Indirect Confrontation:The Evolution of the Political Strategy of the Cuban Catholic
for crimes motivated by politics or economics. This list of targets was
perhaps most revealing in what is not mentioned: at no point did the
bishops denounce or critique the nature of Cuba’s one-party political
system, or the leadership of Fidel Castro.
Still, El amor todo lo espera was received by the Cuban government as
a contemptible, blatant attack on the Cuban Revolution. The Cuban
Catholic Church was soon denounced in state-run media as a counter-
revolutionary institution with a history of conspiring with foreign ene-
mies. But, the weakened position of the government resulting from
the economic crisis made its counter-attack on the Cuban Catholic
Church less virulent than it could have been. No churches were
intruded upon, nor did any arrests or overt harassment of church offi-
cials occur.
Cuban church leaders knew that their letter, though couched in
conciliatory rhetoric, would not be well-received by the government.
It was intended to be the lightning rod that symbolized yet another
new role for the Cuban Catholic Church. Fr. De la Vega sums up the
process that led to the writing of El amor todo lo espera and its reception
by the Cuban government in this way: “It was a great pastoral letter,
but the government didn’t understand it. It was written in a tone of
confrontation. The position of the church was no longer so defensive.
Many of the fears were eliminated, due to the fall of the socialist
camp.”^6 Even more direct is Mons. Petit, responding to the charge
that government officials felt the letter was too tough a critique: “El
amor todo lo espera was just, not tough. It speaks of the reality here, and
it continues to represent the truth. I was one of the writers. We said
what we said because nobody had said anything like that in a long
time.”^7
Despite the increased tension in church-state relations, the Cuban
Catholic Church was reaping real benefits. Church attendance was on
the rise. In 1994, the Vatican named Jaime Ortega only the second- Fr. Fernando De la Vega, interview by author, Havana, Cuba, 2006.
- Mons. Alfredo Petit Vergel, interview by author, Havana, Cuba, 2006.