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Cuba:
A History of Religion and Intervention
Catholicism
and Politics
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The
ancient churches are a testiment to the history of Catholism in
Cuba.
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Catholics
have influenced Cuban politics ever since Christopher Columbus hit
the beach in 1492. Granted control by a conveniently Spanish pope,
the conquistadors introduced Catholicism along with a feudal system
that quickly wiped out the native Taino Indians. The father of the
Cuban nationalism was a Father, Felix Varela, who was exiled in
1823. The Catholic priest, whom Pope John Paul II is honoring during
his stay, pushed for independence from Spain through his "La
Habanera" newspaper, which was smuggled from New York into
Cuba. It was a Cuban archbishop who saved Fidel Castro from execution
for attacking a military barracks in 1953, and priests fought alongside
both Castro's guerrillas and the CIA-backed exiles in the Bay of
Pigs. And when Castro seized the Catholic schools and expelled 131
priests in 1961, he eliminated his most powerful opposition. By
the time Castro canceled Christmas in 1969, the church could barely
protest. Restoring Christmas was a key demand in advance of the
pope's visit, and the church now represents Castro's most formidable
political rival inside Cuba. Back
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The
Yanquis' Big Stick
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The
United States is tied to Cuba for better or worse.
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Cuban
rebels had been fighting for years before William Randolph Hearst
provided the war to his readers and Teddy Roosevelt charged up San
Juan Hill with 6,000 men to defeat 700 Spaniards. But it was the
American flag raised at Spain's surrender in 1898, and when the
U.S. government handed over power three years later, it made sure
to hold onto Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. Navy returned in 1933 when
President Franklin Roosevelt found Cuban politics too unstable for
U.S. interests, and Cuban strongman Fulgencio Batista soon saw to
the appointment of a new president. In 1956, the base supplied Batista
with fuel and weapons against Fidel Castro's guerrillas in the nearby
mountains. By 1958, President Eisenhower halted weapons shipments,
and Batista fled shortly thereafter. Another decision to withdraw
support, in 1961, was blamed for the failure of the Bay of Pigs
assault. An emboldened Castro responded by bringing the superpowers
to the brink of nuclear war in 1962, and sending his revolution
abroad. Back
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When
The Mob Owned Havana
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Havana
was once a playground for wealthy Americans
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Cuban
casinos and rum factories were solid moneymakers for the New York
mob after prohibition, and when U.S. tourists flocked to Havana
after World War II, it was time to divide the spoils. Frank Sinatra's
singing debut at the Hotel Nacional in 1946 provided a cover for
the Mafia summit called by Lucky Luciano to plot the future of Cuban
gambling. And in 1952, when military chief Fulgencio Batista took
direct control of Cuba in a bloodless coup, Luciano's stand-in,
Meyer Lansky, reportedly persuaded Cuba's last constitutional president,
Carlos Prio, to step aside with a $250,000 offer he couldn't refuse.
Fidel Castro, schooled by Jesuit Spanish priests who vowed to purify
Latin-American culture from such "decadence" made closing
the casinos his first move. Lansky's reaction after the revolutionary
government nationalized his brand-new hotel: "I crapped out."
Back to Top
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Castro's
Revolutionary Years
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| Fidel
Castro has been a charismatic presence in Cuba since his student
days. |
His
political career frustrated by Fulgencio Batista's coup, Fidel Castro
decided to launch his revolution by attacking a military barracks
in 1953. Most of his comrades were killed; Castro was captured,
and at trial gave his "History Will Absolve Me" speech
calling for radical change in Cuba. Released in 1956, Castro went
on a U.S. fundraising tour, then attacked from Mexico on the small
yacht Granma. Most of his 80 comrades were dead or jailed within
weeks; with his Argentine friend Che Guevara and his brother Raul,
Castro fled to the Sierra Maestra mountains to manage the guerrilla
war. It was made easier by the desertion of Batista's soldiers,
and Castro strolled into Havana in January 1959 to cheering crowds.
Guevara, who renounced his Cuban citizenship in 1965 and disappeared
to foment revolution, was captured and executed in 1967 in Bolivia
with the help of the CIA. Raul Castro remains Cuba's military chief
and Fidel's most trusted advisor. Back
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Santeria
and Catholicism
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| Santaria
is often a part of Cuban Catholocism. |
The
mysterious blend of Catholic ritual and African spiritism known
as Santeria took root in Cuba four centuries years ago, when evangelical
priests in 1598 began encouraging slaves to associate their Yoruba
deities with Catholic saints. The effort backfired: despite years
of church hostility, Santeria only gained a firmer hold on Cuba's
faithful, especially as the slave population grew. A permanent shortage
of priests didn't help; by this century, Catholic surveys labeled
Cuba "the most un-churched nation" in Latin America. Even
before the revolution, while as many as 70 percent of Cubans described
themselves as Catholic, only one percent attended church, and now
priests complain that while many people have no concept of what
the pope represents, they can name all the Santeria "orishas."
Fidel Castro capitalized on the priests' plight in 1990, when the
Catholic leadership was out of favor, by giving Santeria prominent
coverage in government-controlled media. Back
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The
Exile Factor
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| For
Cuban exiles, it has always been "Cuba, yes" and "Castro,
no." |
When
Fidel Castro took power in 1959, some of Cuba's elites went on European
vacations, thinking the revolution would boil over in months. In
1961, the Catholic church began spiriting 16,000 children to the
United States in Operation Peter Pan, thinking they'd be reunited
with their families shortly. But Castro was there to stay, and eventually,
10 percent of the population went into exile, sometimes released
with El Jefe's approval, as a social safety valve. In 1980, Castro
encouraged 122,061 Cubans - including his most vocal critics along
with many criminals and mental patients - to flee in the Mariel
boatlift, briefly overwhelming Miami, now the world's second-largest
Cuban city. The exiles prove to be powerful lobbyists, winning federal
funding for the anti-Castro Radio Marti in 1985, persuading Boris
Yeltsin to promise a cutoff of Russian subsidies to Cuba in 1990
and securing Bill Clinton's signature of Helms-Burton before his
re-election, cementing the Cuba embargo into law. But exile leader
Jorge Mas Canosa, who vowed to replace Castro as leader of a capitalist
Cuba, died last year of natural causes.Back
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Cuba's
National Symbol
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| The
influence of the Virgin Mary in Cuba is profound. |
It
had most likely been carried to the New World by a Spanish colonist,
but when three boys found the Virgin Mary floating off Santiago
in 1611, it was considered a miracle. A shrine was built to house
the statue of a mulatto mother and child, and for centuries, Cubans
made pilgrimages to the site. In 1916, Pope Benedict XV agreed to
establish La Virgin de la Caridad del Cobre as patroness of an independent
Cuba. By 1950, the icon was being carried in nationalist processions,
and shrines to La Virgin could be found in most Cuban homes. In
1961, one such statue was smuggled from a Havana cathedral to Miami,
where it was received by 25,000 cheering exiles. Two days later,
a Havana procession in her honor turned violent, giving Castro a
pretext to expel 131 priests and seize the Catholic school system.
The Vatican knows that having Pope John Paul II symbolically crown
the statue in Cobre during his visit will provide for a powerful
moment for Cubans everywhere.Back
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