dissidents in recent years, including three executions, despite protests from the Pope and other church leaders, reports said Sunday, April 27.
Speaking on national television, Castro blamed a "conspiracy’ between the American government and exiles in Miami for the recent arrests of an estimated 75 dissidents who received prison sentences up to 28 years on charges of "anti-regime" activity.
The activities allegedly included collaborating with American diplomats to "subvert the socialist system," charges dissidents and diplomats strongly deny. As the crack down continued. three men were executed April 11 by a firing squad for attempting to hijack of a ferry filled with passengers.
No one was injured in the failed attempt, which was apparently part of effort to flee to the United States. Earlier in recent weeks Cuba saw two other, successful, hijackings that involved two planes which landed landed in U.S. safely.
POPE LETTER
In a letter to Castro published Sunday, April 27, Pope John Paul II, expressed his profound pain over the executions and asked the Cuban strongman "for a significant gesture of clemency toward those convicted."
The pope, who in 1998 was the first pontiff to visit Cuba, staunchly opposes the death penalty.
Earlier the World Council of Churches and an ecumenical group of Cuban clergy in the U.S. have condemned what they see as the "harsh crack-down" on opposition in Cuba. The latest developments were also expected to further complicate the situation of persecuted Christians on the Communist Island.
With world attention on Iraq, some analysts have suggested that Castro was feeling more free to crack-down against apparently growing opposition to his regime.
