Headlines, Human Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean

POLITICS-CUBA: On a Drum and a Prayer

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Aug 10 2006 (IPS) - The drumbeats of Afro-Cuban religions have been pulsating in Cuba more than usual over the last few days, entwining with the prayers of Catholics and Protestants in the heavy August heat.

The messages they carry are the same – a universal plea to protect the country’s peace and stability since President Fidel Castro temporarily stepped down Jul. 31 due to an operation for severe intestinal pain and bleeding, according to official sources. He is recovering “satisfactorily,” say the brief official statements.

“Many of the religious faithful are anxious about the future. They are bringing their concerns to their religious leaders, asking: What is going to happen? What is going to happen to us?” observed Víctor Betancourt, a “babalawo” or priest of the Afrocuban Ifá religion, which has a strong following among the country’s 11.2 million residents.

And what do you tell them? asked IPS. “I tell them nothing has changed, everything is fine and nothing is going to happen to them, but that we are still going to take precautions. Only our Gods will protect us,” he said.

Betancourt said he has many “godchildren” (devotees), and that he has his finger on the pulse of a broad segment of popular sentiment. “No one is planning any violence or disturbances. But there is an overriding feeling of uncertainty and worry about the current situation and the president’s illness,” he said.

In the background, the drums continued to send out the call to Obatalá – a deity of the Yoruba religion who represents Olodumare (the supreme being) on Earth – praying to him for calm and stability.


Some 20 babalawos participated in the ceremony. “We’ve come together to make the invocation more powerful,” said Betancourt.

On Sunday, the country’s Catholic churches swelled with prayers, and Monday night, a week after Castro’s illness was made public, a steady stream of worshipers from various Protestant denominations poured into Santísima Trinidad Cathedral, of Cuba’s Episcopal Church.

Meanwhile, the country has had no new medical reports on Castro’s health, and his younger brother, Raúl Castro, 75, now temporarily at the helm, has not deviated from his customary behind-the-scenes profile, avoiding all public appearances.

“Raúl will address the country when he feels it is time,” said the president of the Casa de las Américas cultural institution, Roberto Fernández Retamar who, along with Belgian sociologist François Houtart, presented an open letter Monday in which “intellectuals from around the world” demand that “the U.S. government respect Cuba’s sovereignty.”

Fidel Castro has classified reports on his health as a “state secret,” although Tuesday’s edition of the ruling Communist Party’s official Granma newspaper gave front-page play to statements Vice President Carlos Lage made in Colombia that the president was recovering quickly.

On Monday, Granma had already published a somewhat vague five-paragraph report to the same effect.

“A few hours ago, a friend, after speaking with (Castro), and impressed by his powers of recovery, told us ‘He is a Caguairán!’,” reported Granma, explaining that the caguairán is an extremely durable hardwood, referred to in western Cuba as “axe-breaker.” However, the paper did not identify the “friend.”

Otherwise, Cubans are going about their daily routine; although some say it is little more than a superficial normalcy, weighted down by anxiety about the future.

“Honestly, to me it looks like people have returned to their day-to-day challenges of survival: their search for ways to supplement their income because salaries aren’t sufficient to make ends meet, or to get to the beach for even just one day on their vacation, despite inadequate public transport,” said one Cuban journalist, who asked to remain anonymous.

In his opinion, the business-as-usual atmosphere owes a lot to the fact that “of all the possible scenarios, the one we’re experiencing is the least traumatic.” He based his conclusion on official reports regarding Castro’s recovery, but also on the smooth and orderly transfer of power to the team headed by Raúl.

In accordance with Article 94 of the Cuban constitution, in case of absence, illness or death of the president of the Council of State, the president’s duties are assumed by “the first vice president,” a post held by Raúl Castro, who is also defence minister and the second secretary of the Communist Party (after Fidel).

Castro also delegated the running of a number of strategic government functions to a group of leaders who reflect the concept of collective leadership that would apparently take over once the nearly-80-year-old president is no longer on the scene.

“This has been a dress rehearsal for the succession, held while Fidel is still alive. That’s how I saw it from the start,” said Professor Manuel Díaz.

A former fighter in the guerrilla war that brought Castro to power in 1959 said “this has been a test for the country’s defence mechanisms.”

“No one knows what our northern neighbours (the United States) are going to do, as they are so intent on the country remodelling itself in their image,” said the source.

A Washington proposal for a transition from Cuba’s socialist regime, which Jul. 10 was expanded to include a new report from the Commission on Assistance to a Fee Cuba, provides for the creation of an 80-million-dollar fund to support Cuban civil society over the next two years, accessible only to anti-Castro organisations.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has ruled out military intervention in Cuba, and called on the Cuban people to “work towards democratic change on the island.”

 
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