wfn.org | ACNS3424 Human rights groups condemn Castro's crackdown on

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3424     |     USA     |	  29 APRIL 2003

Human rights groups condemn Castro's crackdown on opposition in Cuba

[ENS] Human rights and religious groups around the world - including the
World Council of Churches and an ecumenical group of Cuban clergy in the
US - have condemned a harsh crackdown on opposition in Cuba that drew stiff
prison sentences for dissidents.

Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, a strong critic of President Fidel
Castro, said that the crackdown is "the natural expression of a dictatorship
that has been oppressing human rights for years." An estimated 75 members of
the opposition have been prosecuted in quick trials with the longest
sentences given to independent journalists, one of them for 27 years. They
were accused of collaborating with US diplomats to undermine the state.

Cuban authorities said that the dissidents had conspired with US diplomat
James Cason, to harm the nation's economy and sovereignty. "We should be
clear, the opposition is not a shadow government waiting to move into
power," Mr Cason said at a speech in Miami. "They are simply among the few
who openly say what so many others believe, that it is time for change.
Because they have become such effective advocates, the government attacks
them, labelling them subversive traitors."

The 53-member United Nations Human Rights Commission, meeting in Geneva on
April 16, called on Havana to permit an investigator to visit Cuba, but
stopped short of mentioning the imprisonment of dissidents. The demand for
an investigator was rejected by the Cuban government.

The Spiritual Guides, an ecumenical group formed several years ago to help
the Cuban exile community in Miami, issued a statement that was signed by
three Episcopal bishops, a Roman Catholic bishop, as well as Presbyterian
and Lutheran clergy. "We strongly condemn the new repressive wave unleashed
by the communist regime of Cuba against almost one hundred dissidents and
peaceful opponents, independent journalists and leaders of civic movements
whose civil rights have been shamefully violated," they said in the April 8
statement.

The group said that the detentions were "unjust, illegal and abusive, and
their prison terms inhuman and cruel." They added, "We call upon the free
governments of the world, and especially religious organisations, which are
committed to respect human dignity, to make known to the Cuban government
their opposition to these acts of repression."

Episcopal bishops Leo Frade, Onell Soto, Agustin Roman and Emilio Hernandez
signed the statement.

World Council of Churches General Secretary, Konrad Raiser, called the
severe sentences "a miscarriage of justice" in an April 15 letter to Castro.
He expressed "shock and worry" that "over 70 people have been incarcerated
for exercising their right to freedom of expression." He called for the
immediate release of those held in detention.

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