Havana’s Archbishop Asked Cuban Government “To Sit Down And Talk To The Opposition,” Says Berta Soler

Havana's Archbishop Asked Cuban Government "To Sit Down And Talk To The
Opposition," Says Berta Soler / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 16 February 2017 — Berta Soler, after meeting this
Wednesday with Archbishop of Havana Juan de la Caridad Garcia Rodriguez,
said that he has offered his full support to the Ladies in White and
that the prelate told her he had asked the Government to sit down and
talk to the opposition.

"We ask the Catholic Church to speak out, because whoever is silent
supports [the government], and he said to me: 'No Berta, silence is not
always support. We have asked the Cuban Government to sit down and talk
to the opposition, but what we say is one thing and what they do is
another," Soler told 14ymedio.

Soler, the leader of the Ladies in White, and Maria Cristina Labrada, a
member of the organization, met with Juan de la Caridad Rodriguez early
Wednesday morning and the Archbishop told them that that during the trip
from their Lawton headquarters they were "monitored by a large operation
made up of the National [Revolutionary] Police and State Security."

According to Soler's account, at the meeting the Archbishop was "very
receptive" to the movement's complaints, and they explained to the
prelate how they are systematically prevented from reaching the church
to attend mass and are victims of abuse such as thefts and fines for
"violating the security cordon of the Communist Party of Cuba" when they
leave their homes.

"We were able to give him some names and surnames of those who have told
us that we could never go to mass at any church," she added.

María Cristina Labrada and Berta Soler received from the hands of the
Archbishop "a family Bible with a dedication for each of us," and they
gave him "a CD and two reports with evidence of repression" suffered by
the women's movement and their families. Both left the door open for a
future second meeting.

Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez was named Archbishop of Havana in
April of last year after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Jaime
Ortega and Alamino who retired, as established by the Code of Canon Law,
after having reached the age of 75.

A few weeks after taking office, Garcia Rodríguez generated a bitter
controversy in declaring that he did not want Cuba to "have capitalism
or anything like that, but that socialism should progress" to go
"forward in a just and balanced society and one of brotherhood."

Source: Havana's Archbishop Asked Cuban Government "To Sit Down And Talk
To The Opposition," Says Berta Soler / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/havanas-archbishop-asked-cuban-government-to-sit-down-and-talk-to-the-opposition-says-berta-soler-14ymedio/