Havana - A former government official petitionedthe Cuban national assembly Tuesday to allow citizens to travel freely off the island, he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Pedro Aníbal Riera Escalante, a former state intelligence officer and consul in Mexico, said he petitioned the Cuban parliament to reform migratory laws to eliminate the requirement for permission to leave and enter the country.
Eliminating the so-called "white card" permissions is one measure that some expect of Raul Castro's government. Officials acknowledged that such a move was "under consideration," but no government reform legislation has been proposed.
Riera Escalante's proposal aims to "apply the article of the constitution that establishes that all citizens are equal under law," he said.
It would stop the practice of confiscating property of Cubans who have left the island, and permit those living abroad to invest in the country and have voting rights.
Riera Escalante said he also asked for the resources necessary to promote a national debate on the initiative.
"The proposal conforms strictly to the law, it is not a subversive activity," said the former consul, who serve a prison sentence in Cuba after being arrested in Mexico and deported in 1999 for having used false documents to seek political asylum.
According to Cuban law, petitions to the legislature must be accepted or rejected within 60 days. Riera Escalante said he would not wait for the answer before starting to collect the 10,000 signatures necessary to move the petition forward and recruit support from different sectors of society.
The former army major in the state intelligence apparatus said he proposed similar reforms without success when he was consul to Mexico in 1991. But he said the current government under the direction of Raul Castro might be more open the idea now.
"There is great interest and disposition on the part of the government toward change, but I am afraid the changes could end up being superficial and not address the core problems," he said.
He said Raul Castro himself opened the door when he urged citizens to speak "with courage" about what works and what doesn't in Cuban society, during a July 26, 2007 speech.
