Cuban cardinal makes historic Miami trip

National Catholic Reporter, June 16, 1995

During a whirlwind visit May 26-28 to his "brothers and sisters" in Miami, Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino resolutely refused calls to criticize Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Ortega, the first Cuban cardinal to pay an official visit to the United States in more than 30 years, asked his fellow Cubans to put aside "old quarrels, their sad and painful memories" and practice Christ's forgiving love.

At a Mass for 800 people at St. Mary's Cathedral, he received a standing ovation after quoting a passage from a poem by Jose Marti, a hero of Cuba's independence.

Ortega told more than 3,000 people gathered on the soccer field at St. Thomas University that they were indeed exiles, not immigrants, as the Cuban government portrays them.

Since his appointment as cardinal last November, Ortega has visited Cubans in Spain, Venezuela, Mexico and Puerto Rico.