Cuban dissidents deny criminal record claim

Cuban dissidents, who occupied a Havana church days before Pope Benedict the 16th visited the island, have rejected claims by Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega that they had criminal records and were largely uneducated.



The 13-member group says one of them is an architect and others were educated in a variety of jobs and professions, such as computer technician, sports trainer, book-keeper and forensic technician.



Ortega, who critics accuse of being too friendly with the Raúl Castro-led socialist government, sparked a firestorm of controversy last week, when he criticised the 13 dissidents during a speech at Harvard University in Massachusetts.



He described the dissidents as delinquents and said that they lacked a level of culture.



The group had occupied Our Lady of Charity Church in Havana on March 13, and Ortega asked the Cuban government to force them out the next day.