Indirect Confrontation:The Evolution of the Political Strategy of the Cuban Catholic
to organize lectures on democracy, human rights, and civic responsi-
bility. While he was director, Vitral often made a habit of publishing
direct denunciations of the Cuban government and many of its poli-
cies.
The church resigned to cut its ties with the increasingly conten-
tious and directly confrontational tone of Vitral. Valdés’ close associ-
ate and ally, former Archbishop of Pinar del Río, Mons. José Siro
González, retired in early 2007 and was replaced by Mons. Jorge
Enrique Serpa. Among the first decisions made by the new bishop
was to redirect the resources reserved for the publication of Vitral and
running the Center of Civic and Religious Formation to other proj-
ects. The publication of Vitral would no longer be guaranteed.
For a church that consistently bemoans its lack of access to media
outlets, closing one of its own publications (and the most critical of
the Cuban government at that) was interpreted internationally as a
concession to the Cuban government. Dagoberto Valdés lamented
the fact that the church itself had shut the magazine down, rather than
repressive government tactics: “What I could not believe was that the
decision to close the magazine came from within the church.”^11 Dissi-
dent actors were shocked to learn that the same church that produced
El amor todo lo espera was willing to engage in self-censure. A month
later, a new edition of Vitral (with Dagoberto Valdés and his group of
editors no longer involved) was published that assumed the indirectly
confrontational and more conciliatory tone of the Cuban Catholic
Church’s official line.
A marked shift can be viewed between the behavior of church offi-
cials in the 1959-1962 period of direct confrontation and their indi-
rectly confrontational strategy since 1993: in 1961, church leaders
participated in an anti-government procession through Havana that
played a large role in getting 130 priests expelled from Cuba. In late
2004, wives of imprisoned dissidents began gathering at the Santa Rita- qtd. in Fernando Ravsberg, “Cuba: Cierra Revista Católica,” bbcmundo.com, 13
April 2007.