Raúl Castro finding religion is just cheap talk

Raúl Castro finding religion is just cheap talk
BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO
fsantiago@MiamiHerald.com

Dear God,

It's me, Cuban-American journalist from Miami.

I hope you're listening to Raúl Castro — with a skeptical ear.

In Cuban-speak, we call Castro's newfound religious conversion "muela
barata" — cheap talk.

The Cuban dictator says he likes Pope Francis so much that he's
returning to his Jesuit roots, taking up prayer and going to Mass.

"When the pope goes to Cuba in September," Castro said at a Sunday news
conference in Rome after visiting with Francis, "I promise to go to all
his Masses, and with satisfaction."

Are you there, God?

Because that's not as good as it sounds to foreign ears.

Hear those as the words of the devil himself — or the Russians, speaking
between the lines, during the Cold War.

What Castro was really saying is this: "When you come to Cuba, I'll be
watching you from the front pew. This is my kingdom. I call the shots."

What a handy tool, this private audience at the Vatican on Mother's Day,
to keep Pope Francis in check, rein in his words before they're even
spoken before the Cuban people. What a clever way, this show of piety,
to keep those who really need to be in his presence — the persecuted,
freedom-clamoring dissidents and the hopeless youth who'd rather risk
their lives at sea than live in Cuba — from being the focus of the
popular pontiff's visit.

Why, you should be so flattered — God, once booted from Cuba, to now be
worthy of Raúl Castro's prayers.

Cheap talk. There's a lot of it going around.

Cheap talk is what Castro delivered in Panama and his brother Fidel
echoed in Cuba during the Summit of the Americas. Both dutifully gushed
about President Barack Obama, leader of the free world, while their
devoted thugs were beating up Cuban dissidents on the streets of Panama
City — right in Obama's face.

Adulatory talk was what French President Francois Hollande, unpopular at
home, showered on Fidel Castro during a Monday visit to Havana, a first
for a French president. I wonder what Hollande meant when he said that
Cubans should be able to keep "their identity" while developing a new
relationship with the United States. We should all pray that Hollande
doesn't mean continue to persecute, jail without due process, and
sustain the lack of a free press and access to the Internet.

"One can say whatever one wants, but Fidel Castro is the last great
figure of the 20th century," a member of the Communist Party in the
French Parliament boasted after Hollande's visit.

A strong stomach, God, is required to follow Cuba news — and, I imagine,
hearing the Castro brothers pray as well.

They would do better going to confession, although there probably isn't
adequate penance, not enough Ave Marias or Padre Nuestros that these two
could recite to atone for 56 years of crimes against the Cuban people.

Oh, forgive me, God and Pope Francis. I forgot that the way forward is
to shut up, like all the Western world leaders are doing, and not bring
up anything about this regime still being a dictatorship and a human
rights violator to give diplomacy — and el dolarazo — a chance to change
Cuba.

But it's tough to say nothing when Castro runs his hypocritical mouth
one way and the actions of his government go in the opposite direction,
even at the smallest of junctures.

For such a reality check, turn to Tuesday's visit to Florida of Jose R.
Cabañas, chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington.

To show how it's done Cuba-style, as a condition to speaking before the
Manatee Chamber of Commerce, Cabañas set up rules to restrain
journalists: No photos or videotaping allowed — and no questions from
the media.

The Americans on Florida's west coast, in a rush to invest and frolic in
the forbidden Communist (now with a question mark?) paradise, dutifully
complied, acquiescing to un-American control of how journalists work.

Are you there, God?

I don't hear you.

Source: Fabiola Santiago: Raúl Castro finding religion is just cheap
talk | Miami Herald Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article20785278.html