(www.friendsofcubanlibaries.org)      

   Strasbourg Twins with Cuban Libraries

STRASBOURG (France), March 19, 2004 (AFP) - The mayor's office of Strasbourg 
announced on Friday a decision to sponsor a twinning program between its 
municipal libraries and the independent libraries of Pinar del Río Province, in 
western Cuba, which are being persecuted by the Cuban authorities.

This decision was taken on the first anniversary of the arrest of 
approximately 80 Cuban dissidents, followed by convictions and long prison terms for 75 
of them, among whom are 17 independent librarians.

In a letter addressed to the independent librarians of Pinar del Río, the 
mayor of Strasbourg, Fabienne Keller, and the president of the urban region of 
Strasbourg, Robert Grossman, announced they would provide books to persons 
traveling to Cuba and will ask the visitors to deliver them to the independent 
libraries.

Below is the text of the letter of the mayor of Strasbourg, Fabienne Keller, 
and the president of the urban region of Strasbourg, Robert Grossman, to the 
libraries of Pinar del Río announcing the sponsoring program initiated by the 
municipal libraries of Strasbourg and its urban community:

Strasbourg, March 19, 2004

Dear friends among the independent librarians of Pinar del Río,

Through the Free Cuba Solidarity Committee, of France, we learned about your 
work for the promotion of a free culture, and of your difficulties and the 
persecution of which you are victims. We salute your struggle for the free 
circulation of ideas: a key element for the reconstruction of a civil society in 
Cuba in the perspective of the recovery of democracy. It is for this reason that 
the municipality of Strasbourg (Eastern France) and the libraries of our city 
decided to sponsor the independent libraries of Pinar del Río.

This commitment is located within the context of a broader movement in favor 
of the Cuban democrats which is developing within France and in which our 
region (Alsace in eastern France) actively participates.

The mayor's office of Strasbourg and its city journal "Strasbourg Magazine," 
at the request of the freedom of the press organization Reporters Without 
Borders, sponsors the poet and independent journalist Raúl Rivero [who is also an 
independent librarian], condemned to 20 years in prison.

Also, three parliamentary deputies and two senators from Alsace have agreed 
to sponsor eight other imprisoned Cuban democracy advocates, at the request of 
the Free Cuba Solidarity Committee, which is also the originator of the 
project supporting the independent libraries of Cuba.

Together with 70 French parliamentary deputies and senators, they have 
written to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs asking for intervention on behalf 
of their adopted prisoners in the framework of the diplomatic relations 
between France and Cuba. The Minister sent a reply to every one of them, assuring 
them of France's commitment to the liberation of the democratic Cubans and 
reporting on the effort being made with the Cuban authorities to intervene in the 
situation of the prisoners.

With regard to the support that we want to give to the independent libraries 
of Pinar del Río, with the help of exiled writers and intellectuals in France 
we intend to organize activities in the municipal libraries of Strasbourg, 
explaining to those of us living in a democracy the significance of jailing poets 
and journalists and the prohibition of books. This will also give us the 
opportunity to listen to the voices of the intellectuals in Cuba, who can still 
speak freely despite their imprisonment in horrifying dungeons.

Today, sending this letter to you by various routes, we are trying to 
establish contact to learn about your needs and to find ways to aid you, in addition 
to our boundless moral support. We would like, for example, to send you books, 
magazines, and office supplies: we are looking for secure ways to achieve 
this goal. Let us know what channels of communication we can take advantage of. 
As an initial gesture of solidarity, we intend to give books to travelers 
leaving France for Cuba, asking them to deliver them to you, or at least to give 
the books to Cubans whom they meet and who are sympathetic.

Awaiting your reply, which will demonstrate that we have broken the blockade 
imposed by the Cuban government against its own people, we greet you in the 
hope that we can help Cubans in their search for the road toward democracy and 
prosperity.

Ms. Fabienne Keller
Mayor of Strasbourg

Mr. Robert Grossman
President of the regional communities of Strasbourg