The Varela Project () is a project that was started in 1998 by Oswaldo Payá of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) and named after Felix Varela, a Cuban Patriot Priest named the Father of The Homeland.
Many members were imprisoned during the Black Spring in 2003.
The Varela Project citizens' initiative
The purpose of the Varela Project was to circulate a proposal of law advocating for democratic political reforms within Cuba, such as the establishment of freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free elections, freedom of religion, freedom to start private businesses, and amnesty for political prisoners.
About 11,000 Cubans signed the reformist Varela Project citizens' initiative. The US State Department's 2005 report on Cuba in Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (issued in 2006) stated that "activists reported increased harassment by State Security agents. Authorities arrested and detained Varela activists, confiscated signatures, fined and threatened activists and signers, and forced signers to rescind signatures. State Security impersonated canvassing volunteers and increasingly infiltrated the ranks of activists. In May and June, Oswaldo Paya reported State Security agents visited and pressured more than 50 Varela Project signatories to retract their signatures and denounce the Varela Project activists who had collected their signatures." The US State Department's 2004 report on Cuba referred to the Cuban Penal Code concept of "dangerousness," defined as the "special proclivity of a person to commit crimes, demonstrated by his conduct in manifest contradiction of socialist norms." The report said that "If the police decide that a person exhibits signs of dangerousness, they may bring the offender before a court or subject him to therapy or political reeducation". According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, this provision "amounted to a subjective criterion used by the Government to justify violations of individual freedoms and due process for persons whose sole crime was to hold a view different from the official view".
The Cuban government refused to consider the petition, and the Cuban National Assembly's Constitution and Legal Affairs Committee suspended its consideration, and responded to the Varela Project with a "counter-initiative" to enshrine "irrevocable socialism" in the Cuban Constitution. The BBC reported that, over a two-week period, 9 million Cubans took to the streets and 99% of all Cuban citizens signed a petition endorsing the constitutional amendment. The BBC said that many Cubans felt pressured into signing the government's petition.
The Varela Project was lauded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter when he made a historic visit to Havana in May 2002 and gave a televised address broadcast throughout Cuba. The European Union awarded Payá the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in December 2002.
In March 2003, Cuba arrested 75 human rights activists and dissidents, including 25 members of the Varela Project, on a variety of charges. The dissidents were sentenced in public trials to prison terms of between 6 and 28 years for "mercenary activities and other acts against the independence or territorial integrity of the state". Amnesty International said it was concerned that the 75 jailed activists may be prisoners of conscience who were imprisoned for their non-violent advocacy for democracy. According to the US State Department, many of those arrested had no access to attorneys until the day of their trial, which was by a judge subordinate to the Communist Party.