Cardinal Jaime Ortega

Polemic between church and dissidents

August 23, 2010

164 Cuban dissidents (many of whom are Catholic) signed an open letter addressed to Pope Benedict XVI stating that they are not in agreement with “the position the Cuban Church hierarchy has taken in its intervention in support of political prisoners.” Furthermore, the dissidents believe that if the bishops had offered the “right mediation,” they would [...]

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Tactics of survival

July 21, 2010

Alvaro Vargas Llosa on the Castro brothers as masterful tacticians: Other releases have lifted people’s hopes in the past. In 1969-70, about 1,300 prisoners were deported. In 1979, after a controversial negotiation with some exiles, 3,600 opponents were set free – and expelled. In 1998, Pope John Paul II’s visit was followed by the release of [...]

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Hankering for freedom

July 8, 2010

From today’s The Economist: CUBA’S leadership understands only too well how starving to death can help a cause. In 2000 Fidel Castro, who had apparently been moved by the plight of Irish republican hunger-strikers, approved the construction in Havana of a memorial to Bobby Sands and his fellow prisoners. Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein’s leader, attended [...]

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A larger role in solving island’s problems?

May 23, 2010

Via the Financial Times: Raúl Castro, Cuba’s president, has given a nod to the Roman Catholic Church’s desire to play a larger role in solving the communist-run island’s problems, possibly opening the way for the release of political prisoners, leading prelates said, in what experts and diplomats termed his most significant political move since replacing [...]

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Raul Castro meets with Cuban Catholic hierarchy

May 20, 2010

Army General Raul Castro held a meeting with Jaime Cardinal Ortega y Alamino of Havana and Archbishop Dionisio Garcia (president of the Cuban bishops’ conference), to discuss issues including religious liberty and freedom of expression for political dissidents. Wednesday’s talks touched on the sensitive issue of imprisoned political dissidents, Church sources said, without providing details. [...]

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Cardinal says Cuba is in crisis

April 20, 2010

The head of the Catholic Church in Cuba, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, says it is in one of its worst crises in recent times and people are openly criticising the socialist system, reports the BBC. Cardinal Jaime Ortega told Palabra Nueva (a newsletter of the Archdiocese of Havana) that there was a national consensus that the [...]

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