Cuba's Castro sends condolences to Vatican

[Mika]

Cuba's Castro sends condolences to Vatican
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/11302067.htm

HAVANA - Cuban President Fidel Castro expressed condolences for the death of Pope John Paul II and declared three days of official mourning on the communist-run island beginning Sunday.

In a letter to the Vatican published Sunday on the front page of Juventud Rebelde newspaper, Castro called the pope's passing "sad news" and expressed "the most heartfelt condolences of the Cuban people and government."

"Humanity will preserve an emotional memory of the tireless work of His Holiness John Paul II in favor of peace, justice and solidarity among all people," Castro wrote.

The Cuban leader also highlighted the pope's historic January 1998 visit to the island, saying it will remain "engraved in the memory of our nation as a transcendent moment in relations between the Vatican State and the Republic of Cuba."

[Jade Fox]

1. So much for the Godless Communism theory....

I guess the Castro haters won't be able to whip that one out now....

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. OH, have no fear - the WH will spin this SOME way . . .

.
.
.

From the posted Article:

"The decree praised the pope for all of his efforts "in favor of solutions for many social ills affecting humanity," as well as for publicly criticizing four decades of U.S. trade sanctions against Cuba."
________________________________________________

I'll bet they got a think-tank working on that little tidbit!

Nice jab Fidel!

:thumbsup:

It looks like Castro is learning the spin game!

[Mika]

5. Everyone (except Americans) knows the church thrives there

If anyone paid any attention to the pope's visit to Cuba they would have noticed that he visited beautifully reconstructed churches all over the island.















______________

[Say_What]

11. More about the 1998 history making 'Pope goes to Cuba' here

except brainwashed 'muriKans don't know sh*t about it 'cuz the USSA press was called home to cover 'Monika'. LOL *news* in the USSA

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1361971

[tinonedown]

12. Oh, you are right

I guess this statement just reverses all his bad - right? Please, anyone can release a statement. Even *bUSH did.

[Jade Fox]

17. In 45 years since the Cuban Revolution.....

Castro hasn't commited one tenth the crimes the Bush Administration has
in a little over four years. He has also done a lot of good things for Cuba.

But he's a commie, so we're supposed to respond in lock-step negativity.

[Mika]

18. Its not just a statement.

From the article,

Cuban President Fidel Castro expressed condolences for the death of Pope John Paul II and declared three days of official mourning on the communist-run island beginning Sunday.

This action by the Cuban government is in keeping with the sympathies of the majority of religious Cubans.

[0007]

2. I'm still reminded by the fact that the media ignored Cuba when the

Pope visited to jump on the Monica Lewinsky story.

[Mika]

7. Impeachment manager Dan Burton rushed Clinton's G.J. testimony to press

On the very day of the Pope's landing in Cuba.

Y'know.. the cosponsor of the US's extraterritorial anti Cuba trade Helms-Burton bill.

Two birds with one stone.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Oh, God! I didn't know he did that. Un-bleeping-believable.

The effects of his collaboration with Jesse Helms on a vicious assault on Cuba through ungodly new punishment in the form of the Helms-Burton Act (Cuban Liberty and Solidarity Act of 1996) are still bringing additional hardship to that population.

I knew he was active in his overactive participation in harrassing Bill Clinton via the Monica affair, but I didn't know he was involved to this degree!



Don't you love this photo of Burton surrounded by his Cuban Congresspeople? Two Diaz-Balarts, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and behind him, the Democrat from New Jersey, Robert Menendez. He surely worked for their constituents' campaign contributions. Easy pickings for someone with a natural genocidal bent.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

4. That evil tyrant!

[tinonedown]

13. Your sarcasm doesn't work

Because the statement is so true

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

16. Thanks for the clarification

:thanks:

[anarchy1999]

6. But did he lower Cuba's Flag?

n/t

Georgie has obviously done far more. Flags at half-mast. Match that, Fidel, you commie.

So sorry, sarcasm is off now, I go to bed.

[Princess Turandot]

9. I think the Jesuit educated Mr. Castro was hedging his bets..

when he allowed the Pope to visit Cuba. He even wore a suit rather than fatigues and looked as excited as a young boy would be.

My cable company had a channel temporarily leased to the Catholic Television Network, to cover the Cuba visit. It was a nice break from the Monica shark-feeding-frenzy.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Cuba orders mourning for pope who revived island's Catholics

Cuba orders mourning for pope who revived island's Catholics
by Carlos Diaz

Sunday, April 3, 2005

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuba's communist government said it would order a three-day period of mourning after Pope John Paul II's death Saturday, an unusual gesture of respect for a Roman Catholic leader whose 1998 visit helped thaw relations between church and state.

The mourning decree signed by President Fidel Castro ordered all celebrations and sporting events suspended and described the pontiff as "a personality with worldwide reach" and an "indefatigable fighter for peace."

Earlier, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said "we have always seen Pope John Paul II and will always see him as a friend who was concerned for the poor, who fought neoliberalism and strove for peace."

John Paul II, who died in his Vatican apartment two days after suffering heart failure, visited Cuba in 1998 in a gesture which helped the sizable Catholic minority on the communist island practice their faith more openly.

"His visit is unforgettable. It impacted us all," Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino said in an unusual appearance on Cuban state television late Friday, in which he urged Cubans to pray for the ailing pontiff.
(snip/...)

http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/04/03/mourning.shtml





The man to the Pope's right is Cardinal Jaime
Ortega, Archbishop of Havana, very well-liked there.

tiny video of crowd walking to hear the Pope: http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue9801/video/V07-CrowdsWalking.Mov

Jubilant singers, tiny video: http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue9801/video/V08-CrowdSinging.Mov

[daleo]

14. Socialism has become decoupled from strict dialectical materialism, IMO

So I don't see any great surprise in the Cuban government sending condolences. John Paul was pro-labor and anti-imperialist for the most part (consider his reaction to the invasion on Iraq). Many of his social stances weren't very congruent with socialist positions, though. By the same token, most of his foreign policy beliefs weren't congruent with U.S. conservatism.

So, Castro is certainly no more inconsistent than Bush in this message.

[Zhade]

15. But I thought "atheistic regimes" were set to destroy religion?

Why, I'm surprised that the Communist Castro didn't whack the Pope in the name of atheism himself, like all "atheist dictators' would!

</sarcasm>