CUBA 

NEW USCC ALERT  click here

---

Background

The Pope's Visit to Cuba: A Call for Healing and Dialogue

    In January of 1998, Pope John Paul II will make an historic five day visit to Cuba in response to an invitation from Cuban President Fidel Castro, celebrating public Masses in four different cities throughout the island. The papal message will not be directly political: this is a pastoral visit focusing on strengthening the life of the church in Cuba. But the presence of the Pope in Cuba will generate intense media interest in the United States and will focus attention on the question of U.S.-Cuban relations.

     The occasion of the Pope's visit to Cuba offers an opportunity to reconsider U.S. relations with Cuba from a moral and religious perspective. This is an appropriate moment  to call for a new approach, one that favors contact and moral and political engagement between people of the U.S. and Cuba, in place of the policy of confrontation and isolation that has dominated U.S. policy for the past 38 years.

    The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has issued statements in each of the past three years requesting that President Clinton authorize the resumption of direct flights to Cuba, at least for the delivery of humanitarian aid.  The work of Catholic Relief Services, the international humanitarian relief and development organization of the U.S. Bishops, has been severely impeded by the various sanctions against Cuba.  The U.S. Catholic Bishops support renewed dialogue to promote human rights, religious liberty and democratic values and urges the U.S. to clearly distinguish between the Cuban government and the Cuban people, and to change U.S. policies toward Cuba in order to alleviate the suffering of Cuban people.

    “In anticipation of the visit to Cuba of his Holiness, Pope John Paul II, we, as leaders of religious, humanitarian and development organizations in the United States, issue a call for a healing of the rift that has divided the people of Cuba and the people of the United States.

     Years of suspicion and hostility between our governments have deformed the relationship between our countries and kept us apart. Despite the ties of family, history, and culture, our peoples have been divided.

     The visit of Pope John Paul II makes clear to us the opportunities we have to rebuild the ties that bind us. The religious communities of Cuba -- Catholic, Protestant and Jewish -- have all called for a new relationship between the people of Cuba and the people of the United States. Today, we join them in that call. Despite differences, and whatever our criticisms, this is a time for healing.

     We have a tradition of responding to those in need. As our brothers and sisters in Cuba experience economic hardship, we express our desire to lend them support and help ease their burden. In doing so, we endorse the view expressed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba in 1992, and affirmed by the Protestant and Jewish communities, that "total embargoes that affect the flow of products essential for the people, including food and medicine, indispensable for the population, are morally unacceptable."

     We call on our government to re-evaluate its policies toward Cuba, examine what can be done to heal the rift, and strengthen the ties between our people and our countries. We urge two simple steps that would help bring our peoples closer. We urge the United States government to help promote family reunification through restoring direct flights from the United States to Cuba. And to ease the hardship of the Cuban people, we request that the Clinton administration and the Congress lift the restrictions on the sale of food, medicines, and medical supplies to Cuba. These simple humanitarian steps would have a real impact on the lives of thousands of Cubans, and would help heal the rift between our people.”

Please ask your Members of Congress to support bills in the Senate (the Cuban Women and Children Humanitarian relief Act - S1391) and in the House (the Cuban Humanitarian Trade Act - HR1951) that would lift the embargo on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba.  Write President Clinton asking that he reinstate direct flights to Cuba for the purpose of delivering humanitarian assistance.

American Friends Service Committee: "is profoundly disturbed by the continuation of a forced and artificial estrangement between the people of Cuba and the United States which hinders the full expression across borders of our belief in friendship, reconciliation, and development of human society.... [and] calls for the lifting of the U.S. economic boycott and embargo. We are deeply disturbed by the consequences of these U.S. actions on the health and well-being of the citizens of Cuba."-AFSC Board of Directors, November 1994.

Church of the Brethren: 1985. 1992 actions call upon members to work for the restoration of "normal diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba...to end restrictions on travel to Cuba...[and] encourage communication with Cuba and dialogue between our citizens."-Church of the Brethren General Board March 1992.

Episcopal Church: "urge[s] the United States government to (1) lift the trade embargo against Cuba, (2) remove restrictions on travel between the United States and Cuba, (3) restore full diplomatic relations between the two countries and (4) cease propaganda broadcasts."-General Convention of the Episcopal Church, 1991.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: "[O]ur faith calls us to love our neighbor and to work for justice, peace, and reconciliation among all peoples. .. [T]he economic embargo imposed by the U.S. on Cuba is causing
great suffering, especially for children and the elderly... [The ELCA should] work actively toward the goal of ending the U.S. embargo against Cuba as part of its ongoing efforts to seek further reconciliation and the establishment of normal relations between the United States and Cuba.'-Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA, August 1995.

Mennonite Central Committee: "resolves...to send medicine and food to Cuba .... to renew our ties and build relationships with Anabaptist and other church groups in Cuba .... to call our government leaders to pass laws which will further the above aims, and which serve to improve relations between the people of the United States and the people of Cuba by redefining Cuba, not as our enemy but as a neighbor in need."-MCC, May 1992.

Presbyterian Church (USA): Called for lifting the U.S. embargo and normalization of relations in 1969, 1972. 1977, 1982. 1990, 1993, and 1997. "God's reconciliation in Jesus Christ is the ground of the peace, justice, and freedom among nations which all powers of government are called to serve and defend." PC(USA) asked Congress to rescind the Cuban Democracy Act (1992) and the Helms-Burton Act (1996), support the reestablishment of full diplomatic relations. and to end economic sanctions.-Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly, 1997.

Reform Judaism: Resolved to cooperate with religious and charitable organizations to provide humanitarian relief to the people of Cuba; to encourage congregations to send food and medical supplies and to find avenues for delivery of relief supplies to the Cuban Jewish community; to urge the U.S. to lift the ban on direct flights to Cuba in order to facilitate the provision of relief.-Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. October i996.

United Church of Christ: "We urge the Congress and the President to reverse the policy of the last decade and to work for friendship, trade and mutual assistance with Cuba. We urge United Church of Christ members, churches and Conferences to...undertake travel to Cuba to visit church groups and to seek knowledge, understanding and friendship with our neighbors to the South."-United Church of Christ, 1972 and 1973.

United Methodist Church: "[We are] linked in Christ with the Methodist Church of Cuba...share a common heritage and mission...are mutually responsible for the proclamation of God's love and the nurturing of neighbor-love... [We petition] the...U.S. to lift its economic embargo against Cuba by repealing the Cuban Democracy. Act of 1992 as well as the 1994 additional restrictions and any other laws or measures related to the embargo against Cuba. and to seek negotiations with the Cuban government for the purpose of resuming normal diplomatic relations."-United Methodist Church General Board of Global Ministries, 1995.

United States Catholic Conference: Requests that President Clinton authorize the resumption of direct flights to Cuba at least for the delivery of humanitarian aid. Supports renewed dialogue to promote human rights, religious liberty and democratic values. Urges the U.S. to clearly distinguish between the Cuban government and the Cuban people and to change U.S. policies toward Cuba in order to alleviate the suffering of the Cuban people.-U.S. Catholic Conference press releases. 1997. 1996. 1995.

       The Cuban Catholic Church, through difficult years, has played an important role as an autonomous voice in Cuban society. The Church has been quietly but consistently critical of restrictions on freedom of religion and of political restrictions in general.

       At the same time, the Cuban Church has also been critical of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, a position shared by the Vatican and by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

       As early as 1969, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba announced its disapproval of the embargo. And in 1992, when the U.S. Congress began to consider measures to tighten the embargo, Church structures in both Cuba and the United States made statements in opposition. In that year, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba made an official declaration against the U.S. embargo, and specifically against the embargo on food and medicine, stating that "if what is intended is the destabilization of the government by bringing the civilian population, pressured by hunger and basic needs, to the point of revolt, the strategy of an embargo... becomes cruel." The United States Catholic Conference CUSCC) quickly voiced its support of the Cuban Bishops in their proclamation, and, in a letter to the Secretary of State, Archbishop John R. Roach of St. Paul and Minneapolis, declared "we call on our own government to hear the voice of the Cuban bishops, and see to it that U.S. policy not contribute to the greater suffering of the Cuban people."

       Both the Vatican and the USCC have placed their remarks about the U.S. embargo on Cuba within the context of a broader analysis of the use of embargoes. In a number of statements, Church officials have suggested the following criteria and recommendations for examining the U.S. embargo on Cuba:
 
 

• sanctions should be applied only after less coercive measures have been attempted; the harm caused by sanctions should be proportionate to the goals achieved, and should be targeted against those directly responsible for the injustice, not directly against the general population;
• sanctions should not be a means of war or a reprisal against a people;
• sanctions should always be temporary in nature;
• when employed, embargoes must make provision for the fundamental human needs of the civilian population;
• substantial portions of the affected population should approve of the imposed sanctions;
• sanctions should always be part of a broader diplomatic effort aimed at a political solution to the problem;
• sanctions should always be accompanied by dialogue between nations. The U.S. should appoint a special envoy to open serious dialogue with the Cuban government;
• The U.S. should create a mechanism that allows an independent and effective check on the humanitarian consequences of sanctions.

       Church officials have specifically called for an end to restrictions on the export of food and medicine to Cuba. Beginning in 1993, Archbishop John R. Roach, then chair of the USCC's Committee on International Policy, criticized the tightening of the U.S. embargo in 1992 with the passage of the Cuban Democracy Act, and called for a lifting of beers to the export of medicines to Cuba. In' 1994, Cardinal Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State, expressed concerns over the long-term effects of an embargo on future Cuban generations:

"When, because of sanctions or other similar measures, health assistance for children diminishes, or their level of nutrition is reduced, children will carry the consequences of such measures for the rest of their lives: thus in a definitive way, future generations will be asked to pay for the wrongs, tree or imagined, of those who are currently responsible."

       His Eminence, Roger Cardinal Etchegaray, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, further questioned the impact of the embargo on the Cuban population, citing the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights: "states [should] refrain from unilateral measures that could interfere with the full realization of the right of every person to enjoy a sufficient standard of living that would ensure their own health and well-being, specifying that standard of living includes food, medical care, and social services."

       Most recently, the United States Catholic Conference called for the resumption of direct humanitarian flights to Cuba in a letter to President Clinton, citing the negative impact of excessive shipping costs on its humanitarian relief projects in Cuba, due to shipping through third countries.

       Both the Vatican and the USCC have taken care to follow the lead of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba. The Cuban Bishops oppose an embargo as morally unacceptable, and decry its ability to worsen the economic lot of a struggling people, to blockade items essential for life, and specifically oppose the export limitations it places on food and medicine. In their public statement against the embargo, released in 1992, they state:

"Total embargoes that affect the flow of products essential for the people, including foods and medicines, indispensable for the population, are morally unacceptable, are generally in violation of the principles of international law, and are always contrary to the values of the Gospel."

       The Cuban Bishops have been in close contact with the USCC since this statement's release in 1992, and their public comments have been drawn upon in numerous letters by the USCC to President Clinton and the Secretary of State.

       In their criticism of the embargo, the United States Catholic Conference has suggested that "as Cuba demonstrates adherence to the universal norms governing respect for human rights, religious liberty, and democratic values, the present embargo, rather than being increased, should be progressively diminished."

       The Vatican has emphasized the ways in which the embargo may be a threat to the peaceful resolution of the conflict between the U.S. and Cuba. As Roger Cardinal Etchegaray stated, the embargo rims the risk of "making even more difficult the probability of finding peaceful means that will lead to the reconciliation of all Cubans."
 

Washington Office on Latin America, 400 C St, NE Washington, DC 20002 * tel: 202,544.8045 * www.wola.org

History of Castro's Relationship to Christianity
Return to Voices for Justice
Home