Subject: M-NEWS: POPE TO CASTRO:  SET AN ELECTION DATE!
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 15:12:11 GMT


PEOPLE'S NEWS SERVICE
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POPE TO CASTRO: SET AN ELECTION DATE!


Pope John Paul II will meet with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro on
January 22 in Castro's Revolution Palace in Havana.

It is possible the outspoken pope, long a foe of Nazis and Communists,
will call publicly on Castro to set a date for free presidential
elections.   Some have speculated that Castro will outmaneuver the
pope by announcing an election date before John Paul has a chance to
say a word.

The meeting between Castro and the pope will be part of the pope's
long-awaited visit to Cuba, scheduled January 21-25. Cuba, which has
had no free national elections since 1948, is the only Latin American
country the  pope has not seen.

Castro allowed municipal elections Oct. 19, involving most of the 7
million voting-age Cubans in local elections. And while all the
candidates were members of the Communist Party, the exercise had been
interpreted by some as a dry-run for a grander, democratic plan to be
unveiled in January.

Castro has been thought incapable of imagining a free election in
Cuba.  He has opposed free elections for fear of losing control and
for fear of exposing his record to the inevitable public probes of an
opposition party and a free press.

But at the age of 71 -- and some say he's older -- Castro watchers say
he has less to lose.  Even if horrific crimes are revealed, he likely
would be treated mercifully in the general public relief that would
follow in a Cuba suddenly turned free.

Castro, once a practicing Catholic and a proponent of democracy,
turned his back dramatically on faith and freedom in the early 1960s,
soon after he chased out Fulgencio Batista, who had been Cuba's
dictator for seven years.

Castro quickly ruled out popular elections and outlawed all political
parties except the Communist Party.  He also prohibited all Communist
Party members from going to church. This ban has been recently
lifted and Castro himself has been rumoured to be seen in services.

Mmany political scientists say that, even after almost 40 years, even
Castro can change.

Last year, he patched over some of his differences with the Catholic
Church when he visited John Paul, the Polish pope, in Rome.  Castro's
former opposition to Polish Solidarity and to the church seemed to be
set aside at the Nov. 19, 1996,  meeting, which Castro called "a
miracle."

Castro, who recently had lifted the ban on Communists practicing
religion, agreed to let the church open a Caritas humanitarian aid
office in Cuba and allowed the pope, for the first time since 1959, to
flood Cuba with foreign priests and nuns to teach at Cuban parochial
schools.

And this year, the self-named president of Cuba permitted a television
broadcast of a Cuban Catholic Mass.  Other Masses have been held in
anticipation of the papal visit.  On December 8, about 2,000 , many of
them chanting "viva the pope,'' gathered in Havana's main plaza to
worship.

Overjoyed at the prospect  of the pope's visit, Castro announced
December 13 that Christmas would be celebrated in Cuba as a public
holiday this year for the first time since he abolished it in 1969.

Castro's aides and church officials have played down the possibility
of the pope calling for an election date while leaving the possibility
open.  The aides are counting on John Paul to criticize the U.S.
economic embargo and tiptoe around the dictatorship.   But church
historians have noted that John Paul is not one satisfied with vague
promises on human rights.

Castro said the pope will be allowed freedom of speech while he is in
Cuba ``It's something of elementary dignity,'' said the dictator, who
has denied all others in Cuba such dignity. ``He should feel free to
say what he pleases  After all, it is claimed that he is the
representative of the Christ here on the earth!.''

More than one Latin American diplomat has said Castro could preempt
any criticism from the pope and surprise the whole world simply by
seizing the moment and naming a date "within the reasonable near
future,"  possibily suggesting Cardinal Jaime Ortega as a canidate
for a very high office, perhaps even as a vice president.

Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega said John Paul will hold public Masses in
the cities of Santa Clara, Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba and Havana.  The
cardinal said the Masses will deal with issues such as family, youth
and the nation. 


The pope also is scheduled to meet and scheme  with  "intellectuals"
at the University of Havana's Master Lecture Hall, with patients at El
Rincon Leprosy Center and with members of other religious
denominations on the island.

To see the pope, the Archdiocese of Miami is planning to take at least
1,000 Americans on a cruise ship from Miami to Havana.  Other American
Catholics are booking direct flights from Boston and New York. 

Most political experts say the sudden conversion of Castro to the
church and democracy is quite a possibity.  If it happened, it would
be quite a show.
====================================================PEOPLE'S NEWS SERVICE