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Saturday, July 24, 2004

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  The report was delivered Friday to the offices of Cuban Justice Minister Roberto Diaz Sotolongo. There was no public reaction by the President Fidel Castro's government to the recommendations.

The proposal echoed dissident Oswaldo Paya's Varela Project, long ago rejected by Cuban authorities. Varela Project volunteers submitted 25,000 signatures to Cuba's parliament petitioning for a referendum on whether voters favor civil liberties such as freedom of speech and the right to business ownership.

Many of the 75 dissidents arrested and sentenced to long prison terms in a crackdown last year were Varela Project volunteers, accused of working with U.S. diplomats to undermine the island's government. They denied the charges.

Seven of the 75 have since been released for health reasons.

Bruzon is a former political prisoner who was arrested more than a year before the March 2003 crackdown. He was one of four dissidents who, after never being tried in court, were suddenly released without explanation in June.

Bruzon was relatively unknown in Cuba before his arrest but gained fame through international campaigns for his release.

He was on Amnesty International's list of Cuban prisoners of conscience, and mentioned by name, along with several other Cuban political prisoners, by Bush in an October speech announcing measures to crack down on American travel to the communist-run island.

At the time of his release, Bruzon said he wanted to leave Cuba soon to live in France, which granted him a visa after his family became alarmed about his health during a hunger strike in jail.

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