Cuban cardinal says officials have created expectations for change

Published: 2008-01-07

HAVANA (CNS) -- Statements by top Cuban officials in 2007 acknowledging the "need for changes" in the country were a "promising step that has created expectations," said Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana. Cardinal Ortega said that throughout the country there was "a cloud of criticism, complaints and hopeful proposals based on the need for changes, even structural changes, in the way national life is organized and lived." The prelate noted that Cuban authorities "have sought broad-based opinions about all issues of concern" in society and that "this has been a promising step." Cardinal Ortega spoke in the Havana cathedral at his first Mass of the new year to mark World Peace Day Jan. 1. Cubans will head to the polls for parliamentary elections Jan. 20. In a July speech Raul Castro, Cuba's acting leader and the brother of ailing President Fidel Castro, who has ruled the country for nearly five decades, acknowledged the need for "structural reforms." This was the topic of discussion groups involving more than 5 million Cubans in September and October. During those discussions, participants voiced more than 1.3 million proposals and complaints about problems such as shortcomings in the health care and educational systems, insufficient wages and high food prices.

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