Bishop Gregory calls sanctions against Cuba 'morally unacceptable'

Published: 2004-05-20

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The president of the U.S. bishops' conference told U.S. President George W. Bush that the economic embargo against Cuba was "morally unacceptable and politically counterproductive." Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., said the embargo "has failed to achieve its goals of unseating the Castro government, restoring democracy and protecting human rights." "In fact, the embargo hurts ordinary people in Cuba -- the poor, the aged and the infirm," Bishop Gregory wrote in a letter to Bush dated May 18 and released to Catholic News Service May 20. The bishop's comments followed the release of a report by the federal Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba that called for tighter economic sanctions in order to hasten the end of the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

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