LATAM BISHOPS OPEN AND CLOSE EYES IN CUBA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 000677 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2017 TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL CU SUBJECT: LATAM BISHOPS OPEN AND CLOSE EYES IN CUBA HAVANA 00000677 001.6 OF 002 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Buddy Williams; Reasons 1.4(b/d) ¶1. (C) Summary: The Latin American Bishops Conference (CELAM) met in Havana during the week of July 9-13, addressing matters mostly internal to the Church. They took part in a reception hosted by the Cuban regime, which produced bland statements about Church-State dialog, and also took note of strong human rights messages sent to them publicly by the Ladies in White and Oswaldo Paya. One participant, who helped distribute these messages, told us the going-in position of most CELAM bishops was probably favorable to the regime, but that spending some days in Havana opened their eyes to some ugly Cuban realities. A Venezuelan bishop publicly criticized Hugo Chavez; according to one media source, he was sent packing early. The event provided some level of prestige to the Cuban government for being host, but also drew attention to Cuba's problems in ways that the regime would not like and could not control. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Media reported that some 71 bishops took part in last week's CELAM, a meeting that the organization holds once every four years. The last one was in Caracas; however, the Pope's May 2007 visit to Brazil occasioned a pre-CELAM meeting in the city of Aparecida, setting the agenda for this past week's meeting. Archbishop of Aparecida Raymundo Damasceno is the new CELAM president, and had this to say about Church-State relations and Cuba, following a GOC-hosted reception: "We are grateful for the opportunity for having this cordial meeting, and hope that this dialog continues between GOC authorities and the Church in Cuba regarding the Church's pastoral mission. This was our first dialog, but we know that it is part of an ongoing dialog between the Church and GOC authorities." ¶3. (SBU) Cuba's two recent Sakharov Prize winners, Oswaldo Paya (2003) and the Ladies in White (2005) wrote open letters to CELAM on the eve of their conference. Paya outlined the country's overall human rights situation, including a crisis of values and faith in basic institutions. The Ladies appealed for CELAM help in freeing their husbands from prison, where they have been languishing since the Spring of ¶2003. By Thursday afternoon, July 12, neither of these messages had been circulated among the CELAM participants, despite their having been delivered to the offices of the Archbishop of Havana on Monday, July 9. ¶4. (C) Roberto Gonzalez Nieves, the Archbishop of San Juan (strictly protect),remedied this situation, with an assist from USINT Officers. On July 12 he visited USINT on a consular matter, and took it upon himself to distribute hard copies of both these documents, which Econ Officer printed for him in sufficient numbers. By Friday, July 13, the CELAM bishops not only had seen the documents, but also were face to face with a delegation of Ladies in White who attended CELAM's closing mass at the Havana Cathedral. The CELAM presidency issued a statement that acknowledged receipt of these documents (plus another from the mother of Dr. Hilda Molina, who is denied permission to travel from Cuba to visit relatives in Argentina). And then CELAM punted: "The CELAM Presidency has placed these matters into the hands of the Cuban Bishops Conference, the appropriate body for taking up these cases with the GOC authorities." ¶5. (C) In his July 12 meeting at USINT, the San Juan Archbishop told Charge d'Affaires and USINT Officers that most CELAM participants came to Cuba with sympathy towards the Cuban regime, based on sources of information about Cuba that tend to accept the regime's propaganda about itself at face value. Gonzalez Nieves said he had visited Cuba over 40 times before, and had accompanied Cardinal O'Connor in negotiations to free political prisoners during the Carter Administration. He had no illusions about the regime's underlying character, and said he was pleased to see that many of the CELAM participants "had their eyes opened" by the abysmal living conditions they found in Havana. He said those who came with an open mind were asking pointed questions about Cuba's government and socio-economic conditions, and learning the truth day by day. ¶6. (SBU) Although CELAM was mostly about internal Church matters, Venezuelan Bishop Baltazar Porras used the occasion HAVANA 00000677 002.6 OF 002 to publicly criticize Hugo Chavez, who is "leading Venezuela towards dictatorship." Porras was quoted by AFP saying that "Since last December's elections, the revolutionary process has accelerated, characterized by intransigence and a government steamroller, which takes over all public power on behalf of the executive." Another media report indicates that the Cuban government asked Porras to leave CELAM early because of these remarks. ¶7. (C) Comment: Although one Cuban bishop stated publicly that he has gained greater access to imprisoned Cubans, our assessment overall is that CELAM's having punted human rights matters to the Cuban Bishops Conference will not have served to advance any of the causes outlined by either Oswaldo Paya or the Ladies in White. The Cuban Bishops Conference is a conservative institution, which trades its own religious survival for muting its voice on political issues. The trend in the past year has been towards more, not less conservatism, as two bishops who sympathized with the democratic opposition (Siro/Pinar del Rio, and Meurice/Santiago) have retired and been replaced by non-confrontational characters. The regime only gave minimal mention to CELAM in its media organs, probably on the assumption that more publicity would have raised expectations, as happened with the Papal visit in 1998. Whatever prestige the regime might have earned from hosting the CELAM is balanced by some media exposure related to human rights abuses. WILLIAMS