Perhaps following the implied cue from Cardinal Jaime Ortega that the Catholic Church in Cuba is there to do the bidding of the regime, State Security agents this week have been warning parishes in Havana to not celebrate Masses to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo.
It's all part of the government's campaign this week to stamp out any public memorials tied to the one-year anniversary on Wednesday, Feb. 23, that might spark even greater trouble for the regime. Dissidents, including Zapata's mother Reina Luisa Tamayo, have been arrested and beaten, and many others have been warned to keep quiet this week or risk more trouble for themselves.
That apparently includes Catholic priests who have been warned to not open their sancturaries to those who want to remember Zapata by praying and worshiping. Considering how the regime has previously unleashed its goons to block worshipers, like Reina Luisa Tamayo and other Damas De Blanco, from going to church, that is not an empty threat.
But at least one pastor, at Our Lady of Regla church in Havana, was unimpressed, "indignantly rejecting the request of the Cuban political police," wrote independent journalist Ivan S. Pupo, in a report posted at CubaNet.
Cardinal Ortega has made it a habit of being conciliatory and cooperative with the regime, as he waits for it to finally keep its word and release all the political prisoners covered by a deal he brokered in July 2010. This week he even said it was a "moral certainty" they would be freed, despite repeated delays and the dictatorship's well established record of deceit.
But as long as there are priests like the pastor at Our Lady of Regla, not all hope for the church is lost.
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