CUBA: The Cuban Roman Catholic church called on President Fidel Castro's government yesterday to allow more religious, political and economic freedom, and begin a dialogue toward national reconciliation.
The message came as Communist-run Cuba finds itself isolated abroad over a crackdown on government opponents, and faces serious economic difficulties due to a shortage of foreign exchange to import food, fuel and other products.
The Cuban Conference of Bishops expressed its concern over the government's "return to language and methods used during the first years of the revolution", asking it to release 75 dissidents sentenced to average 19-year prison terms earlier this year in the most severe repression in decades.
The human rights activists, independent journalists and others were accused of working with the United States, which has long sought to topple Castro's one-party state.
The bishops also criticised the summary firing-squad execution of three Cubans who hijacked a Havana Bay ferry in April to try to reach Florida.
In a message to the faithful, outlining the church's position on various issues and marking the day of the Caribbean island's patron saint, la Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre (Virgin of Charity), the bishops took aim at what they view as the government's backtracking on economic reforms of the 1990s, in particular harassment of the country's small family businesses.
The number of small businesses has fallen to less than 150,000, compared with more than 200,000 in the 1990s, as increased taxes and other hindrances take their toll.
The document, titled "The Social Presence of the Church", recognises Cubans are well protected in terms of their right to an education and health care, but states, "it is necessary to promote other rights" such as "the right to freedom of expression and social and political participation".
Cuba's Catholic church was severely weakened after the left-wing revolution, led by Jesuit-educated Castro in 1959. Church-state relations have remained tense ever since.
The bishops insisted government suspicions that it was out to form a political opposition were unfounded, and what it sought was a national dialogue.
"We call on all Cubans, for the good of Cuba, to overcome the common temptation to dominate others and seek in responsible dialogue, among all, solutions to our conflicts," the bishops said.
Cubans started turning to Catholicism after the collapse of the Soviet Union plunged the island into deep economic crisis.
In 1992, atheism was dropped as the state's ideology, allowing members of the ruling Communist Party to practice religion.
The Bishops' statement came five years after Pope John Paul's historic visit to the country, which boosted the Catholic church's following but did little to widen its limited role in Cuba. - (Reuters)