HAVANA — Pope Francis hopes Cuban authorities will launch and grant amnesty to individuals arrested and sentenced after the historic protests that occurred in 2021, Cardinal Beniamino Stella, who traveled to the island because the pontiff’s particular envoy, mentioned Wednesday.

Throughout an act on the College of Havana to commemorate the twenty fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s go to to the island, Cardinal Stella additionally mentioned the Catholic Church hopes that Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and U.S. President Joe Biden can maintain talks amid present tense relations between the nations.

Stella, who arrived in Cuba in mid-January and can stay there till Feb. 10, recalled the figures of Father Félix Varela and José Martí, thought of nationwide heroes in Cuba, and emphasised the necessity for understanding amongst Cubans.

Requested by journalists concerning the chance the Catholic Church may intercede to have Cuban authorities grant amnesty to individuals imprisoned in the course of the 2021 protests, the primary in a long time on the island, Stella mentioned he had talked with the pontiff concerning the problem earlier than he journey to Cuba.

“The Church needs, seeks, has manifested this proposal (amnesty),” mentioned Stella. “I feel the difficulty is on the desk… The Pope very a lot needs there to be a optimistic response, whether or not it’s known as amnesty, clemency, the phrases may be secondary, however it’s important that the younger individuals who at one level expressed their ideas… they will return to their properties.”

In response to non-governmental teams, about 1,300 individuals have been arrested following the protests. Among the demonstrations turned violent, together with looting and rioting, and one individual was killed. Authorities reported about 700 sentences handed down associated to the protests, with sentences starting from a nice and neighborhood work to as much as 30 years in jail for sedition.

The protests occurred amid a extreme financial disaster, shortages and blackouts. Human rights teams and a few governments, together with Washington, harshly criticized the island for what they thought of the repression of free demonstrations by Cubans.

In the meantime, Havana maintains that it didn’t repress opponents, however solely punished unlawful actions like rioting, vandalism, and sedition.

The Catholic Church has political affect in Cuba and on earlier events has interceded efficiently for the liberation of presidency opponents.

In 2010, due to the mediation of the Catholic Church and Spain’s authorities, a bunch of opponents who had been imprisoned since 2003 have been launched and a few selected to depart the nation.

The Cuban authorities accused anti-Castro teams primarily based in Florida of selling riots in the course of the 2021 protests by way of social networks amid a posh financial state of affairs brought on by the paralysis in the course of the pandemic and the rise in U.S. sanctions in the course of the administration of then-President Donald Trump.