“I love seeing him here, I love that he came!” The convalescent Pope Francis has received the Cuban President, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in a 40-minute audience, five months after his envoy to the island demanded the release of the 1,037 political prisoners locked up in the dungeons of the revolution.

“They focused on the situation in the country and the contribution offered by the Church, especially in the field of charity,” the Vatican said in a statement, in addition to underlining the supposed commitment to “always promote the common good.”

Not an official word on the 1,037 political prisoners, according to Prisoners Defenders (PD) figures. Among them are also dozens of Catholics and about thirty minors. “We address the current Cuban reality, in particular the severe impact on our population of the intensified economic blockade. I appreciated your signs of closeness,” said Raúl Castro’s appointee, whose main ally in Central America, Daniel Ortega, is kept in a punishment cell. Bishop Rolando Álvarez, while viciously persecuting the Catholic Church.

“It could be argued that the Church’s diplomacy seeks, without fanfare, to release the hundreds of political prisoners in Cuba. The problem is that these requests, for months, remain unanswered. New prisoners are added every month, because activism and repression They do not stop. The regime is holding them hostage to negotiate with the United States. In a short time we will see if Francisco now achieves something different,” historian Armando Chaguaceda tells EL MUNDO.

It’s not just about prisoners. The harassment suffered by priests and faithful in Nicaragua also occurs, to a lesser extent, on the island. According to the survey that the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) will make public, 68% of believers believe that the government Office of Religious Affairs of Cuba represses their rights.

“We will evaluate this meeting based on its immediate and concrete results. We believe that they should be the release of political prisoners, the immediate cessation of repression, including the abuse of religious liberties, and more facilities for churches to help the impoverished Cuban people. If these concrete actions do not take place immediately, it will have been a missed opportunity and a fact that will be exploited by the Cuban regime to improve its international and internal image,” warned Yaxys Cires, director of OCDH Strategies, for this newspaper.

A dozen Cuban opponents shouted against the large government delegation, including Lis Cuesta, the president’s wife, and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez. Organizations such as PD and Amnesty International have recorded the use of torture and mistreatment against political prisoners, who suffer beatings, forced labor, intimidation, humiliation, and the deprivation of food, medical care, and communication with their families.

“This visit has a painful effect on the Catholic community, because there are Catholics who remain imprisoned, there are priests being questioned… The negotiations are not advancing at the speed required by the families of the prisoners. The Cuban regime uses this approach to launder its image when it is questioned by the international community. Taking advantage of the figure of the Pope, with a progressive sensibility in the theology, is really a beneficial thrust for the regime. Civil society does not see concrete benefits and also there is no word on what is happening , only a great opacity”, described the researcher Leonardo Fernández Otaño to EL MUNDO. This Catholic activist was once expelled from the University of Havana as punishment for speaking with Pope Francis.

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