Cuban exile community outraged over Cardinal's comments

Cuban exile community outraged over Cardinal's comments
Author: Hatzel Vela, Reporter, hvela@Local10.com
Published On: Jun 16 2015 06:47:04 PM EDT Updated On: Jun 16 2015
10:47:44 PM EDT

MIAMI, Fla. -
The Cuban exile community, including former political prisoners, is
outraged over comments Cardinal Jaime Ortega made during an interview
with Spanish media outlet, Ser.

"In Cuba now, you won't find those prisoners," Ortega said.

"There aren't political prisoners?" the reporter asked.

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"Not political," he added.

Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, known as Antunez, calls the comments irresponsible.

Antunez, a high profiled dissident and former political prisoner, still
lives on the island.

He's not surprised Ortega said what he said, because Antunez argues
Ortega is an instrument of the Castro government, who uses his
high-profiled religious position to squash the dissident movement.

But some in the religious community defend Ortega and argue he is
walking a fine line in a communist country where religion was once banned.

It was just recently the Castro government gave the church permission to
build a cathedral. Christmas and Good Friday are now national holidays.

During a press conference in Little Havana, Antunez called Ortega a
coward, who the Cuban people and dissidents should not recognize as a
servant of God.

His silence makes him an accomplice of the Castro government, which
jailed and expelled priests and closed down churches in the past.

On Spanish radio, Ortega said, "You don't really find this so called
dissident movement in Cuba. You find it more in foreign media, places
like South Florida."

The timing of Ortega's comments, Antunez said, is no coincidence as the
island is getting ready for a papal visit, a chance he argues for the
Castro government to be redeemed in the eyes of Pope Francis and the
international community.

Antunez said there is little hope he and other dissidents will be able
to meet with Pope Francis.

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