Letter to Secretary Christopher Regarding Letter from Cuban Bishops on Trade Embargo and Religious Freedom in Cuba, September 28, 1993

September 28, 1993

The Honorable Warren Christopher
Secretary of State
The Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520

Dear Mr. Secretary:

I write to bring to your attention a significant document of the Catholic bishops of Cuba, issued earlier this month under the title Love Hopes All Things, and to request U.S. government action on certain of the bishops' urgent concerns. Attached is a copy of the Spanish original and our translation of the text.

The letter is a clear and forceful description of the many crises that afflict Cuban society today, an insistent call for needed change, and an encouragement to the national dialogue that alone can bring about a better future for the Cuban people. The bishops note that "there is discontent, uncertainty, despair among the population" and that the situation is "getting worse rapidly."

They invite both Cubans who live under the Castro regime and those in the exile community to work in solidarity for their homeland. They do so, urging "a charity which incorporates justice."

The bishops forthrightly address some injustices within Cuba: limitations on freedom, surveillance by state security, detention of political prisoners, discrimination on the basis of religious and ideological orientation. One can only hope that the civil authorities there will be moved to make greater progress in improving political and economic life and will create the conditions necessary for a sincere and genuine dialogue.

The pastoral letter also descries the negative effects of other nations' policies on the life of the Cuban people. They cite the well-known role of soviet aid in creating a dependency which greatly undermined the Cuban economy. They likewise repeat their opposition to "any. kind of measure that, in order to punish the Cuban government, serves to aggravate the problems of our people-, citing specifically the U.S.-imposed economic embargo, and the tightening of that embargo through the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the so-called Torricelli Act.

It is my hope that this Administration will heed the words of the Cuban bishops, support the cause of freedom, and respond to the needs of the Cuban people by addressing at least the most onerous and discriminatory provisions of the embargo, beginning with the barriers to the importation of medicines. We would be most willing to discuss these matters with the appropriate staff of the Department.

With assurances of my best wishes, and continued prayer for your crucial efforts to promote peace everywhere, I remain

Sincerely yours,

Most Reverend John R. Roach
Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis
Chairman, USCC Committee on International Policy

letter-to-secretary-christopher-re-cuban-bishops-1993-09-28.pdf