MADRID (CNS) – Seven men – former political prisoners
released by the Cuban government, some accompanied by family
members – arrived in Madrid July 13, the first of 52
prisoners released in a deal partially brokered by the Cuban
Catholic Church.
The men flashed fingers in a victory sign and said in a joint
statement they hoped their 45 fellow prisoners would be
released soon.
Catholics can “take some holy pride that the bishops of Cuba
were in this mediation,” Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski
told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview July 8.
He called it a “significant turn of events” that church
leaders were able to engage with Cuban officials and said it
bodes well not only for the Catholic Church in Cuba, but also
for the “continued development of civil society.”
An announcement on the website of Cardinal Jaime Ortega
Alamino of Havana July 7 said the prisoner release would
continue over four months. It said the process leading to the
release began with a May 19 meeting of Cuban President Raul
Castro, Cardinal Ortega and Archbishop Dionisio Garcia Ibanez
of Santiago, president of the Cuban bishops’ conference.
As part of the church-brokered deal, more than a dozen
prisoners were transferred to prisons closer to their homes.
The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said
the announcement about the prisoner release brought
“long-awaited good news from the Caribbean island.”
“These are significant signs that we hope indicate a steady
progress toward a renewed climate of social and political
life that we all desire for the Cuban nation,” Father
Lombardi said in an editorial on Vatican Radio July 10. He
underlined the crucial role of Cuban church leaders in the
dialogue process, backed by the diplomatic arm of the
Vatican.
“The Holy See has always manifested itself contrary to the
embargo, sympathetic to the sufferings of the people, and
ready to support any prospect of constructive dialogue,”
Father Lombardi said.
The spokesman recalled Pope John Paul II’s words during his
historic visit to Cuba in 1998: “Let Cuba open itself up to
the world and the world open itself to Cuba.”
“With patience, there has been significant progress in this
direction. We all hope that the journey continues,” Father
Lombardi said.
The U.S. State Department said July 13 that it applauded the
efforts of the Catholic Church, the government of Spain and
other who worked for the prisoners’ release.
“While the United States continues to call for the immediate
and unconditional release of all political prisoners, this is
a positive development that we hope will represent a step
toward increased respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms in Cuba,” the statement said.
The prisoner release is reported to be the largest since
1998, when 101 political prisoners were among about 300
inmates released after Pope John Paul visited Cuba.
The prisoners awaiting release were detained in 2003 during a
government crackdown. Cuban officials rounded up 75 activists
and journalists accused of acting as mercenaries for the
United States and said they planned to overthrow the Cuban
government.
Of this initial group, some have completed their sentences
and others have been released for health reasons.
In June, Cuba released dissident Darsi Ferrer and an ill
prisoner, Ariel Sigler, who has been awaiting approval from
the U.S. government to join family members in Florida.
In late February, one of the prisoners, Orlando Zapata
Tamayo, died after he had been on a hunger strike protesting
prison conditions. The day after his death, Feb. 24, prisoner
Guillermo Farinas began a hunger strike protesting Zapata’s
death and calling attention to ill prisoners.
Farinas, who was reportedly near death, ended his 130-day
strike July 8 after the government announced it was freeing
some of the political prisoners.
In May, Catholic Church officials successfully negotiated
with Cuban authorities to lift a ban on marches staged by the
Ladies in White, a group of wives and mothers of political
prisoners.
Castro met June 20 with Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the
Vatican’s foreign minister, and the state-run news media said
the meeting “showed the favorable development of relations
between the state and the Catholic Church in Cuba.”
Archbishop Wenski, installed this June in Miami, visited Cuba
last year with Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley and San
Antonio Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu in part to see how the
island was recovering from the previous year’s hurricanes.
Archbishop Wenski told CNS that in the past decades, the
Catholic Church has “sought to regain space in Cuban society
that had been lost and restricted for years.”
“This space is not for special favors,” he added, “but to
carry out its mission.”
He noted that the work to release political prisoners was
likewise consistent with the church’s mission and “without
self interest.”
The archbishop said the prisoners’ release should please the
United States because of the value it places on freedom of
speech and conscience.
“We take that so much for granted,” he added, noting that
people in this country can form groups for any purpose, but
“in Cuba that doesn’t exist.”
Contributing to this story were Carol Zimmermann in
Washington and John Thavis in Rome.
