RELIGION BULLETIN-AMERICAS: Bishops Worried by Debt, Migration and Cuba

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Feb 21 1999 (IPS) - Foreign debt, migration problems and the situation in Cuba took up the bulk of the Interamerican Bishops’ Meeting in Havana, while Parliament here was reforming the penal code, bringing in the death penalty for some drug offences.

The meeting called by the Catholic Church brought together five cardinals and 25 bishops from Latin America, Canada and the United States for three days, ending Feb 16 with a religious ceremony prior to a three-hour visit from President Fidel Castro.

Castro changed the military olive greens he wore in Parliament for a sombre blue suit in the reception for the Catholic representatives.

Cuban Parliament approved new laws against crime and the hostile US policy toward the island.

“Fidel and the religious representatives conversed frankly and warmly,” stated local television while the front page of official daily ‘Granma’ merely informed of the meeting without adjectives or details of what was discussed.

In their 27th Interamerican Meeting, the bishops discussed the papal message “Ecclesia in America” issued by John Paul II in Mexico in January.

They worked through how the papal document could be applied in their respective communities and mechanisms to help society “understand how the Gospel of Jesus Christ offers us possibilities for reconciliation and solidarity on the continent.”

A message from the religious dignatories, distributed by the press office of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba, said the meeting covered the problems created by migrations, foreign debt and the quest for effective forms of solidarity with the poorest sectors.

“The spirit of solidarity pushes us toward giving special attention to the complex question of foreign debt and also to the serious consequences of the economic embargo on Cuba, which we have repeatedly rejected,” said the document.

Further on it says “with the help of specialists from throughout the continent we want the celebration of the Great Jubilee to offer an opportunity to find solutions to these difficult problems.”

The American bishops also committed themselves to “promoting reconciliation,” overcoming “the conflicts and tension which have created ruptures” between the peoples of the region, opening up to “the fraternal welcome of emigrants experiencing difficulties.”

“We want to take on, with concrete gestures, the spiritual and material needs of the brothers and sisters who were recent victims of the greatest sufferings,” said the message, referring to Honduras and Colombia, striken by a hurricane and an earthquake respectively.

It also calls for increased efforts by the churches of America “for the development of Haiti and other more needy areas.”

The issues exposed in the bishops’ document coincide with the supportive policy Cuba has developed toward the countries of Central America which last year suffered the effects of Hurricane Mitch. Like the cancellation of Nicaragua’s debt, for example.

Disagreements were seen between the American bishops and the Fidel Castro administration at the press conference offered at the close of the meeting.

Cuban cardinal Jaime Ortega repeated the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty, to be applied in cases of officials involved in drug smuggling, amongst others.

“The death penalty is always a tragic resource, and two wrongs don’t make a right,” said Ortega, who also expressed his concern over the so called Law for the Protection of the National Independence and Economy of Cuba.

For Ortega, this new regulation, approved along with various changes to the penal code, is worryingly “ambiguous,” leaving too broad a margin for interpretation.

The law is based on the objective of “typifying and punishing those events aimed at supporting, facilitating or collaborating with the aims ” of the blockade, the economic war, subversion or other actions undertakent to “endanger” the sovereignty and integrity of the Cuban State.

It establishes heavy fines and punishments varying from two to 30 years imprisonment, depending on the severity of the case, for crimes related to information which could be used to the benefit of the hostile US policy toward the island, according to its principles.

The 30-year prison sentences will be applied, amongst other cases, to anyone who obtains knowledge of information which can be used against Cuba due to their post or profession and supplies this, directly or indirectly, to the US government or dependencies.

In the parliamentary debates, chairman of the Cuban Journalists’ Union, Tubal Paez, supported the new law punishing “the pro-annex agents who internally fulfil missions in the spheres of disinformation” and distort “the image of the Revolution.”

Paez accused independent Cuban journalists – believed to be the target of the law – of having “taken the enemy’s side” and depending “directly on the US government agencies.”