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| CUBA AFTER THE POPE | |
 February 9, 1998  | |
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CHARLES KRAUSE: When Pope John Paul II arrived in Cuba, the air was heavy with expectation. Many Cubans and many Cuban exiles in Miami had high hopes the visit would mark the beginning of the end of Cuba's Communist government. Some even predicted a popular uprising. That didn't happen. Indeed, on a personal level, the aging Pontiff and his host, Cuba's aging revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, seemed to get on remarkably well. But still the Pope delivered a tough political message. Cautiously, but firmly, he attacked what he called the lack of freedom that characterizes Cuba today. Perhaps his most direct criticism came on the last day of the visit during a mass in Havana's Revolution Square. There, before a crowd of several hundred thousand people, the Pope called for national reconciliation, for religious freedom, and most pointedly for Cuba's Marxist government to respect what the Pope called the inalienable rights of the individual. The response was immediate and overwhelming. Anti-government cries of Libertad, Libertad--Liberty--rang out publicly for the first time in Cuba since the Cuban Revolution nearly 40 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of Catholics and non-Catholics alike heard and approved of the Pope's political message. But what did it all mean? Within hours Revolution Square was empty and within days the Cuban Government had removed the last vestiges of the Pope's presence in Cuba. On the surface it seemed as if nothing had changed. Yet, in the days after the Pope's visit, Havana's churches were filled as never before. There were also notably more police patrolling Havana's streets. It was a single widely interpreted as a warning to those who might be inclined to act on the Pope's call for greater freedom. For nearly a week after the Pope left we remained in Havana, probing where we could, trying to determine the political impact of the Pope's visit. Admittedly, this is a country where government opponents are quickly put in jail, and most people are afraid to speak freely. Still, no matter how hard we looked, we could find no evidence that Castro's government is in any immediate danger. One of the first places we looked was UNEAC, Cuba's union of artists and writers. During the Cold War in Russia and Eastern Europe anti-government sentiment was often most clearly and strongly expressed by dissident intellectuals, but in Cuba, most of the intellectuals who dared to criticize the revolution or challenge Castro directly have been forced into exile, put in jail, or are now simply afraid to speak out. (Singing) So during the week afer the Pope left Havana, Cuba's union of artists and writers remained an oasis of cultural activity and a strong bastion of government support. Ramon Font is a poet who also writes and produces a weekly program for Cuba's government-controlled television network. Even after 40 years and the Pope's implied criticism, he insists it's necessary for Cuba to remain a Marxist one-party state. RAMON FONT, Cuban Writer: Why shouldn't we? That's what we want to be. Maybe 200 years from now, maybe we can have two parties, but does the existence of two parties guarantee democracy? I cannot judge historically; I'm not a historian. But I think if that's the way we have done it, and if that's the way it solves our problems, why don't the world--it's not the world, but anyway--why don't the United States let us do it? CHARLES KRAUSE: We also spent some time taking Cuba's political temperature in Central Havana, returning to a part of the city we visited four years ago. Then Cuba's economy was near collapse; food was in extremely short supply; and many Cubans were openly critical of the government. Today there are still shortages of water and electricity. And much of Havana is still crumbling. But at the free market, known as Cuatro Caminos, food is much more plentiful and whether because of increased police surveillance or because the economy is better, fewer people were willing to criticize the government. Certainly there was no evidence that anything the Pope had said was about to have an immediate political impact. Eduardo Guerra lived in the United States for 10 years before returning to Cuba in 1979. We asked him if he thinks the Pope's visit will lead to change. EDUARDO GUERRA, Cuban Worker: I don't think in a political system but I think it's in the better relation between believers and non-believers. CHARLES KRAUSE: But not political? EDUARDO GUERRA: I don't think politically, not a big change. CHARLES KRAUSE: And finally we went to the University of Havana. Traditionally throughout Latin America large, state-run universities have been breeding grounds for political dissent, yet just days after the Pope left Cuba here at the University of Havana there was a massive display of nationalist sentiment and what seemed to be genuine support for the government. Thousands of students, faculty, and other young people were marching from the university through Havana's streets, celebrating the 145th anniversary of the birth of Jose Marti, Cuba's national hero. There was no sign of discontent. Instead, what the marchers said was they still believed in Fidel and support the revolution. It was demonstrations like these that allowed government officials from Castro on down to pronounce the Pope's visit an unqualified success. Ricardo Alarcon is president of Cuba's National Assembly. RICARDO ALARCON, President, Cuban National Assembly: I think that our society today is stronger than a week before; that Cubans are more united, that the Pope's visit has served as a rallying point for Christians, for believers and non-believers alike. CHARLES KRAUSE: It's an assessment with which Elizardo Sanchez essentially agrees. Perhaps Cuba's best-known dissident, Sanchez broke with the revolution in 1967 and was jailed for more than eight years. Today, he says the number of political prisoners has been reduced, but there's still more police repression than there was just a few years ago. The Pope's visit, as important as it was, he said, will not change Cuba in the short-term. ELIZARDO SANCHEZ, Cuban Dissident: (speaking through interpreter) I am certain that the Pope's visit will have a real impact on Cuban society, a positive impact. I am also sure that we'll be speaking of a Cuba before the visit and a Cuba after the visit. But I really don't expect a miracle, a miracle in terms of spectacular changes overnight, because Cuba needs much more than a miracle for this country to be saved from the present crisis, the very profound crisis that it is suffering. CHARLES KRAUSE: So, short-term it's very unlikely that the Pope's visit will result in a spontaneous uprising, or even a significant increase in opposition political activity aimed at the Castro government. But over the longer-term, the Catholic Church is likely to be able to increase its activity and its influence, a process that has already begun. Young Cuban priests like Father Fidel Rodriguez are leading the Church toward a more defined and aggressive role within the confines of Cuba's political system. Father Fidel's parents fought in the revolution, yet, he rejected Marxism to become a priest. Now he's assigned to the El Carmelo Church in Havana. THE REV. FIDEL RODRIGUEZ: (speaking through interpreter) In a political system that's characterized by Marxist-Leninist one-party ideology in which neither God nor religion has a place, it's evident there's disregard for the rights of man referred to in the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, of which Cuba is a signatory. We know about each one of those rights, but a country where the press speaks only about the problems in the world and the wonders of this country as if it were paradise, then obviously some people who aren't so smart will believe it and do nothing to change the society. CHARLES KRAUSE: Father Fidel and other religious workers in Cuba see their role not so much as dissidents but as teachers, teachers of values antithetical to Marxism. At El Carmelo, that means teaching religious songs to the young and catechism class for those a bit older. But beyond this kind of basic religious education, so far the Church is prohibited from reopening the schools and hospitals it operated in Cuba before the revolution. It's also prohibited from having a printing press. So the archdiocese of Havana is forced to xerox its monthly magazine called "Palabra Nueva." Its circulation is less than 9,000. Still, there is hope that as a result of the Pope's visit the Catholic Church in Cuba will be allowed to operate more freely. Opposition Leader Elizardo Sanchez says he's cautiously optimistic. ELIZARDO SANCHEZ: (speaking through interpreter) Because of its profoundly religious nature, the Church cannot have an opposition role in political terms, but at the same time, for the moment, it's the only force in Cuba which the government has to listen to and to some degree respect. Yes, I think the Church is going to open up space for itself, for other denominations and for civil society. This is similar to what happened in Eastern Europe, but to a lesser degree. CHARLES KRAUSE: Four days a week, there are lines outside Nuestra Senora De Rosario Church in Vedado, once one of Havana's most exclusive neighborhoods. During the early years of the revolution many of these people would have been too fearful or would not have had a reason to go to a church. Now they have little choice; they're desperate. There's almost no medicine in Cuba, except for what Catholic Relief Services in the United States sends through Caritas, the Catholic relief organization in Cuba. Some of that medicine is distributed through local churches, which explains the long lines. And it's here in these lines that the contradictions and complexities that characterize today's Cuba become so starkly evident. Lidice Verdecia is a physician at a government hospital. She says she believes in God but supports the revolution in Cuba's socialist system. Yet, here she was in a Church because not even a doctor in a government hospital like herself can get medicine when even her own child becomes sick. In charge of the dispensary is Margarita De Cardenas, who left her government job to serve as the coordinator of the Social Action Program here at her local church. Senora De Cardenas receives no salary for her work, so she bakes cakes to support her family. In many ways it's men and women like Margarita De Cardenas whose dedication will determine whether the Catholic Church in Cuba becomes stronger and more influential. The Pope's visit, she said, reaffirmed her convictions. MARGARITA DE CARDENAS, Caritas Cuba: (speaking through interpreter) He's given us hope of a better future, and he's also given us hope well of the possibility of more action by Catholics, to have a bit more space in society, and educate our children, and to carry out more of our own activities that you've seen here in our Church and that are also carried out in almost all of the other churches in Cuba. CHARLES KRAUSE: Before leaving Cuba, the Pope asked Fidel Castro to release political prisoners and to allow the Church to expand its charitable, educational, and religious activities. The Pope would also like Castro to demonstrate in other ways that Cuba is beginning to change. So far, there has been no clear indication of whether or how Castro plans to respond. |
