wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Cuban church leaders defend crackdown on dissent

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Note #8034 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Cuban church leaders defend crackdown on dissent
03525
December 3, 2003

Cuban church leaders defend crackdown on dissent

Leaders say embattled Castro regime has reason to fear U.S. 'aggression'

by Evan Silverstein

VARADERO, Cuba - In May, the Rev. Joel Ortega Dopico joined a crowd in
Havana's Plaza of the Revolution to hear Cuban President Fidel Castro respond
to harsh international criticism of his government.

An outcry had arisen in April after Cuba imprisoned 75 dissidents charged
with working with the United States to overthrow Castro's regime. A few days
later, three of 10 people who tried to hijack a ferry to the U.S. were tried
as terrorists and executed by firing squad. That incident followed two
hijackings of planes to Key West, FL.

The perfunctory trials, long prison sentences and executions drew worldwide
condemnation from governments, human-rights organizations and religious
leaders, including Pope John Paul II and Konrad Raiser, general secretary of
the World Council of Churches (WCC).

"It was a very difficult moment, in terms of the international situation,"
said Dopico, a Presbyterian pastor in the resort town of Varadero, about 75
miles east of Havana.

Cuba's harshest crackdown on dissidents in decades began on March 18, as the
world awaited the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, with arrests of
journalists, opposition party leaders, rights advocates and pro-democracy
activists.

Some in Cuba worried that the U.S. might use the furor over the crackdown as
an excuse to attack the island nation of 11 million people as part of its war
on terrorism.

Cubans already were uneasy about the U.S. State Department's addition of Cuba
to its list of "nations that sponsor state terrorism" and its claim that
Cuban scientists made biochemical weapons available to countries hostile to
the United States.

Later, Hans Hertell, the U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic, said the
removal of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could serve as a "good example" for
regime change in Cuba.

"There were extreme right-wing newspapers in Miami talking about, 'First
Saddam, then Castro,'" said Dopico, pastor of the Dora E. Valentmn Memorial
Presbyterian Reformed Church of Varadero.

Castro defended the crackdown, telling a crowd of hundreds of thousands at
Revolution Square that it was necessary to protect Cuba against U.S.
aggression. He said he would defend the island with "our last drop of blood"
in the event of an American attack.

"It was a moment of reaffirmation and consolidation, in a clear statement on
the position of Cuba, in light of everything that was going on," said Dopico,
vice moderator of the Presbytery of Matanzas and president of its governing
council.

Dopico and other Cuban church leaders said they weren't offended by the
dissidents' imprisonment. They attributed the frenzy to propaganda generated
by the media and hostile foreign nations, such as the United States.

Dopico said his congregation didn't consider the issue important or see it as
a government abuse.

"Anytime anything happens in Cuba, certain groups of people blow it up and
make it a huge news item, like this is the only place in the world that this
would happen," he said.

Responding to the hijackers' executions, Cuban church leaders said they
oppose the death penalty because life is a gift of God that no human has a
right to take.

"I think as a Cuban church we are very much against the death penalty," said
the Rev. Pedro Jiminez, a Presbyterian pastor who is a vice president of the
Cuban Council of Churches (CCC). "Nobody has the right to take a life, no
matter what the cause."

Church leaders urged Christians everywhere to understand that Cuba's security
is always threatened by the United States.

"It's really important not to judge from the outside, without at least first
analyzing the Cuban situation in which this took place," Dopico said.

The Rev. Carlos Camps, general secretary of the Presbyterian Reformed Church
in Cuba (IPRC), agreed that criticism of the crackdown must be kept in
perspective.

"The problem of the dissidents is a very heavy question, because to me, it
depends on what all the propaganda around the world is doing and was doing
against our Cuban people and our government," Camps said. "It seems to me
that we must see all these problems in the context of the propaganda against
our country."

The 10,000-member IPRC did not make a public statement about the issue or the
executions, Camps said, but did reiterate its opposition of the death penalty
in a statement to the government's Religious Office of the Party.

On April 23, church leaders responded to the international furor with an open
letter to churches around the world. The Rev. Reinerio Arce-Valentmn, a
Presbyterian who serves as president of the Cuban Council of Churches, was
one of 23 signatories.

In the letter, the religious leaders expressed opposition to the death
penalty and disagreement with some of their government's actions. But they
also expressed grave concern for the "security" and "integrity" of their
nation in light of the U.S. threat. They also voiced fear that the war with
Iraq could be a prelude to U.S. aggression against Cuba.

"We believe that we find ourselves in a moment of serious threat for the     
		 security and integrity of our nation," they wrote. "We also
believe that what is intended is to find pretexts to launch another war of
aggression."

They promised to honor their evangelical directive to provide spiritual
counseling to imprisoned dissidents and condemned the U.S. government for
financing, supporting and protecting opposition groups inside Cuba > activity
they claim has increased under the direction of James Cason, the top U.S.
diplomat in Cuba. The U.S. government disputes the charge.

"Throughout 40-plus years this kind of thing has happened every once is a
while with people who have been used by the CIA , for example," Dopico said.
"So basically, people in my congregation saw it as just another example of
people  working with the U.S. and profiting from it."

Jiminez, who leads a Presbyterian Reformed congregation in central Cuba, said
his country must be wary of outside influences. "I think as Cubans we need to
defend our country," he said. "We don't want Americans or Europeans coming
here and saying what we need to do."

Jiminez said Cubans are still concerned about the possibility of a U.S.-led
military campaign to unseat Castro, who has been in power for 44 years.

"We were very afraid earlier this year, in March, April, May," he said.
"Still we are a little bit afraid."

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