Edna Fernandez, 61, from
Florida, Camaguey holds her hands outstretched and palms upward as she
sings Ave Maria. She is both a firm Castro communist and a Catholic. Not
until the third congress, could party members also be church members. But,
she insists, “religion was never prohibited.” Today, many are returning
to the church because, “The Church doesn’t care about the embargo. They
give us medicine, books for the kids,” she says. “We hope the Pope will
help with the embargo. He is very respected.”
But Erla Garcia, 46, who came with a group of religious women from Las
Tunas sees things differently. She is one of those chosen to receive communion,
and is wearing a little white tag that says “comulgante.” Other than that
you wouldn’t know that she’s a religious radical. “Before if you were catholic,
you couldn’t work,” she says. She worked in the National Bank for 18 years
and never told a single colleague she was religious. Now she prefers to
make pizza out of her house. Things have changed since the “special period”
started. Why has Fidel embraced religion? In colloquial Spanish, she explains:
“His shoe was too tight.” In other words, he realized that many Cubans
were turning to the church for help and he had to get on board. “He wants
people to love him more and he knows the Pope can’t help end the embargo,”
she says cynically of Fidel’s chumming. If there hadn’t been pressure from
the people, she says she doubts Fidel would have had this rapprochement.
Harold Perez, 24, agreed that Fidel saw an opportunity to once again stay
ahead of the curve. He’s a member of communist youth, not religious and
works in the hotel industry. “There are many people who are both religious
and communist. If seeing the Pope had been prohibited, people would have
dropped being communist and stayed religious. So Fidel decided to unify
the people and consolidate the revolution,” he explains. “Before it was
a crime to be in the party and religious. But Fidel saw that the church
and gained prestige. Besides, the church is not political.” As he says
that, the Pope is telling the crowd: “Jesus Christ is the only savior of
the world.” Will Fidel get the message?
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