Vatican says U.S. Cuba embargo useless. Pope available for Fidel

The Vatican forward its conclusions of Benedict XVI's visit to Cuba not yet done, saying that the blockade is unnecessary because it makes people suffer.
Not satisfied with this, the Holy See kneels in front of the bloody boots of the dictatorship of Fidel and Raul Castro.

By Philip Pullella

(Reuters) - The Vatican on Friday condemned the U.S. embargo against Cuba ahead of Pope Benedict's trip there next week and said the pontiff was willing to meet Fidel Castro.

"The Holy See believes that the embargo is something that makes the people suffer the consequences. It does not achieve the aim of the greater good," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.
"The Holy See does not believe it is a positive or useful measure," he said in response to a question at a briefing about Benedict's trip to Mexico and Cuba from March 23-28.
The embargo, which marked its 50th anniversary last month and which Cubans call "the blockade", is still the cornerstone of U.S. policy toward the Caribbean island 90 miles from Florida, although it has failed to meet its primary objective of undermining Castro's communist government.
Washington imposed the near-total trade embargo at the height of the Cold War to punish Havana for its support of the Soviet Union and in the hope it would bring an end to communism on the island. Cuba says the embargo has cost it nearly $1 trillion, a figure many experts consider inflated.
Lombardi would not be drawn on whether the pope would specifically condemn the embargo, as the late Pope John Paul did several times during his historic trip to Cuba in 1998.
Cuba's ambassador to the Vatican told Reuters last month Havana had not made any demands on Benedict to condemn the embargo but would welcome a new pronouncement if he decided to make it.
POPE-FIDEL MEETING?
One unanswered question about the trip is whether the pope, who will be in Cuba from March 26-28, will meet 85-year-old Castro, who ruled Cuba for 49 years after leading its revolution before his brother succeeded him in 2008.
At present, the 84-year-old German pope is only scheduled to meet Fidel Castro's younger brother, President Raul Castro, 80, whose formal title is president of the Council of State and of the Council of Ministers.
"It is possible. It is not in the program ... but obviously if he (Fidel Castro) desires to meet the Holy Father, the Holy Father will be available," Lombardi said.   More >>