National Council of Churches to send delegation to Cuba

Saturday, January 24, 2004

NEW YORK, USA (AFP): A delegation of the US National Council of Churches left for Cuba Thursday on a six-day visit.

The trip includes consultations with Cuban churches, celebration of the consecration of a Greek Orthodox cathedral in Havana, and possibly a meeting with President Fidel Castro on political dissidents, the council said.

The NCC, in the requested meeting with Castro, which was not yet confirmed, said it was "hoping to discuss church concerns and issues pertaining to US-Cuban relations, including the harsh sentences imposed on 75 dissidents by Cuba's courts in spring 2003.

"From a moral standpoint, this issue is of crucial interest to the National Council of Churches," it said in a statement. "We find the sentences excessive."

It said this would be the NCC's third appeal to the Cuban government on the arrest, trial and sentencing of the dissidents to prison terms of from six to 28 years, sentences the US government has vocally condemned. 

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