Cardinal Ortega: A trip not advertised

By Manuel Alberto Ramy

According to The Wall Street Journal, Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana, visited Washington last week and met with personalities and high-ranking officials in the Obama administration, among them Arturo Valenzuela, Under Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere.

According to the WSJ, Ortega also met with Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Neither Valenzuela nor Berman confirmed or denied the WSJ’s report.

In the morning of Thursday, June 30, Orlando Márquez, media director for the Archdiocese of Havana, confirmed to me that the cardinal indeed traveled to Washington on Monday the 21st and returned to Havana on the 28th.

He also confirmed that Ortega “held meetings” with various persons and said that the meetings “were coordinated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,” but abstained from identifying the people with whom the cardinal met.

At those meetings, what were the topics of conversation? Issues proper to the Church in Cuba and/or the dialogue the Cuban Catholic Church is maintaining with the Havana government?

A trip to the U.S. by Cardinal Ortega is not news, because he has visited that country repeatedly. What’s unusual is the moment in which his unannounced trip takes place.

Certainly, there were several opportunities to disclose it during the press conferences held during the recently concluded Tenth Catholic Social Week. At that time, the visit to Cuba by the president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops, Cardinal George Francis of Chicago, was announced.

I believe that reserve, careful wording and information management are components of a process of dialogue like the one being carried out by the Cuban Catholic Church and the government. The process indicates that neither wants to fail. Both parties in the talks have held to those qualities. And the dialogue is the remarkable part of the context, the singularity of the moment in which Ortega’s visit is made.

For several months now, the Cuban Catholic Church has held exchanges of opinions and concerns with government authorities. They may have begun months earlier, when President Raúl Castro invited Cardinal Ortega to fly back to Havana from Camagüey in his plane.

As I see it, those exchanges drifted into a “process of dialogue” about two topics: an improvement of conditions in prison and the gradual release of imprisoned oppositionists, and the present and future reality in Cuba.

They are huge topics and a big surprise, because this is the first time in almost 50 years that the government holds a dialogue on matters of politics and government (not to mention the fact the dialogue was made public) with an institution that can hardly be described as insignificant – except by those who want a return to confrontation.

Precisely because of this quality of independence or autonomy, whichever the reader chooses, the process assumes greater validity, relevance and impact abroad.

The first topic, the prisoners, which is not foreign to the Cuban Church’s historical agenda, has already produced some fruit, not enough for some but important to many of the beneficiaries and their families, not only because of the relief created by the transfer to jails closer to home but also because it could the step prior to final release. The relocations also relieve society, which generally needs a more serene climate.

Apropos the releases, I noticed that present at the reception held June 18 at the residence of the Papal Nuncio in Havana were Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, Homero Acosta, secretary of the executive committee of the Council of State, and – for the first time, I think – Justice Minister María Esther Reus. Reus’ signature is required for any prisoner release.

For different reasons and interests, both topics draw the attention of international governments and institutions. No doubt, the national moment causes an irresistible attraction to whatever happens inside Cuba, and the small steps taken (especially the dialogue) are followed and watched closely by the Obama administration.

The United States, through its high officials, even Obama himself, has repeatedly asked for acts in reciprocity for the only act it has made – Obama’s campaign promise to allow Cuban-Americans to travel to the island whenever they wish and to increase the amount of money they can send to their relatives. In sum, this is an internal affair of the U.S. that brings collateral benefits to the Cuban society.

Thanks to the dialogue and the mediation, the Ladies in White no longer are harassed by government sympathizers. An ill inmate, Ariel Sigler, was released on parole and 12 of his colleagues have been relocated to jails closer to their homes. According to religious dignitaries, more releases and relocations are coming.

On the international level, the European Union’s 27 members postponed until September a review of the E.U’s Common Position toward Cuba. The idea is to give space to the evolution of certain measures.

Some 72 hours after the E.U. meeting, the European troika presided by Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos met with Cuban F.M. Bruno Rodríguez. Immediately afterward, Moratinos flew to Rome where he met with the Vatican’s foreign minister, Monsignor Mambertí. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Zapatero was welcomed by His Holiness Benedict XVI and the topic of the Church in Cuba was one of the subjects in their conversation. Later, Mambertí traveled to the island.

On the 18th, official delegations from Cuba and the U.S. met in New York City to continue the immigration talks that have been held periodically. Such talks always have served to broach matters other than immigration. Needless to say, the case of contractor Alan P. Gross, detained in Cuba since December for allegedly distributing sophisticated means of communication, was one of those matters.

Note: Gross, who, according to his wife, suffers from gout, has not yet been tried. One day before the immigration talks, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that Gross’ case hindered U.S.-Cuba relations. It is almost certain that the Cuban delegation has spoken in defense of the five Cubans who have spent 11 years in prison. The wives of some of them have been denied visas to enter the U.S. and visit their husbands.

The reader may add to the abovementioned elements the recently disclosed visit to Washington of the high dignitaries of the Cuban Church and may, as if putting together a puzzle, reflect on where each piece goes and how each piece fits. He should not discard any piece; it may come in handy later.

The civilian and religious authorities involved, directly or indirectly, in these diplomatic efforts will declare in public whatever they see fit and opportune to protect their unusual process. That’s their duty. But the fact that the Church-state dialogue is very important in international circles is undeniable. I tend to think that that was the topic of the conversations in Washington.