Catholic journal criticizes dissidents who support embargo

Posted on Monday, 05.06.13



Catholic journal criticizes dissidents who support embargo

By Juan Carlos Chavez

jcchavez@elnuevoherald.com



In its latest edition, the magazine published by the Council of

Laypersons of the Archdiocese of Havana criticized members of the

opposition who advocate maintaining the economic sanctions against Cuba

to accelerate democratic changes and guarantee individual freedom.



"Some people, both Cuban and foreigners, insist in asking important

world centers of power to destabilize the Cuban government," the

publication Espacio Laical (Layperson Space) says in its editorial.

"Cuba has a lot to change, but the protagonists of those changes cannot

be the centers of power in certain strong and influential countries."



The publication, headed by Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, asks the

centers of power to act "as friends who accompany us and not as judges

who condemn us." It also demands the government to exercise "a political

evolution capable of expanding the opening process" and avoid "rigidities."



It is not the first time that Espacio Laical has generated controversy.

A year ago, it said that neither dissidents nor exiles have "clear and

universal" projects for the nation's future. It added that some

(activists and dissidents) are following "agendas dictated from abroad."



Such criticism coincides with presentations that some opponents have

made in international tours through Europe and the United States.



The list of activists who have left Cuba temporarily includes blogger

Yoani Sánchez and Antonio Rodiles, director of the State of SATS (an art

exhibit). Also, the spokeswoman of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler; the

director of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National

Reconciliation, Elizardo Sánchez; and Rosa María Payá, daughter of the

late opposition leader Oswaldo Payá, founder of the Christian Liberation

Movement, among others.



Soler asked recently to maintain the U.S. embargo against Cuba and to

limit travel to the island until Raúl Castro's government show respect

for human rights. Soler also rejected Castro's economic reforms and

qualified them as "cosmetic."



Meanwhile, Rodiles said that this was the worst time "to lift the

embargo." And added that the disastrous state of the economy is forcing

Castro to order "minuscule" changes in the economic system.



http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/06/3383763/catholic-journal-criticizes-dissidents.html