April 29, 2003

Human rights and religious groups around the world - including the World Council of Churches and an ecumenical group of Cuban clergy in the US - have condemned a harsh crackdown on opposition in Cuba that drew stiff prison sentences for dissidents.

Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, a strong critic of President Fidel Castro, said that the crackdown is "the natural expression of a dictatorship that has been oppressing human rights for years." An estimated 75 members of the opposition have been prosecuted in quick trials with the longest sentences given to independent journalists, one of them for 27 years. They were accused of collaborating with US diplomats to undermine the state.

Cuban authorities said that the dissidents had conspired with US diplomat James Cason, to harm the nation's economy and sovereignty. "We should be clear, the opposition is not a shadow government waiting to move into power," Mr Cason said at a speech in Miami. "They are simply among the few who openly say what so many others believe, that it is time for change. Because they have become such effective advocates, the government attacks them, labelling them subversive traitors."

The 53-member United Nations Human Rights Commission, meeting in Geneva on April 16, called on Havana to permit an investigator to visit Cuba, but stopped short of mentioning the imprisonment of dissidents. The demand for an investigator was rejected by the Cuban government.

The Spiritual Guides, an ecumenical group formed several years ago to help the Cuban exile community in Miami, issued a statement that was signed by three Episcopal bishops, a Roman Catholic bishop, as well as Presbyterian and Lutheran clergy. "We strongly condemn the new repressive wave unleashed by the communist regime of Cuba against almost one hundred dissidents and peaceful opponents, independent journalists and leaders of civic movements whose civil rights have been shamefully violated," they said in the April 8 statement.

The group said that the detentions were "unjust, illegal and abusive, and their prison terms inhuman and cruel." They added, "We call upon the free governments of the world, and especially religious organisations, which are committed to respect human dignity, to make known to the Cuban government their opposition to these acts of repression."

Episcopal bishops Leo Frade, Onell Soto, Agustin Roman and Emilio Hernandez signed the statement.

World Council of Churches General Secretary, Konrad Raiser, called the severe sentences "a miscarriage of justice" in an April 15 letter to Castro. He expressed "shock and worry" that "over 70 people have been incarcerated for exercising their right to freedom of expression." He called for the immediate release of those held in detention.

Anglican Communion News Service