It was the United States that thrust Cuba into the arms of the Soviet Union. It should be recalled that, immediately after the victory in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Fidel drove through the streets of New York in an open car. After the unsuccessful US landing at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 — the mercenaries sent by Kennedy included three priests — Cuba had no alternative for defending itself than to ally itself with the other geopolitical pole that existed in the world at that time. The adoption of socialism led to the breaking of relations between the state and the Catholic church, but there was no persecution and no churches were closed. The church didn’t believe that the revolution could become so deeply rooted among the people. Angered by the confiscation of its property and by the secularization of its schools, it took an anticommunist position of trying to restore “freedom” and “democracy.” Clashes were inevitable. In spite of everything, the revolution continued to respect religious freedom, and good relations were even sought with the Vatican. However, the identification of the Catholic clergy with counterrevolutionaries and the ideological rigor of a party that was officially atheist caused tension and made dialogue difficult.
CUBAN RELIGIOUSNESS
The Cuban people are deeply religious. Cuba is not an exception in Latin America, where the primary ideology of an ordinary person is expressed in religious terms. The main historic figures in Cuba — Father Félix Varela and the poet and revolutionary José Martí — were outstanding for their deep-rooted spiritual and Christian convictions. A Catholic priest — Guillermo Sardiñas — took part in the guerrilla war in the Sierra Maestra mountains and rose to the rank of commander of the revolution.
Santería — an Afro-Christian syncretism similar to that in Brazil, resulting from the fusion of Iberian Catholicism and the animism which the slaves brought from Africa — is widespread in Cuba. Classifying Santería as “folklore,” the revolution learned to coexist with it. It also achieved positive relations with the Protestant churches, in spite of their US roots.
The Catholic church never put down deep roots in Cuba. Prior to the revolution, it was the religious denomination of the elite and of the middle class — of those who could pay for their children to be educated in Catholic schools. As Fidel noted in the interview, this could be seen in the large number of Catholic churches in the cities and the almost complete lack of them in the suburbs and countryside. However, the revolution never ignored the Catholic church’s weight as an institution. The church has great symbolic authority, and its international relations, established by the pope, are important both politically and diplomatically. This was why Fidel wanted to maintain good relations with the Catholic community.
RESISTANCE OVERCOME
In 1981, with the consent of the Cuban bishops, I began working to promote a rapprochement between the state and the Catholic church in Cuba. Its highest expression turned out to be the publication of this book. I returned to Havana in May 1985, prepared for the short interview that Fidel had promised me in February, but the situation had changed. In Miami, the counterrevolutionary community had inaugurated Radio Martí, which directed its transmissions at the island. Fidel didn’t want to give the interview. He was too busy with this new “virtual” attack on the revolution.
I remembered Hemingway’s masterpiece The Old Man and the Sea, which describes an old fisherman’s efforts to catch an enormous fish. Fidel was the big fish I had to catch. It was now or never. Some opportunities never come twice. I insisted that he keep the promise he’d made in February. Fidel resisted and resisted, but finally said, “What questions are you going to ask?” I’d made a list of more than 60 and started reading them to him. When I got to the fifth one, he interrupted: “We’ll begin tomorrow.”
What made Fidel agree? I’m convinced that it was the content of the questions. My questions weren’t theoretical: no speculations about Marxism and religion. Nothing about Feuerbach or Lenin. My questions were friendly. I was interested in the key family, educational, and political events in Fidel’s life. How had that son of a Catholic land-owning family who had been educated in Catholic boarding schools for 10 years become a communist leader? (After the triumph of the revolution in the Sierra Maestra mountains, he declared that he was an atheist, though he seemed an agnostic to me).
The comandante likes to base himself on reality, historical events, and political practice. He doesn’t like abstract concepts and theories, except in the case of the exact sciences.
IMPACT OF THE BOOK
This book caused a veritable revolution within the revolution. The original print run of 300,000 copies wasn’t nearly enough. Long lines formed at the doors of bookstores. The police had to be called in to prevent “sharks” from buying up large numbers of the book in order to resell them at exorbitant prices. Around 10,000 people crowded into the square where the book was sold when it was launched in Santiago de Cuba. Why? Because the book was about freedom of religion in Cuban socialism. It was the first time that a communist leader in office had spoken positively about religion and admitted that it, too, could help to change reality, revolutionize a country, overthrow oppression, and establish justice.
Over a million copies were sold in Cuba, which had a population of about 12 million. Leftists and progressive Christians all over the world expressed interest in it, too. Fidel and Religion was translated into at least 23 languages, in 32 countries. Pirated editions were made, of which I never received any copies. In the German part of Switzerland, the book was turned into a play that won the prize for best play of 1987. In Cuba, Rebeca Chávez made an excellent documentary — “Esa invencible esperanza” (That invincible hope) — on the preparation of the book, and it won awards in several international film festivals.
The book’s impact in the communist world led to many invitations for me to attempt rapprochements between various governments and religions, which were often in conflict. I visited Russia, China, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia.
Not only the people of Cuba and other Latin American leftists benefited from the book. So did the Catholic church in Cuba: after a break that had lasted for 16 years, Fidel once again conversed with the Catholic bishops. The way was paved for Pope John Paul II’s visit to Cuba, in 1998.
A COOLING OF RELATIONS
However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Fidel was annoyed when, in 1987, the Catholic church sponsored the Cuban National Ecclesiastical Meeting in Havana — equivalent to a local council — and didn’t invite me, even though several other foreigners participated. The Catholic hierarchy contended that all of the foreigners represented institutions, which I did not.
Right after this, the Berlin Wall was torn down, causing a domino effect in Eastern Europe. Cardinal Law, of Boston, visited Cuba near the end of 1989 and preached at the spiritual retreat for Catholic bishops. He exhorted them to follow the example of the Polish bishops. Cuban socialism would soon collapse, too, and the bishops, like new Moseses, should be ready to lead the people from oppression to freedom… At the end of the retreat, the bishops sent a letter to Fidel that contained harsh criticism of the revolution.
The comandante was annoyed, but not by the contents of the letter. When visiting Brazil in March 1990, he told me that he’d never had any illusions about the bishops’ critical position concerning the revolution. What made him angry was the fact that the bishops didn’t deliver the message personally, when the means for direct dialogue existed. As a result, the doors closed again — until the visit of John Paul II, whom Fidel had always admired.
FUTURE CHALLENGES
Now, the Catholic community enjoys a climate of greater freedom in Cuba. No priests or other religious figures are in prison. To the contrary, they are allowed to offer pastoral assistance to prisoners. New members of religious congregations and orders have arrived on the island. Holy days are celebrated publicly. Catholic publications circulate. Theological texts enter Cuba with no difficulty.
What the Cuban bishops lack is a theology that allows them to understand socialism