Dear Humanity,
Please, know that for Cuban exiles, our departure was never a choice; it was forced displacement, like many others, engineered by a state that weaponized coercion against its own people. We were stripped of our property, our savings, and our fundamental rights, denied any semblance of due process. Then, as if dispossession were not enough, we were publicly branded as gusanos (worms), escoria (scum), for daring to choose freedom over submission.
This is not merely history. It continues to be an open wound.
Today, the same authorities who carried out these acts seek economic engagement from the very people they dispossessed, offering no acknowledgment, no restitution, no reform. Let us be unequivocal: economic appeals cannot absolve legal and moral responsibility.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and universally recognized UN principles are unambiguous. Individuals are protected against the arbitrary deprivation of property. They are guaranteed freedom of movement and the right to return to their homeland. For the Cuban people, these rights were not quietly eroded; they were systematically and deliberately destroyed.
We therefore demand specific, measurable action:
First, a formal acknowledgment of state responsibility for confiscations, forced exile, and the violation of fundamental rights.
Second, the establishment of transparent, independent mechanisms for the restitution or fair compensation of all seized property.
Third, verifiable guarantees of civil and political rights, including freedom of expression, association, and meaningful political participation.
Fourth, internationally monitored conditions ensuring that any return of diaspora members is wholly voluntary, safe, and dignified.
We call on UN Member States to make clear that engagement with Cuba must be conditioned on tangible, verifiable progress in each of these areas. Stability purchased at the price of justice is not stability; it is the permanent institutionalization of injustice.
The Cuban people, on the island and in exile, are not petitioning for privilege. We are asserting rights that were stolen from us and the rights that belong to every living human being on earth.
The path forward is not selective accommodation. It is full accountability under international law.
Until that day arrives, the call remains unchanged:
¡Hasta que Cuba sea libre! (Until Cuba is free!)
Professor Roberto F. E. Soto
US Citizen and former G15-10 USIA