Exiles make special request of pope during visit to Cuba

Exiles make special request of pope during visit to Cuba
Cuban exiles ask pope to address civil society, dissidents in meeting
with government
Author: Glenna Milberg, Reporter, gmilberg@Local10.com
Published On: Aug 06 2015 01:30:40 PM EDT Updated On: Aug 06 2015
01:30:00 PM EDT

MIAMI -
A group of Cuban exiles in Miami is hoping that Pope Francis will answer
their letter pleading with the pontiff to include the Cuban people in
his meetings when he visits the island next month.

The Democracia Movement on Thursday released a copy of the letter, which
was delivered about two weeks ago to the Vatican.

The letter acknowledges a new era in relations and asks the pope to
listen to and include Cuban civil society and dissidents in his dialogue
with Raul Castro's government.

"The voice of the Cuban people is not there. The voice of civil society
is not there," Ramon Saul Sanchez of the Democracia Movement said.

In the past, the Democracia Movement and its leader have staged
flotillas and hunger strikes. In the letter, they ask the pope to focus
on family reunification, the right of Cuban exiles to travel back to the
island and a better quality of life for Cuban people.

"There is no ideology included," Sanchez said. "We're talking about from
the human rights perspective, a humane perspective. So our expectations
are, if you bring this to the pope and you bring this to the
international community, they would not be able to say, 'No. You don't
have a right to those things.'"

The organization said the letter is the first step in its plan to
support the inclusion of Cuban people in the political changes underway
between governments.

"There are many things this new era will allow us to do," Sanchez said.
"The tsunami has erased old policies, (and) we cannot go back. We need
to focus on the future, new ideas and new visions as activists and
representatives of civil society."

Source: Exiles make special request of pope during visit to Cuba | News
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