Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana, was in Washington from June 21 to June 28, the e-zine Progreso Semanal reported Wednesday in its Radar Cubano section. The visit was confirmed by Orlando Márquez Hidalgo, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Havana.

According to Progreso Semanal, "in those seven days, Cardinal Ortega 'held meetings that were coordinated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,' Márquez added, without naming the persons with whom the Cuban prelate met."

The president of the U.S. Conference and Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, traveled to Santiago de Cuba last week, June 23-24, at the invitation of that province's archbishop, Msgr. Dionisio García Ibáñez, president of the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops. García and Ortega met with President Raúl Castro on May 19.