OPINION
Cuba and the Vatican
By ARMANDO VALLADARES
April 18, 2008; Page A16
Pope Benedict XVI is in the midst of the first journey to America of his
pontificate, and he met with President George W. Bush this week.
Hopefully this visit will reinforce the need for a joint commitment to
freedom in Cuba.
The Catholic Church has taken a hardline position against right-wing
dictator****ps. But in Cuba, the Church has been silent – or worse –
ever
since 1960, when Fidel Castro expelled hundreds of Catholic priests
because they alerted their pari****oners of the communist danger
surfacing in government circles.
[Pope Benedict XVI]
In one especially shameful episode in the 1980s, Ventura, Cipriano and
Eugenio García Marín and their mother entered the nunciature in Havana
to ask for political asylum. Two days later they saw several priests get
out of a black limousine. They were special troops from Castro's
political police who entered the Holy See's diplomatic mission with the
authorization and complicity of the pope's diplomats in Havana. The
three brothers were executed, and their mother was sentenced to 20 years
in prison.
Cardinal Tarsicio Bertone's visit to Cuba this February was a different
kind of outrage. In statements by the Vatican secretary of state,
published by L'Osservatore Romano shortly after the cardinal's visit,
the cardinal is quoted saying, contrary to historical fact, that Cuba's
Catholic Church is not a "persecuted Church." He also described Cuba's
universities as "renowned centers of higher education." In reality, they
are sophisticated factories of atheism and apostasy.
The cardinal also said: "As we all know, Cuba's crucial problems are due
to the embargo imposed by the U.S. and the economic sanctions of the
European Union which slow down its development." The Vatican's chief
diplomat appears to have forgotten that for almost 50 years the "crucial
problem" of Cuba has been the communist regime.
Cardinal Bertone stated that the Vatican wants to encourage a dialogue
between Wa****ngton and Havana that could "turn the page" in the
antagonistic relations between the two governments. He added that this
dialogue was also "the expectation of Cuba's president," Raul Castro. He
added that he "assured [Raul Castro] that the Holy See will work hard to
obtain the elimination, or at least the amelioration of the sanctions."
By pressuring the U.S. to lift the embargo, Cardinal Bertone plays the
sad role of an effective ambassador of Cuban communist diplomacy. He
also subverts the appraisal of Cuba's real "crucial problems" when he
denounces the external embargo, while remaining silent about a communist
regime that muzzles and holds in misery 11 million souls.
After the cardinal's visit, Havana promptly announced a series of
cosmetic "reforms," which include financial incentives for small
farmers; permitting the sale of laptop computers and cellular phones;
the eventual weakening of restrictions for Cubans to travel abroad;
allowing Cubans to stay in hotels, most of which have been part of Fidel
Castro's abominable "tourist apartheid"; and the signing of an
international agreement on social and economic rights.
But these measures may be little more than tools to facilitate Havana's
ad hoc ambassador's work in Wa****ngton. Furthermore, the regime could
promptly rescind such measures, just as Fidel Castro discarded previous
liberalizing reforms after hoodwinking naive foreigners.
The Vatican's diplomatic behavior helps prolong the agony of my sisters
and brothers in Cuba, and creates a grave problem of conscience for
loyal Cuban Catholics who expect better from the pope. It in no way
diminishes their veneration to express respectful disappointment and
even disagreement with the Vatican.
I pray that future developments will prove wrong the concerns of so many
Cuban Catholics on the island and in exile. Both the pope and President
Bush have immense responsibilities before God and the Cuban people. It
is my most sincere hope that they will not forget Cubans' aspirations
for freedom, peace and prosperity.
Mr. Valladares, chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation,
spent 22 years in Cuban political prisons and served as U.S.
Representative before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in
Geneva from 1987 to 1990.
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