Wednesday, April 04, 2012

What the Pope witnessed in Cuba (Comment)

Hundreds of thousands of people saw the Pope in Cuba, heard his speeches and reflected on all that went on during his visit. 

Naturally, each of these witnesses interpreted the visit in different ways. 

The views that are of greatest interest, however, are those of the Pope and of his entourage. 

I was able to gain some insight into these views thanks to various ecclesiastical sources (and not only) who wish to remain anonymous. Some of these sources are very close to the Holy Father.

First of all, Benedict XVI was very surprised by the huge contrast between the Mexican welcome – joyful, free, and spontaneous and with many participants – smack bang in the middle of a lively and economically vibrant city and the smaller, police-controlled Cuban ceremonies which were celebrated in an impoverished Country overcome by misery and preceded by hundreds of arrests. 

The horrific sight of a young man being savagely beaten by a policeman dressed up as a Red Cross stretcher-bearer particularly struck the Pope who took a personal interest in his fate. 

The poor man had simply shouted “Down with communism”, a popular version of what the Pope had said on his flight to Cuba, when he stated that Marxism was a failed ideology that needed to be done away with.

Secondly, the Pope and his retinue considered it improper that Raúl Castro should make the classic Cold War-like Stalinist speech, in Santiago de Cuba, to try to justify the dictatorship. 

They had been expecting a message of change and hope, not a reiteration of the regime’s cardinal rules. 

This speech, along with those by Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez and Marino Alberto Murillo, Vice President of the Cuban Council of Ministers and Chairman of the Economic Policy Commission convinced the Holy Father that Raúl Castro is far more interested in holding on to the past than in building a better future for Cubans.

Thirdly, the papal delegation demonstrated with great regret that the request made by the former Pope John Paul II during his visit to the island 14 years earlier and which was intended to quell the fears of Cubans had been been fruitless. 

Apart from about a hundred democratic opponents, held under siege on a permanent basis, beaten and sometimes even imprisoned, Cuban society remains corrupted by fear. The greatest fear was not shown by the regime’s opponents but by those who appear to be loyal to it. 

The papal delegation became well acquainted with the double entendres used in everyday language. When ecclesiastical functionaries spoke alone with Cuban politicians, the latter appeared open, tolerant and willing to implement deep political and economic reforms.

In private, one of them even admitted that Cuba needs a democratic system based on the plurality of political parties and free elections, in order to push society towards modernity. 

This is despite the fact that Communists could risk losing their grip on the reins of power. 

But when another person joined the conversation or journalists turned up, they switched to a rigid, Orthodox and Stalinist form of language, sticking strictly to the official script. It was truly awful to witness.

Fourthly, the Pope and his delegation confirmed what they had already suspected. 

The Cuban Catholic Church is clearly split into two sides: Cardinal Jaime Ortega’s side which is accommodating to the extreme and so collaborative is asked for public forces to evacuate a temple occupied by some faithful who wanted to protest against the dictatorship, fully aware that they would be arrested and definitely maltreated and the side taken by bishops such as Dionisio García Ibáñez, who was an engineer before he was ordained priest. This side is far more resolute in its opposition to the Cuban regime. 

While Jaime Ortega limits himself to sympathising with some of the government’s victims (though not all), Dionisio (despite remaining a friend of the cardinal’s) and other priests, such as the famous José Conrado Rodríguez, parish priest of a church in Santiago de Cuba, are adamant that there will be no relief or reconciliation among Cubans until the regime is peacefully replaced with a real democracy that takes the whole of society into account, not just a handful of extreme Communists who continue to cling on to the past.

Fifthly, the Pope witnessed that his contemporary, Fidel, is in worse physical and mental conditions than him. The little old man he met with was physically invalid, mentally unstable and with serious communicational problems. It is game over for him. The Pope, being a good man, prayed for him. As it is customary for a Christian to do.

Carlos Alberto Montaner is the author of 25 books, many of which have been translated into English, Portuguese and Russian. He has been defined as the most widely read Latin American journalist in the world. He most recent work, La mujer del coronel (The colonel's wife) is a story about adultery and the consequences that derive from it. It is almost entirely set in 1970’s Rome. 

Montaner follows a universal theme to analyse repression and sexuality in Cuba. Nuria, an attractive 40 year old Cuban psychologist is married to Colonel Arturo Gomez, a distinguished soldier with a firm and resolute character. Nuria is in love with him but when she goes to Italy for a conference, her life is unexpectedly turned upside down.  

She becomes linked to Professor Martinelli in a sexual relationship bordering on the perverse.  
The colonel’s wife is a novel charged with eroticism and suspense but in the background one can clearly make out a structured criticism of dictatorial systems, bringing political meddling, for example, into the sexual sphere of Cuban soldiers.