Key Dissident Issues Plan Toward Democracy

Cuba’s best-known dissident, Oswaldo Paya, detailed what analysts said was the most complete plan ever presented for a peaceful transition to democracy and a market economy.

In the first public challenge to Fidel Castro by a top dissident since a roundup of opponents this year, Paya’s manifesto, distributed to foreign reporters, calls for freedom for political prisoners, the return of exiles, privatizing much of the economy and preserving Cuba’s free education and health care.

Diplomats lauded the plan but said it wouldn’t succeed.