"But then, it takes more fortitude to challenge a dictatorship than a democracy."
9/21/15, "Pope Francis appeases the Castros in repressive Cuba," Washington Post Editorial Board
"In his visit to the United States beginning Tuesday, Pope Francis will meet
not just President Obama and Congress but also those marginalized by
our society: homeless people, immigrants, refugees and even the inmates
of a jail. He’s expected to raise topics that many Americans will find
challenging, such as his harsh critique of capitalism.
His supporters say it’s all part of the role the pope has embraced as
an advocate for the powerless, one that has earned him admiration from
both Catholics and some outside the church.
How, then, to explain Pope Francis’s behavior in Cuba?
The pope is spending four days in a country whose Communist
dictatorship has remained unrelenting in its repression of free speech,
political dissent and other human rights despite a warming of relations
with the Vatican and the United States.
Yet by the end of his third day,
the pope had said or done absolutely nothing that might discomfit his
official hosts.
Pope Francis met with 89-year-old Fidel Castro,
who holds no office in Cuba, but not with any members of the dissident
community — in or outside of prison. According to the Web site
14ymedio.com, two opposition activists were invited to greet the pope at
Havana’s cathedral Sunday but were arrested on the way.
Dozens of other dissidents were detained when they attempted to attend
an open air Mass. They needn’t have bothered: The pope said nothing in
his homily about their cause, or even political freedom more generally.
Those hunting for a message had to settle for a cryptic declaration that “service is never ideological.”
Sadly,
this appeasement of power is consistent with the Vatican’s approach to
Cuba ever since Raúl Castro replaced his brother in 2006. Led by Cuban
Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the church committed to a strategy of working
with the regime in the hope of encouraging its gradual moderation. The
results have been slight. Cardinal Ortega obtained Raúl Castro’s promise
to release all political prisoners, but arrests have continued and
dissident groups say the number of jailed is now above 70. One leading
Christian dissident, Oswaldo Payá, was killed in a suspicious 2012 auto crash.
The
Vatican’s greatest success has been the adoption of its strategy by the
Obama administration, which has also restored relations with the
Castros while excluding the political opposition. Here, too, there have
been disappointing results. U.S. exports to Cuba, controlled by Havana,
have declined this year, while arrests of opponents have increased, along with refugees.
Many Cubans are trying to reach the United States ahead of what they
fear will be a move by the Obama administration to placate the regime
with a tightening of asylum rules.
Pope
Francis may believe that merely by touring the country he will inspire
Cubans to become more active and press the regime for change. But two
previous papal visits, in 1998 and 2012, did not have that effect. By
now it is clear that the Castros won’t be moved by quiet diplomacy or
indirect hints. A direct campaign of words and acts, like that Pope
Francis is planning for the United States, would surely have an impact.
But then, it takes more fortitude to challenge a dictatorship than a
democracy."
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