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WHY MEMORY, TRUTH AND JUSTICE? The task force had four objectives.
We were not a truth commission. Deciding whether or not to convene a truth commission will be the prerogative of Cubans on the island once a transition from the current regime is in process. Our aim was to do some of the background work that might prove useful to those who actually engage these matters in the future. Only then and by them will it be possible - responding to new political realities in Cuba - to determine what course to follow regarding past human rights violations. After three meetings over 2001-2003, we produced Cuban National Reconciliation that presents our group's deliberations and recommendations; the report is available on this web page. We intend it, first and foremost, for Cubans wherever they live, as well as for opinion- and policy-makers in the United States, Latin America, and Europe and, in general, for all those who are interested in Cuban national reconciliation. Task force members ranged over the broadest center of the political spectrum. Cuban members had not worked together before: we needed to build trust for our work to be effective, and we did. We were greatly aided by members of other nationalities with long-standing experience in the field of human rights. We also sought to consult Cubans from the island and the diaspora. We all unequivocally share a
common ground - the establishment of the rule of law on the island, the
banishment of political violence, and the hope that Cuba can be made whole -
and a common starting point - rescuing memories, telling truths, and seeking
justice in the spirit of Cuban national reconciliation. Memory, Truth and Justice was funded by the
Ford Foundation and the Open Society Institute.
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