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DIRITTI UMANI Cuba, il Papa chiede �clemenza� a Castro Forte Appello Serve un confronto tra cittadini e Autorit� per la democrazia 27/04/03 Da Roma Fabrizio Mastrofini Un Papa �profondamente addolorato�, e sicuramente contrariato, ha chiesto a Fidel Castro un �significativo gesto di clemenza� per il gruppo di dissidenti cubani ai quali, nelle scorse settimane, le autorit� dell'Avana avevano comminato pesanti condanne �per gravi atti di terrorismo�, comprese tre condanne a morte eseguite per fucilazione l'11 aprile. La Santa Sede ha reso noto ieri un intervento compiuto dal cardinale Angelo Sodano a nome del Papa, sul presidente cubano Fidel Castro proprio per chiedere clemenza. L'intervento vaticano � arrivato sotto forma di una lettera datata 13 aprile, Domenica delle Palme, due giorni dopo le tre fucilazioni. �Appena conosciuta la notizia delle pesanti condanne inflitte ad un significativo gruppo di dissidenti cubani, fra cui tre condanne a morte - si legge nella nota rilasciata dalla Santa Sede -, il Santo Padre ha incaricato il segretario di Stato, il cardinale Angelo Sodano, di esprimere al presidente del Consiglio di Stato e di governo della Re pubblica di Cuba, Fidel Castro, il suo profondo dolore per tale dura sentenza�. Nella lettera - dai toni cortesi, ma fermi - Fidel Castro viene esortato a �un significativo gesto di clemenza�. �All'avvicinarsi della Santa Pasqua - scrive il cardinale Sodano - mi � gradito, in primo luogo, esprimere i migliori auguri a lei e a tutta la nazione cubana�. E prosegue: �Ho inoltre l'alto incarico di comunicarle che il Santo Padre � stato profondamente addolorato apprendendo la notizia delle dure pene inflitte recentemente a numerosi cittadini cubani e di alcune condanne alla pena capitale�. �Di fronte a questi fatti - spiega - Sua Santit� mi ha incaricato di chiedere a Vostra Eccellenza che consideri attentamente un gesto di clemenza verso i condannati, con la certezza che tale atto contribuirebbe a creare un clima di maggiore distensione a beneficio del caro popolo cubano�. �Sono sicuro - prosegue la lettera a Castro - che lei sar� d'accordo con me che solo un confronto sincero e costrutti vo tra cittadini e autorit� civili pu� garantire la promozione di uno Stato moderno e democratico in una Cuba sempre pi� unita e fraterna�. �Approfitto di questa circostanza - conclude il messaggio - per rinnovarle, signor presidente, i sentimenti della mia pi� alta e distinta considerazione�. Il riferimento � all'arresto di un gruppo di 75 persone compiuto il 18 marzo, e al successivo arresto di 11 persone, il 2 aprile, colpevoli del tentativo di dirottamento di una nave passeggeri. Nove giorni dopo, i tre principali ispiratori dell'ultima azione erano stati giustiziati. Contro l'arresto dei dissidenti e pi� ancora contro l'esecuzione erano insorti, lo stesso 11 aprile, i vescovi dell'isola caraibica. L'ondata repressiva arriva a cinque anni dalla storica visita del Papa, compiuta nel gennaio 1998, che aveva aperto speranze nuove anche per una pi� generale democratizzazione della societ� cubana. In effetti, la visita era stata preceduta dalla prima celebrazione del Natale come festa r eligiosa, punto di arrivo di un processo che a partire dal 1991 e con le modifiche costituzionali del 1992 aveva portato ad un sostanziale miglioramento delle relazioni con la Santa Sede e all'ingresso nell'isola dei primi gruppi di missionari stranieri.
Appello del Papa al Presidente della Repubblica di Cuba Appena conosciuta la notizia
delle pesanti condanne inflitte ad un significativo gruppo di
dissidenti cubani, fra cui tre condanne a morte, il Santo Padre ha
incaricato il Segretario di Stato, il Cardinale Angelo Sodano, di
esprimere al Presidente della Repubblica di Cuba, Fidel Castro, il Suo
profondo dolore per tale dura sentenza.
Pope Appeals to Castro to Show Leniency 26/04/03 By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer VATICAN CITY - Deeply dismayed by Cuba's crackdown on dissent, Pope John Paul II decried harsh sentences handed down against the island's dissidents and implored Fidel Castro to show leniency. In a letter made public Saturday, the pontiff also denounced the execution of three men who seized a ferry in a failed bid to reach the United States. The plea was conveyed to Castro on April 13 � Palm Sunday � two days after a firing squad killed the men, who had commandeered the boat and its 50 passengers in Havana Bay on April 2. A Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the letter had not been publicized to give Castro a chance to respond. Apparently, there was no answer. Cuba has come under heavy world criticism for sentencing 75 dissidents to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years on charges they collaborated with American diplomats to subvert the island nation's socialist system. Castro has taken a hard stand. On Friday, he accused the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba of stirring up subversive activities by opponents of his government. He has defended the executions as necessary to halt what he called a brewing migration crisis provoked by the United States. Dissidents and diplomats have denied the accusations. The Vatican said the pontiff, upon learning of "the heavy sentences inflicted on a significant group of Cuban dissidents," asked the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, to express John Paul's "deep sorrow" in a letter to Castro. The letter, in Spanish, began with Easter greetings to the traditionally Catholic nation. "The Holy Father felt deeply pained when he learned of the harsh sentences recently imposed on numerous Cuban citizens, and, even, for some of them, the death penalty," Sodano wrote. "In the face of these facts, His Holiness gave me the task of asking Your Excellency to give full consideration to a significant gesture of clemency toward those convicted." Showing leniency, the letter said, "will contribute to create a climate of greater detente to the benefit of the dear Cuban people," whom the pope visited in 1998 in a historic pilgrimage. "I am sure that you also share with me the conviction that only a sincere and constructive confrontation between the citizens and the civil authorities can guarantee the promotion of a modern and democratic state in a Cuba ever more united and fraternal," Sodano concluded. The Holy See has faced some criticism in Italy for failing to speak out enough about Cuba, though the Vatican's newspaper has described the executions as a "sad development." The pope is a staunch opponent of the death penalty, and on occasion has appealed to authorities to call off scheduled executions, including some in the United States. He has championed human rights throughout his papacy. After the pontiff's visit to Cuba, Castro released 299 prisoners. During his 1998 visit to Nigeria, Vatican officials pressed for the release of some 60 prominent Nigerians, including political opponents and journalists. Cuba's own bishops have been among Castro's critics. In March, they urged authorities to accept differing political opinions. The church itself has been struggling to strengthen its place in Cuba, which in the past has expelled foreign priests and closed parish schools. There have been some advances. After the pope's visit, Christmas was made an official holiday again. And Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega, viewed by some as a contender to be the next pope, has gained some access to Cuba's mass media as he tries to regain ground lost by the church after the revolution which brought Castro to power more than 40 years ago. Ortega himself spent a year in a labor camp. After
the pope's appeal, Joe Garcia, executive director of the Miami-based
Cuban American National Foundation, called John Paul "a moral
authority in a country that lacks total morality."
Pope John Paul II appeals to Castro over executions VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II has written to Cuban President Fidel Castro to express his "deep pain" at the recent executions of three people who tried to hijack a ferry, and appealed for clemency for other Cubans sentenced at the same time, the Vatican said. The Vatican released the text of a letter sent to the Cuban leader on April 13, two days after Cuba said the hijackers -- who had tried to get a ferry captain to take them to the United States -- had been executed. In the document, written by Cardinal Angelo Sodano on behalf of the pope, the pontiff expressed his regret at the executions and called on Castro to make a "significant gesture of clemency" for other Cubans sentenced over the affair. "The pope charged me to ask you to envisage a gesture of clemency toward the condemned, with the certainty that that will contribute toward creating a climate of detente for the dear Cuban people," the letter said. "I am certain that you will agree with me that only a sincere and constructive dialogue between the citizens and authorities can guarantee the promotion of a modern and democratic state in an even more united and fraternal Cuba," the letter said. The papal letter was released shortly after Castro made his first public reference to the recent wave of attempted hijackings in his country. In a special appearance on Cuban television on Friday, Castro said that the three leaders of the group who tried to commandeer a ferry on April 2 had been executed in order to prevent a wave of such hijackings, which could have provoked a crisis with Washington and served as a pretext for a military action against Cuba. "We had to pull the evil out by the roots," Castro said in his almost four-hour address. A total of 11 people took part in the attempted hijack of the ferry, in which nobody was hurt. The incident was one of seven hijackings or hijack attempts which have taken place in Cuba in the past seven months. The April 11 executions followed a week of harsh sentences -- from six to 28 years in prison -- doled out to 75 dissidents rounded up in a recent crackdown and accused of being threats to state security, after trials lasting a few hours. Prominent dissidents including journalist and poet Raul Rivero and economist Marta Beatriz Roque were sentenced to 20 years in jail. Dissident physician Oscar Elias Biscet was sentenced to 25. The crackdown sparked international outcry but Cuba nevertheless avoided censure from the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, which on April 17 passed a motion that merely urged the communist nation to accept a visit from a UN human rights envoy. Pope
John Paul made a pathbreaking visit to Cuba, one of the world's only
surviving Communist states, in January 1998.
Pope Asks Castro for Clemency for Dissidents 26/04/03 VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul wrote to Cuban President Fidel Castro expressing his deep pain and sorrow at three political executions and hefty prison sentences imposed on scores of dissidents, the Vatican said on Saturday. Adding his voice to the escalating international criticism of Castro's biggest crackdown in decades, the pope asked for "a significant gesture of clemency." Most of the world was watching the Iraq war when Cuba rounded up 75 anti-Castro dissidents and sent them to prison for terms of up to 28 years. Two weeks ago a firing squad executed three men who hijacked a ferry in a failed bid to reach the United States. The letter, written for the 82-year-old pontiff by his secretary of state Angelo Sodano, was dated April 13. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
the Community of Sant'Egidio
Abolitions, 
