Puljić: Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 23 years after the war, very complex and politically exhausting

(Patria) - Metropolitan Archbishop of Vrhbosna Cardinal Vinko Puljić said in today's edition of Večernji list that the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 23 years after the war, is very complex and politically exhausting because equality is not being achieved.

- It is not easy to describe the situation because it is very complex for several reasons. Politically, it is exhausting because equality is not being achieved. The media creates a gloomy climate that does not solve problems, but obscures them. People are tired of this struggle where the favored always have an advantage. I do not want to complain, but it is not easy to experience the loss of my people in these areas. There are many who bear the blame for this state of affairs - said Cardinal Puljić.

Referring to his statements regarding the past elections in BiH and the denial of the electoral will of the Croatian people, Puljić says that the creators of the Dayton Peace Agreement declared that agreement as the Constitution in BiH, and according to it, three peoples in this country are constituent.

- Some were tried in The Hague because they wanted to divide BiH, but in fact they divided it and thus legalized ethnic cleansing. What kind of perfidy is this by world powers? They did this because they promised the warriors they would do so. I am a witness to these events. The annex that speaks about return was not implemented because they gave money to the rulers, and the rulers very successfully played the game of not granting support for the return of Croats. Now, by law, they are trying to take away our identity and political subjectivity. That is why I reacted to the law. If the law is unjust, then everything can be done according to the law - the Cardinal believes.

Speaking about the problem of numerous departures of young people, and even entire families abroad, from both BiH and Croatia, the Cardinal emphasizes that there are fewer of those who truly need to go "for bread" and that sometimes the departure is contributed to by spouses who persistently advocate for leaving at any cost.

Asked 'who is bothered by Catholic Croats in a country where there is already more than enough space for everyone', Puljić is of the opinion that "the law of the stronger is not only in BiH, but this law is everywhere, even though they swear so much by human rights".

- We see this in the great misery that prevails due to the interests of the stronger. I will not say much about it, I leave it to better analysts. I can certainly enter into that perfidious game because if I know so much, how much more do those who deal with it know? It is no coincidence that one ambassador told me: either you will move or you will assimilate. That is the strategy of the powerful - the Cardinal pointed out.

Regarding Croats in BiH on one hand and the role and 'not exactly enviable relationship of the international community towards them' on the other, Cardinal Puljić believes that "the main fault is that we hinder their plans to be realized".

"Secondly, because we are Catholics, they have a special aversion towards us. Especially because we advocate for natural and God's law, and they have set out to destroy the family as the foundation of society," Puljić believes.

Commenting on Christian, at least political Europe, which 'does not show enough understanding for the problems of Catholics in BiH', and what he holds against them, the Cardinal says he would like them to approach equally, that what they want to build in their own country, they also help us build.