John Paul II has urged Fidel Castro to grant clemency to
Cuban dissidents, including three sentenced to death.
The Pope's reaction was reflected in a letter written on Palm Sunday, April 13,
by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, and addressed to the
Cuban president at the express wish of the Holy Father.
In the letter, published by the Vatican press office last Saturday, the
cardinal communicated the Holy Father's distress "upon learning of the
severe sentences imposed recently on numerous Cuban citizens and, also, for
some sentences of capital punishment."
The letter also contains the Pope's request to the Cuban leader "to give
consideration to a significant gesture of clemency toward those condemned, with
the certainty that such an act would contribute to create a climate of greater
relaxation for the benefit of the beloved Cuban people."
"I am sure that you also share with me the conviction that only a sincere
and constructive confrontation between citizens and civil authorities can
guarantee the development of a modern and democratic state in an ever more
united and fraternal Cuba," the cardinal added.
The Castro government arrested 75 dissidents at the end of March, most of them
intellectuals and journalists, and sentenced them to up to 28 years in prison.
A firing squad executed three men accused of hijacking a ferry in a failed
attempt to reach the United States. The measure put an end to a three-year
moratorium on capital punishment in Cuba.