From John Paul II to Benedict XVI

By Jesús Arboleya Cervera

HAVANA –Although John Paul II characterized himself by an itinerant proselytism that took him to many countries in the world, and Cuba was one of the last, in the case of Benedict XVI, Cuba will be the third country he’ll visit in Latin America.

This interest in Cuba might seem excessive if compared with the two Latin American giants he has visited earlier. We should, therefore, figure out the reasons because, regardless of our religious beliefs or political affinities, we have much to learn from the wisdom accumulated by the Catholic Church. 

Whether you look at it as a beneficial fate or a “geographic fatalism” that determined many of its ills, the truth is that Cuba has been at the vortex of the political processes that gave birth to modernity. That has determined the outline of Cuba’s history, giving it its relative importance in these events, particularly when the Cuban Revolution took place. To a major degree, the Revolution conditioned U.S. policy toward the region, turning Cuba into an indispensable reference.

It is not odd that the whole of Latin America demands Cuba’s participation in the Summit of the Americas. Neither was it odd for the OAS to expel Cuba in 1962. Both events reflected, in their moment, the ongoing processes, as well as changes in the correlation of forces in terms of U.S. hegemony.

Latin America has changed remarkably in the time between those two moments. In 1962, exclusion for, or solidarity with Cuba defined the opposing sides, engaged in a struggle to the death. Even when John Paul II visited the island, Cuba had only a regional space in the Ibero-American summits, where the other participating countries recommended that Cuba renounce the socialist utopia to escape the isolation generated by the debacle in the European socialist camp and the dismantling of the Soviet Union.

Another debacle, this time the neoliberalism’s, again made Cuba a reference for possible resistance, and the attitude toward this country served to attenuate domestic conflicts – with some demagoguery included – and to encourage new alternatives, some of which, regardless of its differences with the Cuban model, reprised socialism as an objective of societal organization.

In some cases, these relations have translated into a very active collaboration and long-term bilateral interests have been developed that have a value of their own, in the struggle against poverty and the promotion of human development. I want to believe that even some sensible analysts and politicians in the United States understand that, under those terms, the Cuban presence in Latin America contributes stability to social processes that tend to become explosive and, in the long run, ungovernable, as demonstrated by Haiti.

But even if no concrete bilateral interests or affinity in specific political projects exist, Cuba’s presence in the current integrative processes in Latin America is an indispensable ingredient to establish a position of sovereignty and independence vis-à-vis the United States, without which, in the present circumstances, the credibility of these governments becomes questionable.

In the end, resolving the most pressing social problems, broadening the political spectrum in Latin America and finding forms of regional cooperation are everyone’s needs, including some sectors in the Latin American bourgeoisies that are interested in broadening their commercial and financial options beyond the depreciated markets of the United States and Europe.

As can be appreciated, Cuba has not been reluctant to “opening to the world,” as John Paul II counseled, and it is fair to acknowledge that most of the world’s nations also have opened to Cuba, especially in Latin America. The most notorious exception is the United States, but it seems that not even popes can soften the stubbornness of empires.

In Cuba’s domestic environment, many things have changed in the past several years, including the relation between believers and nonbelievers. One generation was not yet born when John Paul II came to visit, and another generation can barely remember the event.

However, the young people have grown up without the religious conflicts of old, and we older folks have become used to expressing religious beliefs or negations without the fear of rejection. Even in the Communist Party we find practicing Catholics, Protestants and Santeros among the atheists and most of us ask ourselves why that was ever considered to be wrong.

I believe that after many years, Cardinal Jaime Ortega was seen on Cuban television when he announced John Paul II’s visit. The Masses His Holiness celebrated in Santiago de Cuba and Havana also were the first ones to be broadcast on TV.

Today it is frequent to see church events and authorities from different denominations on television and other media. The news openings are not as wide as one might wish, true, but even President Raúl Castro complains of that.

Many people, Catholics and non-Catholics, accompanied the Virgin of Charity of Cobre in her tour of the country. That act was a reaffirmation of historical and cultural traditions that are part of our own nationality and should benefit the nation.

That reaffirmation applies to all Cubans, particularly to the Catholic Church, which is responsible for spreading our culture ever since the Spanish priests planted the first cross in a land they reached by mistake and where they remained forever. Benedict XVI’s visit must contribute to that purpose.

Progreso Weekly authorizes the total or partial reproduction of the articles written by our journalists, so long as the source and author are identified.