Antecedents to the Elián Saga
The reaction of Catholic priests and Protestant ministers to the Elián saga can never be understood apart from the historical fight of the Cuban Church against "godless communism." The Cuban Catholic Church, prior to the Revolution of 1959, was highly influenced by the denunciation of communism presented in the papal encyclical Divini Redemptoris, which understood Catholicism and Marxism as mutually exclusive. This 1937 pontifical document was written as a reaction to the excesses of the Spanish Civil War and the religious persecutions that occurred in Mexico and Russia. The Cuban clergy was predominately from Spain. Of the three thousand Catholic priests in Cuba on the eve of the Revolution, approximately twenty-five hundred were from Spain, trained during the Franco dictatorship and highly influenced by the bitter Spanish Civil War victory over communism, a victory with heavy religious overtones (Thomas 1971, 683–84). These priests transplanted the atmosphere of a religious crusade against communism from Spain to Cuba.
The Cuban Revolution occurred before the churches in Latin America became radicalized by the Vatican II (1962–65), which brought the Church in step with the modern world, and by the 1968 conference of Latin American bishops in Medellín, Colombia, which articulated the basic tenets of liberation theology. These gatherings emphasized the responsibility of Christians toward the poor and afflicted. Not benefiting from these theological developments, the pre-Revolution churches of Cuba concentrated on running schools, which were staffed by foreigners, located in the cities, and, owing to their high tuition, exclusive both of people of color and of low-income families. In an effort to increase their political power, these churches attempted to establish and maintain friendly links with the different conservative political regimes that ruled Cuba, regardless of their corruption and disregard of socioeconomic justice.
Paradoxically, during the Cuban Revolution, before Castro proclaimed his Marxist-Leninist orientation on December 1, 1961, both Catholic and Protestant chaplains actively served in the columns of the Castro brothers and Juan Almeida. Many Protestant leaders cooperated with the guerilla forces in their nationalistic attempt to eliminate Batista. Two early martyrs of the Revolution were Frank and Josué Pais, Baptists who were killed by Batista's soldiers for leading an uprising in Santiago. Esteban Hernandez, a Presbyterian, was also tortured and killed by Batista's police. The boat that brought the rebels to Cuba, Granma, was
Catholic leaders also participated in the insurrection. Father Guillermo Sardiñas served as chaplain to the rebel army and was promoted to the rank of comandante, Father Madrigal was treasurer of the July 26 Movement, Father Chelala was treasurer of the movement in Holguín, Father Antonio Albizú's offered his house in Manzanillo as a rendezvous for rebel messengers, and Father José Chabebe relayed coded messages to the rebel forces via his religious radio program.[1] Although the Church hierarchy remained silent during the insurgence, a significantly large percentage of Catholics, like the martyred Catholic student leader José Antonio Echevarría, participated in the uprising, fighting the forces of Batista (Kirk 1988, 48–49). If Christ's mission was to bring about a just social order, then as followers of Christ, these Catholic Cubans felt called to this task. They saw the Revolution as the vehicle through which they could put their faith in action, specifically through solidarity with those who were marginalized and oppressed in Cuba.
After helping to eliminate Batista, the churches returned to their ministries. Many of them were pleased at first with the government's initial move to end gambling, prostitution, and political corruption. However, this early optimism gave way to disillusion as the new regime tilted to the left. The government's increasingly close relationship with the Soviet Union, the promoters of "godless communism," and its sponsorship of land and education reform (which curtailed Church autonomy), led to the eventual break between the Church and Castro's regime a few years after Batista's overthrow. Catholics as well as Protestants became engaged in counterrevolutionary activities, openly supporting and praising the United States, which was intent on quashing the Revolution and reestablishing its former authority on the island (De La Torre 2002a, 96–97).
The Church eventually took the position that Cuba needed to be "saved" from atheism. By Christmas 1960, Archbishop Pérez Serantes, social reformer, critic of the Batista regime, and early supporter of Castro, wrote a pastoral letter that presented Cubans with an ultimatum, titled "With Christ or against Christ." In it he clearly laid out the existing dichotomy in eschatological tones: "The battle is to wrestle between Christ and the Anti-Christ. Choose, then, each to who they prefer to have as Jefe" (Maza 1982, 91). By 1961, the government nationalized all church
The liberating forces have disembarked on Cuba's beaches. We come in the name of God…. The assault brigade is made up of thousands of Cubans who are all Christians and Catholics. Our struggle is that of those who believe in God against the atheists…. Have faith, since the victory is ours, because God is with us and the Virgin of Charity cannot abandon her children…. Long live Christ the King! Long live our glorious Patron Saint! (Kirk 1988, 96)
As retribution for opposing Cuba's new Marxist orientation, both Catholics and Protestants faced expulsion, were forbidden to run schools as a source of income, and had their private media nationalized. Church members were routinely watched by political organs of the government, while bishops, priests, and ministers were placed under house arrest. Christians were refused entry into the Communist Party, allegiance to which guaranteed economic advancement, and denied high-level positions in the government and university. Many, mostly the middle class, chose flight, rather than fight, as an alternative, creating a brain drain on the island and further weakening the Church's power base. Monsignor Pérez Serantes, now a combative critic of Castro's Marxist leanings, best summed up the Church's predicament. Prior to his death, he said, "All that is happening to us is providential…. We believed more in our schools than in Jesus Christ" (Büntig 1971, 111).
Those Christians who chose Miami in response to Castro's crackdown on the Church brought with them the religiously cloaked sentiments about communism that originated with Franco's victory in Spain. The dialogue that developed between the left and the Church after Vatican II and the rise of liberation theology came too late for Cuba. The Exilic Cuban mind was set. To be an Exilic Cuban Christian meant to participate in the crusade against communism and Castro, period. To recognize any of Cuba's achievements, or to voice an opinion that might in any way be construed as a compliment of present-day Cuba, was to betray God and to proclaim an allegiance with Satan. During the custody battle over Elián, several demonstrators, armed with "Pray for Elián" placards and posters of then–attorney general Janet Reno (a Miamian) shown with diabolical horns sprouting from her head, took their protest to her Miami home.[2] One poster read "Elián is Christ. Reno is
In one of the protest marches following the raid, Cubans dressed in black and laid flowers, a silver cross, and the Cuban flag beneath a photo of Elián's mother, which was erected at the Playa Girón monument. Many cooled themselves with circular paper fans that read "I vote Republican." In this environment religion, politics, and power were fused and confused. What arose was a new religious expression diametrically opposed to the Cuban ajiaco, one I have labeled la lucha. As a religion, la lucha challenges the inclusivity of the Cuban ajiaco by establishing as the starting point the Exilic Cuban social space, a space that is vehemently committed to fighting the forces of darkness, here defined as anything with a leftist slant. La lucha, also known as la causa sagrada (the sacred cause), becomes a religious expression that legitimizes the role Exilic Cubans play in Miami.