Welcome to Cuba

"Landep News"

Welcome to Cuba

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday began a tree-day trip to Cuba, coming from Mexico, where his visit was very well received, as he brought the Mexican Catholics the message that they must renounce the “idolatry of money,” which leads to the drugs abuse and the violence that comes with it.
Pope Benedict visited Mexico at a time when the great Northern American nation is confronted with a surge of the drugs violence of the cartels, which are warring over influence zones. Right before the papal arrival Mexican police was confronted with one of the most brutal episodes as the heads of almost a dozen people were found after the people were beheaded by the drugs lords.
The visit was well received by the population, which came from the distance to the central area where the pope landed to see him and line up along the road that carried him to the center of the city.
The president of the country was also said to have used the visit of the pope in order to boost his campaign, which is about to end in a few weeks. In Mexico he conveyed a message of hope, and trust, encouragement for the Mexicans to fight drugs and the drugs cartel leaders.
He also conveyed a message, while on Mexican soil, to Cuba, when he said that the Marxist ideology has failed and that it was time to rebuild the society with patience and enthusiasm.
In Cuba Benedict XVI arrives after decades of hostile attitude of the state toward the Catholic church, provoked by the Communist ideology. Cuba has come a long way since Fidel Castro Ruz has left the helm and retired to look after his own health and old age.
His brother was able to introduce some reforms in the economic and social domains, but the repression of the political adversaries is still a tool the Communist party is using. Days before the arrival of the pope, dissenters were persecuted by the state.
In Cuba, the pope is expected to pay homage to the local patron saint, a figurine known as the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre. He is also expected to say Masses in Santiago de Cuba and Havana.
The Cuban government responded to the words of the pope uttered in Mexico about the demise of the Marxist ideology by saying that it accepted the offer to assist in order to “avoid traumas,” and that it would “listen with all respect” to what the pope had to say and would welcome the “exchange of ideas.”
There are people in Cuba who say that they want to meet the pope, and that it is good that the pope is coming to their country, because that is a sign that Cuba is being respected, but they are not entirely in agreement with his words about socialist economy. There are people who believe that Cuba should not turn capitalist.
President Raul Castro has used the church as a dialogue partner in matter such as political prisoners and dissidents. The Catholic church, though weakened by the Communist repression, remains the most important institution in Cuba, except for the Cuban government itself. The Cuban government has ended its ban on religion in 1991, but it is expected that it was the visit of John Paul II that had the most important influence over that decision.
Since the visit of pope John Paul II, 14 years ago, the church in Cuba has made efforts to increase its social outreach by offering care centers for the elderly, after school and adult education programs, though it was denied permission to compete with the state schools.
Raul Castro is expected to meet the pope in Santiago de Cuba, and the 84-year-old pope is also expected to meet with the former president Fidel Castro, 85, and with the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, 57, who arrived in Cuba to complete his treatment.
Hugo Chavez is said to have turned to religion after he had his first operation on cancer last year. The rumors about his meeting with the pope are unconfirmed.
Many Cubans hope that the pope’s visit would help them lift the 50-year embargo the United States of America has imposed on the Communist regime in Havana.
The visit of the pope coincide with the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre. The figurine was found floating in 1612 and has inspired many believers in Cuba, including the heroes of the independence, being revered by both the Church and the Santeria, the Afro-Cuban religion which calls her Ochun, the goddess of love.
However, the dissident movement Damas de Blanco, Ladies in White, a group of Catholic women who campaign for the release of the political prisoners accuse the Cuban authorities of having kept them away from meeting with the pope. They have accused the authorities of presenting the pope with a façade of the real Cuba, not with the realities.

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