|
Religious leaders visit Antonio
Guerrero in Marianna Federal Prison
• Call for release of three
remaining members of Cuban Five imprisoned in the
U.S.
Recently returned from a visit with one of three
Cubans held in U.S. prisons, Church World Service (CWS)
President and CEO the Rev. John L. McCullough
reflected on the intersection of faith and politics
as he prepares to travel to Cuba for visits with
church leaders, Cuban government officials and the
families of the imprisoned men.
Other members of the delegation visiting Antonio
Guerrero at the federal prison in Marianna, Florida
on Oct. 13 were Dr. Carroll A. Baltimore, Sr., 19th
president of the Progressive National Baptist
Convention and the Rev. Dr. Russell L. Meyer,
executive director of the Florida Council of
Churches. Guerrero is one of the “Cuban 5” detainees
still being held in American prisons. McCullough
described the visit with Guerrero as “positive.”
“At
our visit he certainly was energized and
enthusiastic, but he was very realistic about the
fact that it would be 2017 when he would be freed
and allowed to return to Cuba and his family. He
really has settled in on that psychologically,
emotionally and spiritually.”
Guerrero is one of five men—the Cuban 5-- arrested
in 1998 in Florida and subsequently convicted and
sentenced in procedures that have been widely
criticized as unjust on espionage conspiracy
charges. Visits with the two remaining Cuban 5
detainees, Ramon Labañino and Gerardo Hernandez,
will be rescheduled.
Although CWS has long urged the U.S. government to
lift the decades-old embargo on Cuba and to
normalize relations with the island nation, the
visit with Guerrero, McCullough said, was pastoral
rather than political.
“There is a faith imperative here that really drives
us to this mission,” McCullough said. “This is not a
political initiative. We are happy to let the
politicians do what politicians do, but we also want
politicians to understand that as faith leaders, we
are going to do what faith leaders do.”
That, McCullough emphasized, means responding to the
mandate of faith “that speaks to the importance of
justice and speaks to the reality of people who are
held in bondage and the importance of setting free
those who are unfairly imprisoned.”
Last
year, McCullough joined other U.S. faith leaders in
praising President Obama for a 2011 directive that
lifted restrictions for religious and academic
travel to Cuba, in addition to unrestricted travel
by Cuban Americans. That move, faith leaders said,
strengthened relationships with church partners in
Cuba and paralleled what they described as “a time
of robust growth for Cuban churches.”
With
an eye toward taking advantage of the “window of
opportunity” for forward movement in efforts to
normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba
presented by the final two years of the Obama
administration, McCullough said advocacy on all
fronts will continue. However, as head of a
humanitarian agency he gives equal weight to the
political and the pastoral.
“We
are a humanitarian and relief organization and while
CWS is taking a lead in what actually is a broad
interfaith advocacy effort around normalizing
relations, we lead with our faith. It is about
relating to people on the strength of our faith, our
values and the things that we hold to be true.
Policies that relegate people to conditions of
hunger and poverty are wrong.”
McCullough and the faith delegation scheduled to
visit Cuba next week also are urging the release of
Alan Gross, the former U.S. Agency for International
Development subcontractor, who has been imprisoned
in Cuba for nearly five years, unjustly according to
the U.S. government.
“CWS
is calling for the humanitarian release of Mr. Gross
by the Cuban government and of the remaining Cuban 5
prisoners by the U.S. government,” said McCullough.
“This is a humanitarian imperative and an important
step toward improving the relationship between our
two countries.”
|
