‘Speed up reforms,’ Catholic layman asks Cuban government
Orlando Márquez calls on the opposition to ‘abandon verbal violence and make viable proposals’
By Gerardo Arreola
From the Mexican newspaper La Jornada
HAVANA – A Catholic layman proposed a road map for a national dialogue in which the Church would be a “bridge,” the government would hasten economic reforms, renew its leadership and guarantee the rights of the minorities, even their political rights. He also asked the opposition to abandon verbal violence, act with independence and make viable proposals.
The scheme is part of a document read at the Congress of the Latin American Studies Association last week in San Francisco. The author is Orlando Márquez, editor of “Palabra Nueva” [New Word], the magazine of the Archdiocese of Havana. The full text, in Spanish, appears in www.palabranueva.net
Although the document is an academic work submitted on a personal basis, it is relevant because its author is a close working associate of Cardinal Jaime Ortega, a protagonist in an unprecedented dialogue begun by the Catholic Church and the Cuban government in 2010.
The document picks up ideas expressed by Ortega, Archbishop of Havana, and other Catholic bishops and publications, but adds initiatives and an agenda. It is a road map to stabilize a dialogue and avoid a scenario of confrontation.
Márquez suggests that the government speed up economic reforms. He points out that thousands of workers will lose their jobs in the next several months, within the adjustment plan, and likely will demand options.
He also asks the government to guarantee the rights of “the minorities, be they political, cultural or religious” and facilitate the renewal of leaders as part of “a strong democratic system.”
He urges the government to eschew “any act of violence that pits the citizens against each other, for political or other reasons,” in an allusion to the “repudiation assemblies” staged by official groups against the dissidents. That practice has been going on for decades.
Márquez asks dissidents to be consistent with their peaceful profile and abandon “verbal violence, disqualification and contempt.” He chides them, in terms of the U.S. policy to bankroll actions against the Cuban government, recommending to them “transparency and absolute independence.”
The author calls on the oppositionists to accompany their criticism with “viable alternative proposals,” as well as to “value what’s positive” about the island. He reminds them that “an appreciable number of Cubans continues and will continue to support the current government, even as they demand changes.”
He asks for institutional, decentralized backing for the dialogue, to keep it from concentrating on those who started it, because they might leave their current positions. That’s an allusion to President Raúl Castro, who will mark his 81st birthday next week, and Ortega, who, at 75, is over the over the age limit for an Archbishop. Ortega remains in his post sine die, which means that he can be ordered by the Pope to retire at any moment.
The dialogue began when the Church mediated between the government and the Ladies in White, women who asked for the release of their husbands, who had been in prison since 2003. Between July 2010 and March 2011, 126 inmates left prison, along with others. One hundred and fourteen of them traveled to Spain, taking their relatives with them.
Márquez points out that, for the first time since 1959, the Church has talked to the government about issues of national interest. The Ladies in White gained an official – though temporary – recognition that no other opposition movement has enjoyed.
In 2010, the Cuban bishops discussed the reforms with now Vice President Marino Murillo, raising the issue of the return of dozens of temples and Church property seized by the government. In all, it became easier to prepare the visit of Pope Benedict XVI than the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998.
Márquez reveals that the dialogue became possible “when we overcame the obstacle” of the Communist Party’s Office of Religious Affairs, then the Church’s official interlocutor. Contact began after Ortega, tired of knocking on that door without a response, sent a personal letter to Castro.
