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Catholic Church Pushes for “Deeper” Reforms in Cuba
The Cuban Catholic Church criticized the reforms undertaken by the island’s Communist government and said that they have not managed to “reactivate” the economy.
In its Pastoral Plan for 2014-2020, to which Efe received access, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Cuba, or COCC, says that the changes introduced so far are not enough.
Although acknowledging that society “has received some changes with pleasure,” the Church has noted “the pressing need of many citizens for deeper and more appropriate reforms to be made” with an eye toward resolving “urgent problems that generate stress, uncertainty and exhaustion” such as transportation, clothing and food.
“Broad sectors of the population suffer from material poverty, the product of salaries that are not sufficient to sustain the family in a dignified way,” the COCC said.
The bishops said that many Cubans “aspire to a less bureaucratic and more participatory, less paternalistic and more promoting, less authoritarian and more democratic state model.”
The bishops council lamented the fact that a certain number of freedoms in the media “are restricted,” although it acknowledged the existence of “emerging spaces for debate and discussion regarding the country’s projects.”
It said that it was “of concern and not very constructive” for there to be frequent arrests and violent acts “against those who express differences with the ideas of the single governing party.”
The bishops also criticized “the isolation” suffered by the Cuban population at the hands of the United States, an allusion to the economic embargo imposed by Washington on the island since 1962.
Sixty percent of Cuba’s 11.1 million people are considered to be Catholic, given figures for baptisms, but less than 2 percent of Cubans attend Mass on a weekly basis.
The Church, which has maintained a tense relationship with the state marked by ups and downs since the triumph of the 1959 Revolution, in 2010 opened an unprecedented dialogue with the government of Raul Castro that led to the release of dozens of political prisoners and the beginning of a new phase of social detente.
Published in Latino Daily News
Source: http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/catholic-church-pushes-for-deeper-reforms-in-cuba/31110#When:21:04:55Z
