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Published: February 18th 2015
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It Was a Large Day (blog by Stan)
Being in Cuba on December 17, 2014 was a highlight of our year here; to say that this was a big day for Cubans is a vast understatement. Several events converged to confirm the historicity of the date. To begin with, this was San Lazaro Day on the Catholic calendar of saints, commemorating the brother of Mary and Martha who Jesus brought back to life in the gospel of John. For practitioners of Santeria (a syncretism of African religions and Catholicism that is highly popular in Cuba), San Lazaro Day is their biggest feast day of the year. Unlike the Catholics, though, the figure venerated by the Santeria faithful is a melding of the African spirit-god of healing, Babalú-Ayé (made famous in our culture by Ricky Ricardo’s nightclub songs) with another biblical Lazarus, the diseased beggar denied help at the gate of the rich man in the gospel of Luke. December 17 was also a big day for the churches here in Matanzas, as members of various denominations filled the Teatro Atenas for the third annual ecumenical Advent celebration of music, dance, and preaching, this one focused on the theme
of the Prince of Peace. The two Lazaros and Babalú-Ayé and the Prince of Peace each received various degrees of credit, then, for the day’s earth-shattering news from Presidents Obama and Castro, announcing the opening of renewed diplomatic relations between our countries and the freeing of the five Cuban heroes who had been imprisoned for 15 years. Interestingly, Pope Francis’ role in the negotiations was downplayed by some folks here; it was cast as something of a late-in-the-game over-publicized act while fifty years of faithful bridge-building work by folks in the trenches, including many who went to their grave without seeing the fruit of their labors, got zero recognition in the news.
I have traveled a good bit in the weeks following the surprise announcement, visiting with Cuban friends in seven of the country’s provinces. The news of December 17 is still the talk of every town. The Cuban Christians I know across the island represent a wide diversity of political views, ranging from revolutionaries fiercely loyal to Fidel Castro to dissenters who long for a regime change and a system change. In between are moderates who may not have any strong ideological commitment one way or
another but have learned how to play the system to get things done. Across this spectrum, the initial reaction to the announced changes was the same: euphoria and thanksgiving. I remember first hearing the news from a teenage girl who is generally disinterested and cynical about anything political. She shed all her cynicism, though, and was beaming from ear to ear as she enthusiastically relayed early reports of the prisoner exchange. Her reaction was typical; I have yet to meet a single Cuban who sounds remotely like the Obama bashers in Miami and in Congress who try to paint this as a mistaken capitulation to a totalitarian communist devil. That agenda simply does not make sense to the Cuban people I know, no matter their level of fidelity or lack of fidelity toward Fidel. For loyalists, they see the news as an opportunity for Cuba’s economy, which has miraculously survived five decades of superpower sabotage, to finally thrive and for the Cuban people to enjoy a decent standard of living. The dissenting voices wonder what new excuse the government might fabricate for a crumbling infrastructure and restraints on liberty once the economic embargo (portrayed here as an act of war
that breaks all variety of international laws) is lifted. For these dissenters, Obama’s overture is not the problem; it is the five-decade-long farce of a failed policy that has been the prime crutch propping up the Castro brothers’ power and popularity. Without the blockade, they forecast, there will no longer be a convenient scapegoat to distract attention from internal system failure.
While people are still hopeful seven weeks later, the early euphoria has been tempered by caution and worry. Some worry about political obstacles in Washington that could continue to prevent full freedom for Cuba to host tourists from the States at its resort beaches and to sell its rum and cigars in the lucrative U.S. market. Some worry about the realistic difficulties Cuba will have in transitioning to a truly productive and self-sustaining economy instead of falling prey once again to dependency on a foreign power. Still others worry about the Americanization of culture, a rising tide that has been growing in impact over the past twenty years. This trend is especially evident in the cities, with growing individualism and demands of consumerism; it is also seen in some of the larger churches across the island, where U.S. style praise music and a superficial theology of prosperity has all but erased traditional Cuban culture. Open relations threaten to turn this rising tide of Americanization into a tsunami.
Despite these worries, followers of the Prince of Peace continue to hold out Advent-like hope. There is genuine esperanza for reconciliation, not only between countries, but between Cuban families long divided by 90 miles of water in the ideological tug of war pitting communitarian equality against individual liberty. Church partnerships such as those between the Fraternity of Baptists and Alliance of Baptists, along with faith leaders such as those in Pastors for Peace, have been building bridges of hope across these troubled waters for many years. The Lazarus story in John’s gospel provides resurrection hope; it also reminds us that if the rock-like economic blockade is indeed removed from the tomb, and a revived Cuba does emerge, there will still be work to do, loosening and unbinding all the restrictions that have hindered its movements for these five decades. And the Gospel of Luke’s account of the Lazarus story, central to the Santeria faith, provides a great utopian hope that the impoverished and dis-eased island might soon be rocking its soul in the bosom of Abraham, with Havana transformed into paradise city. Luke’s story paints a not-so-hopeful picture, though, for the rich nation that for 55 years has denied help to its wounded neighbor at the gate. (Where are the hell-fire and brimstone preachers when you need them?)
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Frazier Worth
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Thanks for the report
Stan, thanks for this report. We are coming again to Cuba this summer. By, the way, it is snowing as I write this in Fairview, big fluffy flakes. Frazier Worth