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By Philip Pullella
ABOARD THE
PAPAL PLANE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Pope John Paul, on his way to communist Cuba for
an historic first trip, urged the United States on Wednesday to change its
35-year economic embargo against the Caribbean island.
Responding to a question from reporters aboard the papal flight about any
message he had for the United States regarding the embargo, the Polish-born
Pontiff said in English:
"To change, to change.''
Diplomats and Vatican observers said before the trip that Cuban President
Fidel Castro, who first met the Pope in November 1996, was hoping the Pope would
take an unequivocal stand against Washington's economic blockade during his
visit.
"It seems to me that in the United States the papal visit is followed
with deep interest. Perhaps...both Cuba and the United States are looking for a
better future -- both,'' he said in a relaxed 20-minute conversation with
reporters in which he spoke in English and Italian.
The Pope, who was due to land in Havana around five hours later to begin the
81st trip of his history-making pontificate, now in its 20th year, said he would
comment on human rights during his five-day visit.
"You know very well that I am thinking about human rights and what I
can say to guarantee human rights,'' he said.
He said he would deliver the same message on human rights that he had on
many of his previous visits across the globe, beginning in communist-ruled
Poland in 1979.
"It is clear that human rights are fundamental rights and the
foundation of all civilisation. I brought this conviction and this engagement of
human rights...with me from Poland in confrontation with the Soviet Union and
with the Soviet system, a communist totalitarian system,'' he said.
The Pontiff's stand against dictatorship is inextricably linked to his
experience in his native Poland, where, through resistance first to Nazi
invaders and later to a communist regime, he saw Catholicism as a rock to be
preserved at all costs.
Many observers believe the Pope's visit to Cuba will be a catalyst for some
kind of change on the island.
Asked if he believed his visit would have a similar impact on Cuba to that
of his first trip to Poland, the Pope said in Italian:
"I am not a prophet. Those who live to see will see.''
He emphasised that he hoped that a concession by the Havana government last
year to make Christmas a holiday "would remain and would not be an
exception.''
The Pope was asked what he wanted to hear from Castro, the world's
best-known living Marxist revolutionary, who seized power in Cuba in 1959.
"I want to hear above all the truth. That he tells me this truth, that
belongs to him, as a president, a man and a 'comandante', so to speak, of the
revolution,'' he said.
Castro was due to greet the Pope when he lands in Havana and the two
towering figures of the 20th century were scheduled to meet once more during the
visit.
20:39 01-21-98 |