[Marxism] Reflections on a possible U.S.-Cuba prisoner exchange

[Walter Lippmann]

Who thought that Elian Gonzalez would ever be freed to return home with
his father to Cuba? Fidel always had confidence and said so relentlessly.

The Cuban people were mobilized over and over and over, and the people 
of the United States finally came to see the true face of the militants
in Miami as they burned the United States flag and rioted in the streets
to try to prevent the child from being rescued. When he finally was free,
the Miami militants publicly prayed his plane would crash. The liberation
of Elian Gonzales was the greatest single victory of the Cuban Revolution
over the United States government since the Bay of Pigs/Playa Giron.

BACKGROUND:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/elian.html 

Much harder would be the liberation of the Cuban Five. Elian was a child,
taken by his mother without his father's permission. The Cuban Five, by
contrast were intelligence officers whose mission in the United States
was to monitor the activities of right-wing Cuban exile terrorists who
have freely used the U.S. as their base of operations for conducting
military attacks on their homeland. When the Cuban government shared
the information they had gathered with the FBI, and not long after with
the NEW YORK TIMES, what happened? Washington arrested the Cuban Five,
vilified them as "spies", charged and convicted them of "conspiracy",
and threw the book at them after a frame-up trial in Miami, a place
where Cuban revolutionaries could NEVER receive a fair trial even for
jaywalking, not to speak of any kind of "national security" issue.

Fidel, in fact, warned the United States that it should free the Five
immediately and avoid the debacle of a new trial for them, because it
would take place in a new environment with the whole world watching:
http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/noticias/agosto05/agosto15/cuba3.htm 

The Vatican Secretary of State has just returned from a successful tour
of Cuba where he spent a week, meeting with ecclesiastic and government
officials. Fidel had already invited Pope Benedict to visit the island
as soon as he'd assumed the position which John Paul II had previously
occupied. With the Vatican now publicizing the case of the Cuban Five,
it becomes more possible to break through the wall of silence in the
US media about this case. 

And note, too, that the Vatican is further saying that since the embargo
directly affects the inhabitants of Cuba, he "gave assurances that the 
Holy See would work to have these sanctions reduced, if not altogether
eliminated."

BACKGROUND on Cuban relations with the Church:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/pope.html 


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
======================================================================

CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY
Americas
Castro interested in prisoner exchange with US, says Cardinal Bertone

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11939 

ROME, Feb 29, 2008 / 01:58 pm (CNA).- In an interview with the
L'Osservatore Romano and Vatican Radio, Vatican Secretary of State
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone reflected on his recent visit to Cuba and
said dialogue between the Church and the State is necessary. He also
said Raul Castro is willing to "exchange prisoners" with the United
States.

Recounting his meeting with Cuba's new president and with other
officials, Cardinal Bertone said, "Discussions began initially with
the exchange of impressions about Cuba and about the vitality of the
Catholic Church. Later I met privately with the President face to
face for 55 minutes. I presented him with a specific request and the
new President responded positively."

The Vatican Secretary of State said one issue addressed with the
Cuban president "refers to the action of the bishops' conference."
"The recognition of the Catholic Church's legal status is one
concrete problem that exists," he stated.

Cardinal Bertone also revealed that he discussed the issue of
political prisoners with the President. "I gave President Raul a list
of names of prisoners for consideration [to be released] for
humanitarian reasons, respecting always the sovereignty of Cuba," the
cardinal said, adding that he also expressed his concern for the
families of those detained.

In response, Cardinal Bertone said, "the President emphasized the
importance of reciprocity at the international level. He said he was
willing to address all the problems with great openness and even to
make concrete gestures in an atmosphere of reciprocity." In that
regard, Cardinal Bertone mentioned "the crucial problems of Cuba"
related to the US-led embargo and the European Union sanctions, which
"slow its development and do not allow for the serious socio-economic
difficulties that afflict the island to be faced."

The Vatican cardinal said President Castro also brought up the issue
of five Cuban prisoners in the United States and their humanitarian
treatment, "with the eventual possibility of an exchange." He also
stressed that since the embargo directly affects the inhabitants of
Cuba, he "gave assurances that the Holy See would work to have these
sanctions reduced, if not altogether eliminated."

However, he emphasized that "this would certainly imply movement
towards greater freedom, towards the recognition of personal, social,
political and economic rights" by the Cuban government.

Cardinal Bertone summarized his visit to Cuba by saying, "The results
have far surpassed the expectations in all that I have seen of the
vitality of the Cuban Church in all of her components and
initiatives."

========================================
WALTER LIPPMANN, CubaNews
Los Angeles, California
http://www.walterlippmann.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
"Cuba - Un Paraiso bajo el bloqueo"
========================================