HAVANA – A magazine published by the Catholic Archdiocese of Havana is
calling for "fewer restrictions on individual and collective freedoms"
on the communist-ruled island in the interest of achieving
"comprehensive development."
"There are no reasons that can explain the limitations on the exercise
of freedom, nor any arguments that make the excess of unhealthy
bureaucratic controls right," Palabra Nueva editor Orlando Marquez says
in an article posted Friday on the magazine's Web site.
"There are no words or ideology that can defend or justify economic and
social formulas whose inefficiency has long been demonstrated and
unnecessarily suffered," the article continues.
In his opinion, Cubans aspire "to greater development and more
opportunities," which makes it necessary for citizens to be freed "of
excessive controls" in order to develop personal projects.
That, according to Palabra Nueva, would also be beneficial for the Cuban
government since "it would be relieved of unnecessary economic,
bureaucratic and ideological burdens."
Marquez says that Cuba has to focus on "what works and what doesn't
work, preserve the benefits achieved in these years and eliminate
counterproductive policies," instead of "reducing the dilemma to
'capitalism' vs. 'socialism,' the favorite trick of those resistant to
change and political pharisees."
"We must dare to go our own way. Maybe it's enough to take the first
step to discover that the road isn't that rocky, that excessive controls
create more problems than they're supposed to avoid," the Palabra Nueva
article says.
The Catholic Church and the Raul Castro government opened in May an
unprecedented process of dialogue that bore fruit with the Cuban
regime's commitment to progressively release the 52 political prisoners
that were still behind bars of the 75 dissidents jailed in the crackdown
of March 2003.
That dialogue includes other topics to do with the nation's social and
economic situation, according to Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Cuba's Catholic
primate.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=14510&ArticleId=361495
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