Reflections on a possible U.S.-Cuba prisoner exchange
by Walter Lippmann, March 1, 2008

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
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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."