harder in others.

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But at least we will have gained the right to disagree.

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In the future we will mostly agree

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using the instruments of democracy

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using the guarantees of respectable powers that work

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in a modern, democratic, developed country.

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Respecting... that with these guarantees we can build a better country.

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We can make mistakes on some things, but we can get more things right.

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And experience will tell us what we need to do.

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But to get to this point, where we can decide, where we can move forward

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I'm willing to invest my youth, my energy, these years

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together with you, on the same level with you, facing this fight, and winning.

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Fully convinced that we are more, that we want to build a prosperous country

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a country with dynamic and plural politics

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a democratic country

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a country where our children can realize their dreams.

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A country where we can work and live on our honest wages.

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A country where we can unite our families, so that finally

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...grandparents can watch their grandchildren play in their backyards.

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We Are More