[NYTr] Cuba Confronts Catholic Counterrevolutionaries

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

["Ladies in White," "dissidents" in black,  fetus fanatics and 
and US mercenaries... all gearing up for "human rights day" on Dec
10th. These folks should be given free airfare for a vacation in
Colombia or Guatemala and they would kiss the ground when they
returned. -NY Transfer]

IPS News - Dec 7, 2007


RIGHTS-CUBA:  Incident Could Hurt Relations with Catholic Church

By Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Dec 7 (IPS) - A police raid on a church in the eastern city of
Santiago de Cuba to arrest a group of dissidents [sic] was called "a
deplorable incident" by a member of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, who
said it could harm the good relationship between the Catholic Church
and the Cuban government.

"It is to be hoped that (the incident) does not damage relations, and I
believe that we should all do our utmost to keep this from happening,"
Monsignor José Félix Pérez Riera, assistant secretary of the Cuban
Conference of Catholic Bishops, told IPS.

On Tuesday, undercover police kicked down the door of the parish hall
attached to the church of Santa Teresita in Santiago de Cuba, 847
kilometres from Havana, and burst in violently to arrest several
dissidents [sic] dressed in black, who had marched some 20 blocks to the
church demanding the release of one of their number who had been
previously detained.

According to international press reports, out of the two dozen
dissidents gathered in the church building, five were arrested.

Elizardo Sánchez of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation, a dissident group, said on Thursday that they had all
been released a few hours later.

Pérez Riera said the bishop’s conference has not made an official
declaration, nor has it approached the authorities to discuss the
matter, because this is the prerogative of the archbishop of Santiago
de Cuba, Dionisio García, who is personally looking into it.

The government agency which deals with the different religious
organisations in the country is the ruling Communist Party’s Department
of Religious Affairs, headed by Caridad Diego.

Pérez Riera is also the parish priest of the Havana church of Santa
Rita, where Sunday mass is attended weekly by the Damas de Blanco
(Ladies in White), the wives, mothers and other relatives of 75
dissidents who received harsh sentences in 2003, on charges of
conspiracy with the United States to subvert the Cuban state.

"There has never been any trouble, for which I am thankful, because
these ladies are completely respectful, they come to mass and behave
impeccably. They have always carried out any political demonstrations
outside the sanctuary," he said.

After mass, the women march through the streets near the church,
demanding the release of their loved ones.

The Catholic Church’s work in support of human rights tends to be
extremely discreet in this country. "It’s a style that is very much our
own, after the manner of Jesus when he said ‘let not your left hand
know what your right hand is doing’. But I also believe that discretion
can be far more effective," said Pérez Riera.

At a press conference, Sánchez said the police incursion was an
"outrage, and a profanation of the Santa Teresita church." He stressed
the raid must have been premeditated because "the police authorities
knew, hours ahead of time, that the demonstrators would be going to the
church."

In his view, this event, together with brief arrests of "dozens" of
dissidents in recent weeks, is part of a campaign to discourage and
demobilise any demonstration by "peaceful dissidents" on Dec. 10,
International Human Rights Day.

In telephone interviews with IPS, local residents of Santiago de Cuba
said the disturbance at the Santa Teresita church were not common
knowledge around the city. "It’s just part of a prearranged soap opera,
a series of incidents to carry on the campaign to discredit dissidents,
now that the human rights issue is being raised," said an anonymous
source.

In November, Havana persuaded the United Nations to put an end to the
mission of a special rapporteur tasked with observing the human rights
situation in the country, which is a matter of constant confrontation
with Washington. The withdrawal was seen as a victory for Cuban
diplomacy.

The government and the Church leadership maintain what they both call
good relations, which are steadily improving, although in the past they
were extremely tense at times.

Catholic Church authorities in this Caribbean island nation are
preparing for the visit of the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone, in January 2008, to mark the 10th anniversary of the
visit to Cuba of Pope John Paul II (1978-2005). 

(END/2007)