I want to take a moment to thank all of you who have signed the One Cuba petition to Pope Benedict XVI, which asks that he make time on his trip to Cuba to meet with human rights activists, independent journalists and other civil society leaders while he’s on the island.
As all Babalu readers know, the papal visit is just around the corner… and the Pope doesn’t travel on Cuban time.
That’s why we need your help in these lat moments before our deadline to turn in sugnatures. We have a way to get this document and all of the signatures that come with it into helpful hands, but to ensure that we get your signature to the Pope and his delegation, we need it on there ASAP.
As more signatures come in (through this form, which you should sign now if you haven’t already), we will attempt to continue sending updated lists to all our contacts who might be able to put them in front of the right people… but our first shot at a sure thing is the next two hours or so.
Again, my friends Keith Fernandez, Giancarlo Sopo and I are grateful not only to Babalu’s bloggers and readers, but also to the broad and diverse group of people who have backed the petition campaign to this point. We hope that, whatever One Cuba becomes in the wake of the Pope’s visit, it’s something that continues to reflect points of consensus among the Cuban community in Cuba and around the world. As you might know, Babalu’s are not the only bloggers who have helped us spread the word… We’ve also gotten tweets from journalists abroad, like Havana’s own Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, who took time to tell his followers to sign this petition on his breaks from bringing us news about harassment of Porno Para Ricardo member Ciro and grafitti artist El Sixto.
Related: Check out this interview I did a couple of nights ago with Duane Lester of All American Blogger.
A special thanks to fellow Babalu bloggers Carlos and Alberto for being gracious enough to offer quotes and extra public support for the project:
