Report: N.Y. Cardinal to go to Cuba

NEW YORK (AP) - Cardinal John O'Connor plans to lead a delegation of 300 New Yorkers to Cuba during Pope John Paul II's 1998 visit to the Communist island, the Daily News reported today.

The two-day trip - billed as a ``pilgrimage'' to John Paul's mass in Havana - is also expected to draw about 1,200 Catholics from the Miami area and 300 from Boston.

It would be the largest group of Americans given permission to visit Cuba since President Clinton tightened a U.S. embargo on the island nation last year, the News said.

``We have the approvals from both Havana and Washington,'' said Mario Paredes, director of the archdiocese's Northeast Pastoral Center for Hispanics.

He said the group would bring humanitarian aid, mainly food and medicine.

But O'Connor's plans have upset some Cuban-Americans.

``We are in total disagreement with him traveling to Cuba,'' said Arnaldo Monzon, the New Jersey director of the Cuban American National Foundation, a anti-Fidel Castro Group. ``Americans, the church in particular, should not travel to a country where people are imprisoned and persecuted.''

Others were less adamant.

``I think it's okay for the Pope to go,'' said Alfredo Blaine, a customer at a Cuban restaurant in Queens and a Cuban immigrant. ``But Cubans should think twice before giving their dollars to Castro.''

Relations between the Catholic Church and the Cuban government have been strained since Castro assumed power in 1959.

John Paul plans to visit the country from Jan. 21 to Jan. 25, 1998. O'Connor's delegation will attend on Jan. 24 to Jan. 25.

AP-NY-08-28-97 0812EDT