«We hope that the Cuban authorities will recognize the error of these mistaken acts and release these nonviolent dissident prisoners,» said Bishop John Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee.
He said that «scores of Cuban dissidents» have been arrested recently, accused of acts «against the independence or territorial integrity of the state,» of having ties with the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, and of receiving funds from the U.S. government or exile groups in the United States.
«While we are not in a position to judge individual cases, those arrested seem to fit the general category of human rights and democracy advocates, which only authoritarian regimes have reason to fear,» Bishop Ricard said.
He also renewed the bishops’ long-standing call for the U.S. embargo against Cuba to be lifted.
«When U.S. citizens can trade with and travel to Cuba, freed of the present restrictions, the open exchange of ideas and interpersonal contact between our two peoples will help create a climate that promotes the kind of debate and advocacy for which today’s dissidents are being punished,» said Bishop Ricard.
