Mar. 20, 2001: Newsgroups alt.news, alt.news-media, alt.news.media, alt.politics.communism, alt.politics.conservative, alt.politics.cuba, alt.politics.media, alt.politics.misc, alt.politics.religion, alt.politics.usa
Cuba: Communists destroy Crucifix and beat a Devout Catholic
LA HABANA, March 17, 2001 (DI) – Members of the Department of Religious
Matters of the Communist Party in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba, violently
invaded the house of Elena Macías, a devout Catholic, physically assaulting
her, destroying an image of Jesus Christ and throwing the pieces of the
destroyed image at her face. "This is one of the most savage anti-Catholic
acts that has taken place in the recent history of Cuba" said reporters from
the "Agencia Católica de Informaciones (ACI)" (Catholic Information Agency).
Another devout Catholic, Maritza Lugo Fernández, in a message she managed to
leak out from the women’s prison "Manto Negro" (Black Cloak), accuses "the
imposed dictatorial government in Cuba and its repressive branch, the State
Security, for the injustices and abuses they commit against the Cuban people,
against the penal population and very specifically against the political
prisoners and prisoners of conscience." "I accuse the cowards and
miserables who, through the use of force, commit all kinds of human rights
violations, while nothing stops them as they attempt to defend a false
revolution built and maintained on a foundation of lies and infamy", added
Mrs. Lugo, deemeded a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
Radio Vaticano denounced the continuing denial of spiritual guidance to
political prisoners in Cuban jails, citing the case of Arturo Suárez Ramos, a
Catholic, who was held in jail in Havana's "Combinado del Este". During Pope
John Paul II's visit to Cuba in January of 1998, the pontiff unsuccessfully
interceded before the communist regime seeking his freedom. Upon his return
from Cuba, Monsignor Flavio Roberto Carraro, Bishop of Verona and President
of the Commission for the Evangelization of Towns, of the Italian Episcopal
Conference, declared to the newpaper "Avennire" that "the situation of the
Church in Cuba is of suffering", referring to a confidential document from
the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Havana wherein instructions
are given to destroy latent religious sentiment in many Cubans and,
expressions such as "despapar" (taking the Pope out of) Cuba are used in the
text.