(UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION; v.

2 2018-1-25)

To Raúl Castro Ruz on the 20th anniversary of the Mass for Our Nation presided by Saint
John Paul II as well as the words of welcome of Bishop Pedro Meurice at the Plaza Antonio
Maceo in Santiago de Cuba, on January 24, 1998.

On the first of January, the 59th anniversary of the triumph of a Revolution was commemorated; a
necessary Revolution that resulted because of the atrocities committed with impunity by a power that
had turned against the people. Many fought and many died to give their children a Cuban nation where
they could live in freedom, peace, and prosperity. Today, almost six decades later, we have sufficient
cause to evaluate what we have experienced. Ever since the Communist Party was institutionalized as
the only party authorized to exist, the people have never been allowed to express different points of
view but, rather, all persons with opposing points of view that have tried to make themselves heard
have been silenced.

Totalitarianism has permeated every sector of society. Cubans know they have no freedom of
expression, they are careful saying what they think and feel, because they live in fear, often even, in
fear of those with whom they live with every day: schoolmates, workmates, neighbors, acquaintances,
and relatives. We live in a web of lies, spun from our homes to the highest levels of our society. We
say and do what we do not believe or feel, knowing that our interlocutors do the same. We lie to
survive, hoping that someday this game ends or an escape route appears in a foreign land.

Jesus Christ said: “the truth will set you free.” We want to live in the truth.

The monopoly and control of social media means that nobody can freely access information. Similarly,
there are no choices of education. Every Cuban child is obligated to learn and have access to a school,
but to a single school model, to a single ideology, to the teaching of a single way of thinking. Cubans
have the right to have educational choices as well as options for the education of thought; Cuban
parents have the right to choose what kind of education they want for their children.

The economic helplessness experienced by the Cuban people is lametable; forced by the circumstances
of faily life to beg for help from relatives who managed to go abroad or from foreigners vistors; to find
a fair compensation or to steal everything he can, then engaging in a crude and cruel consciousness
exercise to morally justify the thefts. Many families lack a minimally stable source of income that would
allow them to acquire the essentials. Eating, dressing and caring for children is a daily problem, public
transport is a problem, even access to many medications is a problem. And to compound these
struggles of a people trying to survive, the elderly also suffer, in slience, and often unprotected.

How can you say that it is from the people, that the people do not decide what is done with capital?
How can you maintain the public institutions if you do not have the necessary resources? Why are
foreigners invited to invest in Cuba, yet not allowed to invest with equal opportunities with all Cubans?
Cubans have the right to participate as investors in the economy and in the negotiations that will shape
the future of our nation. And to all this is added the lack of religious freedom.

The Church is tolerated, but it is constantly monitored and controlled. Full religious freedom is reduced
with “controlled freedom of worship permits.” Christians can come together to share their faith, but
they are not allowed to build a place of worship. The Church can lead processions and public Masses,
but always with the condition and express permission from the authorities that, if it is not granted,

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does not allow an appeal or explanation. The Church can raise its voice in places of worship, but it
does not have free access to the mass media and, in the few times that it happens, always censored.
Indeed, the laity is censored when they try to apply their faith to political and social practice.

This social dynamics that has resulted in Cuba is the forgotten individual, his dignity as a child of God
and his inalienable rights; almost 60 years after the people believed in an ideal that is always
postponed and never realized. When someone questions, when someone raises their voice, they only
find vulnerability and exclusion. We want a country where life is respected, from conception to natural
death, where the union of the family is strengthened, and the marriage between a man and a woman
is repected; in which pensions reach our elders; where professionals can live with dignity with their
salaries; where citizens can become entrepreneurs, and there is more freedom of work and recruitment
for athletes and artists. Young Cubans should find work opportunities that allow them to develop their
talents and skills here and not see the only way out of Cuba.

We have a legal system that is tramped by the state. There is no of Rule of Law in Cuba. The clear
distinction and independence of the three powers: executive, legislative and judicial is essential. We
want indepedent judges, not pressured; the law is order. Illegality is not a way of subsisting, the law a
weapon of domination. Let our Capitol be filled with legislators who, with full power, represent the
interests of their constituents.

Our people are discouraged and tired, there is a stagnation that can be summed up in two words:
survive or escape. Cubans need to live the joy of "thinking and speaking without hypocrisy" with
different political criteria. We are tired of waiting. Tired of running away. Tired of hiding. We want to
live our own life.

This letter also has a purpose, which is a right: We want to choose in freedom.

In Cuba, there are votes, not elections. Elections are urgent where we can decide not only our future
but also our present. Now we are invited to "vote", to say "yes" to what already exists, and there is no
will to change. Choosing implies, in itself, different options, choosing implies the possibility of taking
several paths. We also write this letter to help prevent if one day, for some reason, Cuba is submerged
in violent changes that would only add more useless suffering. We still have time to make a process
towards a plurality of options that allows a favorable change for all. But time is running out. We urge
you, open that door. It's no use hiding the truth. It is useless to pretend that nothing happens. It is
useless to cling to power.

Our Master Jesus Christ tells Cubans today: "What is the use of man to gain the whole world if it ruins
his life?" We have time to build a different reality. We have time to make a Cuba as Marti wanted:
"with everyone and for the good of all". We are entrusted to the intercession of the Virgin of Charity,
Patroness of Cuba. She, Mother of all Cubans, intercede before the Lord of history who, as he said in
Cuba, His Holiness Benedict XVI: "God not only respects human freedom but seems to need it," so that
we can always choose the greater good for all,

Padre José Conrado Rodríguez Alegre Padre Roque Nelvis Morales Fonseca
Párroco de San Francisco de Paula, Trinidad, Cienfuegos Párroco de Cueto, Holguín

Padre Castor José Álvarez de Devesa

Cura del Modelo, Camagüey