Church can play positive role in post-Castro Cuba, says expert

Published: 2006-08-29

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Catholic Church can play a positive role in Cuba during any transition period after the death of ailing President Fidel Castro, said a foreign policy expert on Cuba. The church can provide a "safe space" for Cubans to work during any transition period, said Julia Sweig, director of Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the 2002 book, "Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground." The church "is an institution that is respected by the people in Cuba," she said during an Aug. 24 telephone news conference organized by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank based in New York. The Cuban and U.S. bishops could also form a bridge between the Cuban exile community in the United States and the Cubans inside the island nation, she said.

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .