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March 28th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
But his calls to “build a renewed and open society” prompted Cuban
vice president Marino Murillo to rule out any sweeping political reforms in
the Americas’ only one-party Communist state.
“In Cuba, there will be no political reforms,” Murillo, who is in
charge of carrying out the economic reform program ordered over the past few
years by Raul Castro, told reporters.
“What we are talking about is an updating of our Cuban economic model,
which makes our own form of socialism more sustainable, for the wellbeing of
our people,” he said.
At the start of his visit on Monday – the first papal visit to Cuba in 14
years – Benedict urged the faithful at a mass in Santiago to help construct
a “renewed and open society, a better society, one more worthy of
humanity.”
Last week, he said Marxism “no longer corresponds to reality.”
But Cuba’s leaders insist democracy already exists on the island, and see the
papal visit as a way to show the world that it is tolerant and open to
religious expression.
In an article published on an official website, Fidel Castro confirmed he
would meet the pope on Wednesday morning, saying he had “requested a
few minutes of (Benedict’s) busy time” after hearing that the pontiff
wanted to meet him.
The mass in Revolution Square is expected to draw as many as one million
people. The pope will departing later in the day.
Before flying to Havana, Benedict visited a shrine outside Santiago, Cuba’s
second largest city, to honour the country’s patron saint.
Benedict’s visit coincides with the 400th anniversary of the discovery of a
small wooden statue of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre floating in the
waters off eastern Cuba.
In what appeared to be a reference to political prisoners and perhaps Cuban
exiles, Benedict offered a prayer for “the needs of those who suffer,
of those who are deprived of freedom, those who are separated from their
loved ones.”
Authorities reportedly rounded up at least 150 dissidents in the days leading
up to the pope’s visit to thwart any possible demonstrations. Others have
been barred from leaving their homes.
The pontiff has no plans to meet with members of the Cuban opposition, a
decision which has drawn some criticism.
There had been talk that the pope could meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez,
who is in Cuba for a new round of cancer treatment, but Chavez said on
Tuesday that he would not “interfere” with the papal agenda.
Catholics account for just 10 per cent of Cuba’s population of about 11
million. The church nonetheless has emerged as the most important non-state
actor in Cuba, even mediating the release of prisoners.
Cuba was officially atheist until the early 1990s.
After a visit by John Paul II in 1998, expectations ran high that the
charismatic Polish pontiff might help spark change after decades of
one-party rule.
But more than a decade later, the country remains isolated and its state-run
economy is feeble. Cuban workers struggle to survive on a paltry salary of
$20 a month.
Pilgrims who travelled to Cuba from around the region to see the pope included
some from Florida in the United States, home to the world’s largest
concentration of Cuban exiles.
A flotilla carrying activist exiles from Florida arrived near Cuba shortly
after the pope and Raul Castro met, organisers said. Activists launched
fireworks in international waters off the island’s shores.
“We’re off the island and we are launching our first lights for democracy,”
Ramon Saul Sanchez, one of the organisers, told AFP.
Source: AFP
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