Tensions rise in Cuba ahead of Pope visit

Tensions rise in Cuba ahead of Pope visit
AFP Updated March 20, 2012, 5:13 am

HAVANA (AFP) - Tensions in Cuba between dissidents and the Communist
leaders are rising ahead of next week's visit by Pope Benedict XVI, with
the arrests of more than 50 activists and a showdown at a Havana church.

In operations around the capital, police on Sunday rounded up activists
with the Ladies in White group, which is seeking the release of
political prisoners and their loved ones.

Early Sunday, an activist with the Ladies in White said 33 women,
including leader Berta Soler, were detained as they were leaving the
group's headquarters to attend Sunday mass at a Roman Catholic church.

Hours later police then broke up a protest march by wives and mothers of
political prisoners and arrested about 20 dissidents after they strayed
off their usual march route, an AFP reporter witnessed.

The Ladies in White, who won the European Union's 2005 Sakharov Prize to
honor those committed to the struggle for human rights, has long pressed
for the release of political prisoners, carrying gladiola and marching
in white.

In Washington, the White House called for the release of all members of
the Ladies in White activist group, saying the arrests underscored the
"disdain of Cuban authorities for the universal rights of the Cuban people."

"We call for the immediate release of all who were detained and for
Cuban authorities to abandon their tactics of intimidation and
harassment to stifle peaceful dissent," said National Security Council
spokesman Tommy Vietor.

"President (Barack) Obama and the American people remain steadfast in
standing with (the group) and other courageous voices in Cuban civil
society who demonstrate the Cuban people's desire to freely determine
their country's future."

By early Monday, some of those arrested Sunday were released, a ladies'
group member said.

But just a week before the pope arrives from Mexico, the arrests
highlight the Catholic church's fears that his visit -- which church
officials want to be strictly spiritual -- could end up taking on
political overtones.

Cuba is the Americas' only one-party Communist state.

Only about 10 percent of Cubans are practicing Catholics. Seventy to 80
percent, in a country of more than 11 million, identify themselves most
with Afro-Cuban Santeria beliefs.

But the Roman Catholic Church in recent years has emerged as Cuba's most
influential non-state actor.

"Certainly there is a risk, in the absence of independent parties, that
some will want the church to be a motor for radical change in Cuba,"
wrote Orlando Marquez in a March 2 article on the Cuban Episcopal
Conference website.

Last week, a two-day sit-in style protest at a Havana church by
dissidents seeking democratic reforms ended peacefully after the
archbishop of Havana ordered the group removed. Police took the 13
protesters in for booking and then released them.

The Havana church has been deeply involved in mediating the release of
political prisoners, and some opposition members have been critical of
it for cooperating with the regime.

But the church is keen to maintain and expand its influence to try to
stoke new Catholic religious fervor in Cuba. After decades of official
atheism, the Cuban regime now has cordial relations with Roman Catholics
and other churches.

Benedict's will be the first visit to Cuba by a pope since John Paul II
in 1998, which helped usher in an era of better church-state ties. John
Paul urged the government to "open up" to the world, yet it remains a
highly isolated, centrally run state.
The pope will first travel to Mexico and is then due to visit Cuba
between March 26-28. Benedict, 84, will offer mass in Santiago and
Havana, and meet with President Raul Castro, 80.

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