Cienfuegos Activists Begin Hunger Strike Because Ladies In White Are Not Allowed To Attend Mass

Cienfuegos Activists Begin Hunger Strike Because Ladies In White Are Not
Allowed To Attend Mass / 14ymedio
Posted on July 7, 2015

14ymedio, Cienfuegos, 26 June 2015 – The activists Emilio García Moreira
and Alexander Veliz García have begun a hunger strike in the town of
Aguada de Pasajeros, in Cienfuegos, to demand that the Ladies in White
be given unrestricted access to the local parish. Juan Alberto de la
Nuez, the provincial coordinator of the opposition organization the
United Anti-totalitarian Front (FANTU), told this newspaper that the
action started yesterday at six in the afternoon and was motivated by
the refusal of the Padre Tarciso to allow eight of these women to
participate in Mass last Sunday at the Jesus of Nazareth Catholic Church.

Along with the two men on hunger strike, the Lady in White Mayelín
García Moreira began a 24-hour fast ending this afternoon. According to
de la Nuez it is expected that "in the coming hours other members of
FANTU will join the strike," and many of the several Ladies in White of
the town will rotate in fasting. The protest is being held in House No.
2 of Block 33 in the La Communidad settlement.

The initiative has been accompanied by an open letter addressed to the
priest Tarciso and with a copy to Bishop Domingo Oropesa in the
Cienfuegos diocese. In the missive it specified that the hunger strike
would continue until the priest asked forgiveness from those he offended
and was transferred to another parish. However, to date it has not been
possible to deliver the letter to its recipient, because in the church
they told the activists that "he has been on vacation in Nicaragua."

In the three pages occupied by the text, what occurred is classified as
an outrage and it is recalled that, "None of us Cubans who are
persecuted by the rulers due to our ideas will ever reproach the Church
you represent because the families of the five spies who were released
in December of 2014 came to your temples to pray for their release for
the prisons, because it is understood that the Church belongs to everyone."

For his part, a resident of Aguada de Pasajero, who asked for anonymity,
told 14ymedio that the priest's gesture had been motivated because, "The
community that attends this church asked that the presence of the group
not be permitted." According to this version, Padre Tarciso refused
entry to the Ladies in White because to allow them "would bring the
consequence that other believers would refrain from attending to avoid
problems."

"We are suffering greatly from State Securty harassment experienced by
the people and we don't want any more problems," explains the same
source. However, the Lady in White Miladis Espino Diaz points out that
the activists only want to peacefully attend Mass because "we believe in
God," and she considers herself discriminated against because "some of
those who go to the Church look down on us and take off when we walk by."

This Sunday, the eight Ladies in White previously excluded, accompanied
by other supportive people, will return to try to exercise their right
to attend Mass.

Source: Cienfuegos Activists Begin Hunger Strike Because Ladies In White
Are Not Allowed To Attend Mass / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cienfuegos-activists-begin-hunger-strike-because-ladies-in-white-are-not-allowed-to-attend-mass-14ymedio/