Harrisonburg, VA, Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Monsignor Bishop Elias Zaidan President of the Justice and Peace Committee United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Monsignor,
Today, I saw published on Cubadebate—one of the Cuban dictatorship’s publications most committed to media terrorism—the letter you sent yesterday to Mr. Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States, in which you ask that Cuba be excluded from the list of “state sponsors of terrorism for the good of the Cuban people.”
I am absolutely convinced that you, being a Bishop, must be a man of good will, but I do not know if you are aware of the irrefutable link between the Cuban dictatorship and international terrorism since January 1, 1959, although I will not refer to that because it is a self-evident truth.
The administration of President Barack Obama removed Cuba from the mentioned list—another of his political concessions—as a gesture to promote the definitive rapprochement between the two governments, but the history following the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States has shown that neither Obama’s good will nor his administration’s political concessions were of any value, as the Castro dictatorship has continued violating fundamental rights of our people. To the olive branch extended by Obama, the dictatorship responded with mockery and disdain from the moment the president arrived at José Martí Airport.
Simultaneously with the gestures of goodwill from President Barack Obama, dozens of Cuban intelligence officers were torturing opponents in Venezuelan prisons, acts that were well documented by the Organization of American States (OAS) and reported to the International Criminal Court.
In 2021, Cuba was re-included in the list of state sponsors of terrorism by the administration of President Donald Trump because the Cuban dictatorship offered political asylum to the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) who carried out a terrorist attack against the Bogotá Police Academy in Colombia. That attack caused significant damage, killed 27 people, and injured 87.
I am sure that some of the families of those people are Catholic and may have forgiven the perpetrators of such a heinous crime, but forgiveness does not exclude justice, and this has not been achieved because the terrorists obtained the protection and complicity of the Cuban dictatorship, the same that has been obtained by more than 70 criminals wanted by US authorities who remain in Cuba.
The xenophobic and terrorist Hamas movement’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, not only received the Cuban dictatorship’s approval but also revealed the close ties of the dictatorship with those terrorists and with Hezbollah.
In case you do not know, I inform you that on February 25, 2023, several Hamas representatives met with the Cuban ambassador to Lebanon, Mr. Jorge León Cruz. I also remind you that Cuba supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has sent mercenaries to that war.
In case you do not know, I inform you that several of the political agitators who led protests against Israel in US universities this year—without being university students—visited Cuba before those protests began.
In case you do not know, there are currently more than a thousand people imprisoned in Cuba for political reasons, some of them merely for displaying a sign against the dictatorship, others for expressing their opinions on social networks, or for recording the increasingly frequent and numerous protests by the people, fed up with Castro rhetoric and facing a truly discouraging panorama that has led to the departure of more than 250,000 Cubans since 2021.
In case you do not know, there are several priests of our Church in Cuba who are permanently monitored and harassed by the dictatorship.
In case you do not know, the Cuban dictatorship is very close to the Nicaraguan dictatorship, the same that maintains a crusade against our Church in that country. It is also very close to the Venezuelan dictatorship and those established in Iran, China, and North Korea, where our Church is also persecuted.
In case you do not know, I inform you that the Cuban dictatorship practices a terrorist policy against its own people every day.
As far as I know—and excuse me if I am wrong—the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has not yet publicly spoken out in favor of the release of all political prisoners in Cuba, nor in favor of the restoration of democracy, nor in favor of respecting all human rights in our country.
I am Catholic. I suffered persecution and imprisonment in Cuba for my ideas and for being an active member of the Prison Ministry, so I know very well what I am saying.
Every Sunday, I attend the Eucharist at “The Blessed Sacrament” Church here in Harrisonburg. For more than two years, I have been hoping to hear a simple prayer for my beloved people.
It is not by asking to remove Cuba from that list, nor by requesting the lifting of a commercial embargo—which is actually a euphemism—that the suffering of the Cuban people will end.
I hope that God enlightens you to learn the truth about Cuba.
Sincerely,
Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces