Stories from Some Venezuelans in Cuba

During Benedict XVI’s recent visit to Cuba, a group of Venezuelan Catholics traveled to the island to see the Holy Father. Some days ago I spoke with a few of them, and after hearing what they told me I decided to write down just a few stories, because I have enough material for a whole “horror” book. The first thing they tell is that on arriving at Havana airport they were searched thoroughly (except for those who arrived dressed as santería priests). They saw a priest have all the papers taken out of his briefcase and checked one by one; they even threw his belongings around. What a lack of respect! And the priest remained unruffled. The young woman who told me this says he was not carrying a single image of the Virgin (he had surely been warned), while she had hundreds of holy cards, catechisms, Catholic leaflets and so on in her carry-on bag to hand out there. She says she began asking John Paul II to intercede so they would not open that bag, because they would take away “her treasure.” Miraculously they did not open it, and she was able to hand out the materials on the day of the huge Mass in the Plaza de la Revolución. So the image of our patroness, the Virgin of Coromoto, was present there too. Hooray!

The young woman says that when the official checking her papers asked whether she had come to do some job for the commander, she answered: “No! I came to see the Pope.” The woman’s expression changed, and she asked if she was a nun. And she replied: “Do I look like a nun to you?” And she showed her nails, painted blue. The woman answered: “It’s just that you’re wearing that medal of the Virgin around your neck.” I wonder what that lady would say if she came to Venezuela and saw the thousands of women walking down the street wearing their medals of Our Lady of Coromoto, the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady of the Valley, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and so on.

So they left the airport happy because their materials had not been confiscated, and they got into a taxi. It was night, and they say everything was completely dark. The taxi driver took them past a spot and said: “This is the Fountain of Light.” They say it was a sort of fountain like the one in Plaza Venezuela, but they could hardly see anything because the fountain had no light! And no water! “But,” they said, “there isn’t a single pothole in the streets there, just good black asphalt!” They say they were struck by not seeing married couples in the streets; you only saw women with children. It seems that in Cuba a marriage that lasts more than four years is very rare, and that often the man or the woman resorts to prostitution in order to buy the basic things they need to survive. It’s terrible! The highest salary is $20 a month, and a single shirt costs more than $20. Someone in the group, a doctor, remarked that the thinness of Cubans is alarming: “I am a doctor, and I know perfectly well that these people are malnourished.”

From Havana they wanted to watch the Pope’s Mass in Santiago and could not, because the only TV channels are state-owned and they showed absolutely nothing! They were cut off; there is no Internet, and a call to Caracas costs more than a call to China. A Cuban happened to see an iPod, and they say his face was one of total amazement. He asked: “And is this for playing games?” And he said wistfully: “This will never get here.” Other Cubans told them: “You are free because you can leave whenever you want. We are prisoners. And they treat tourists like people; they treat us like dogs.” The new benefit for Cubans is that they can buy a used car and swap houses among themselves. For them, that is glory. “For you, who have all that, it’s nothing, but for us the few things Raúl has done have been good,” they said. The group says they saw some luxury cars (never seen before, not even in Caracas), which of course belonged to government officials.

And something that struck these Venezuelan Catholics deeply is that talking about God there is not like in Venezuela. Every time someone in the group said “Thank God!”, the Cubans turned to look at them strangely; and these Venezuelans say they had never in their lives heard so many people say they did not believe in God. When they asked people whether they had had their children baptized, they would look around to make sure no one was listening before answering. The stories of Catholic families who do not renounce their faith are truly heroic! I will not tell any of them, to protect them. That is when you understand why the Vatican is so diplomatic with the Cuban government: it is protecting its Catholics!

In the end someone in the group said to me: “I can’t understand how those people have been able to endure so much. Could it be that we haven’t prayed enough for them?” That comment left me very thoughtful, and I sincerely believe we have prayed so much for Venezuela that we have forgotten to pray for our Cuban brothers and sisters, who are right there, so close to us. So let us ask God and the Virgin of Coromoto fervently for Peace and Freedom in Cuba. They urgently need our prayers!