In tense Cuba, church leaders request national dialogue 

by Manuel Quintero
Ecumenical News International

QUITO, ECUADOR — Cuba faces a tense political climate, marked by U.S. restrictions seen as strengthening economic sanctions against the communist nation, and opposition leaders and churches are urging the holding of a national dialogue to discuss the future of the country. 

      “The situation here is so difficult, following the announcement by President George Bush of his administration’s new plan to foster political changes in the island, that some people compare it to the climate of the October 1962 missile crisis,” said Enrique Lopez Oliva, a journalist and writer on religion affairs, in an interview with Ecumenical News International from Havana. 

      “The general increase in the prices of basic commodities decreed by the Cuban government, the likely drop off in the remittances from Cubans living in the United States and the restrictions on Cubans and U.S. people traveling between the two countries, have created a climate of extreme anxiety in the population of the island.”  

      Lopez noted: “Some analysts are concerned about a new massive, uncontrolled wave of migration [out of Cuba], especially of young people, and security around foreign embassies has been beefed up.” 

      The U.S. administration’s measures were designed to reduce hard currency on the island by limiting how often Cubans living in the United States can visit relatives on the island. They can currently visit once a year and spend $164 a day. The new rules allow visits only every third year with a daily expenditure of $50. 

      At the same time, a declaration by some 200 pastors and leaders in Cuba from 31 churches and ecumenical organizations, among them 20 Catholic lay people, has expressed “deep concern” about the country’s future and has called for dialogue between churches and the Cuban government. 

      The statement, a copy of which has been received by ENI, followed a meeting at the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Episcopal Church on May 25convened by Baptist pastor Raul Suarez, a member of Cuba’s National Assembly. 

      “We are deeply concerned about the future of our country, which now faces new actions furthering restricting the relationships within the Cuban family, already suffering because of its separation, actions that create additional difficulties for life in the island,” said the statement.  

      The document calls for a “dialogue with the highest authorities of the Cuban government” to allow greater possibilities for “social action” by Protestant churches in the country. 

      A day after the meeting at the Episcopal cathedral, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba issued a statement that rejected the new economic restrictions announced by the United States, and at the same criticized a Cuban government decision to increase the prices of basic commodities by between 10 and 15 per cent. 

      “We deem unacceptable that the future of Cuba be planned on the basis of exclusions, much less of interventions dictated by a foreign government,” said the Catholic bishops.  

      The U.S. and Cuban government measures “impinge on the poorest families in the island,” and add new hardships and burdens which aggravate the “already distressing situation,” the bishops said.

      The Catholic prelates urged the holding of a “national dialogue” to solve “the difficult social and economic situation of the Cuban people” and to “undertake the building of a more just society.”  

      The Catholic and Protestant calls coincided with one issued by Oswaldo Paya Sardiñas, a leader of Cuba’s internal opposition and architect of the so-called Varela Project, which called for peaceful albeit radical economic, social and political changes in Cuba. 

      On May 22 he called for a process of national dialogue in which “all willing Cubans, living in the island or abroad, whether they be members and supporters of the government or having opposed political positions, can participate.”