'No better mediator' than the Catholic Church in Cuba, assert dissidents

Madrid, Spain, Aug 30, 2010 / 12:06 pm

Distancing herself from the recent criticism of the Church in Cuba and its role in the release of political prisoners, Laura Pollan, spokeswoman for the Women in White, stated that “In Cuba there is no better mediator” than the Catholic Church, because it is an institution without a political agenda.

Speaking to Europa Press, Pollan applauded the efforts led by Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana to negotiate the release 52 political prisoners who were arrested in 2003. “In Cuba there is no better mediator than the Catholic Church because the other organizations are at the service of the (Castro) regime,” she said.

A total of 165 Cuban dissidents, including some political prisoners, sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI last week criticizing the “unfortunate” role the Catholic Church in Cuba played in the “exiling” dissidents to Spain. The letter called for an end to the Church’s “political support” for the Castro regime, which they referred to as “Satan’s commissioners on earth.”

The Cuban clergy immediately rejected the “offensive content” of the letter and stressed that their mediation with the Castro government for the release of 52 political prisoners “was not based on politics,” although they acknowledged that “this mediation could have been interpreted in various ways.”

Pollan said “the families of the political prisoners” who have been released or are part of the group of 52 “are thankful to the Catholic Church for what it has achieved because they are now or will soon be free men and women.”