‘STRAIGHTEN THE COURSE”, THE COUNCIL OF BISHOPS WRITES TO THE GOVERNMENT

November 17, 2011 - 10:10 CUBA

'STRAIGHTEN THE COURSE", THE COUNCIL OF BISHOPS WRITES TO THE GOVERNMENT

Economy and Politics

The Council of the Laity of the Archdiocese of Havana has asked the
government of President Raul Castro in an editorial entitled "Rectificar
and Rumba" (straighten the route) published in his magazine 'Espacio Lay
to take an "internal renewal" and promote reform of power structures to
open to greater citizen participation and allow other changes, such as
"the actual opening" of the media. Nevertheless, the Council recognizes
the progress "important" in Cuba, noting that "the public perceives that
not enough has happened in order to renew their lives and provide hope."

At the Sixth Congress of the 'communist Partido de Cuba' (CCP) held in
April, there were approved "important, but limited proposals for
change". According to the Council of the Laity, the most significant
reform should be "re-foundation of citizenship" for the that "it is
imperative in which all Cubans can participate in the promotion of
proposals for change at the national level, the debate on them, the
approval of those who have been consensual and enforcement of policies
that intend to take concrete form."

Cuba also requires "a restructuring of the mechanisms of popular power,
such that each institution has the authority of public power that is
rooted on the population and, in an ever more effective, the country's
sovereignty" and the "renewal of CCP "and its relationship with society,
the state and the government.

The Council has insisted that "any lasting reform should pass through
innovation policy and this will not happen if it the very CCP, the
organization in charge of the changes to be made, building a popular
consensus on the real country ". It is also required that the economy
undergo major innovations to boost productivity and encouraging the
commitment of civil society to be autonomous in its forms of organization.

In view of the First Conference of the CCP, scheduled for next January,
the Council expressed concern that it will focus on a basic document
which did not include "many issues that people are waiting to see the
event agenda" and which presents "a the CCP as being stuck on failed
dogmas attached to other experiences and stuck along a very vertical
relationship within the company."

http://www.misna.org/en/economy-and-politics/straigthen-the-course-the-council-of-bishops-writes-to-the-government/