How Hard Will Pope Francis Push for Democracy in Cuba?

How Hard Will Pope Francis Push for Democracy in Cuba?
By Joshua Keating

Pope Francis' visit to Cuba on Saturday, where he will stay for four
days before heading to the United States, is something of a victory lap.
The first Latin American pope's back channel diplomacy played a major
role laying the groundwork for the recent resumption of diplomatic
relations between the two countries. That shift was highlighted on
Friday by the U.S. government's announcement that it is easing more
travel and commercial restrictions on the island and it will also likely
be discussed in Raul Castro's first ever address to the U.N. General
Assembly in New York later this month.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see if Francis takes advantage of
the goodwill he has built up in Cuba to push for further reform to the
country's authoritarian political system. The Cuban government said it
planned to release more than 3,000 prisoners as a "humanitarian gesture"
ahead of the visit, however it also recently detained more than 50
dissidents, most of them members of the group Ladies in White which is
planning to protest during the visit.

The pope has disappointed opponents of the Castro's regime by not
planning to meet with any opposition figures during his visit to the
island. He also has a close relationship with Cuba's archbishop,
Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who dissidents accuse of not doing enough to
stand up to the Castros. Ortega recently suggested to reporters that he
isn't aware of any political prisoners in Cuba, despite an abundance of
well-documented cases. (In fairness, Ortega's good working relationship
with the Cuban government was a big factor in helping to facilitate the
delicate negotiations with the U.S.)

Many expect Francis to use at least some of his seven scheduled public
addresses in Cuba to speak out about the need for greater personal
freedoms and reform in the country, though perhaps not as forcefully as
John Paul II did in his historic visit to the island in 1998. A Vatican
official told CBS that discerning listeners would be able to detect
"veiled criticism" in Francis's remarks.

The current pope has a longstanding interest in Cuba. Following the
1998 visit, then Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio wrote a
now hard to find book called Dialogues between John Paul II and Fidel
Castro. In it, he called for more dialogue between the church and the
regime, the promotion of political pluralism on an island ruled by one
party for half a century, and an end to Cuba's international isolation.

The pope is due to hold a formal meeting with Raul Castro and a meeting
with Fidel is likely as well. They may have more common ground than
you'd think: While the pope is not a Marxist and rejects the Castro
regime's state-promoted atheism, he does share some of their antipathy
to the dominance of global capitalism. And, as it happens, both Castro
brothers were educated by Jesuits, Francis's own order in the Catholic
Church.

Francis's church has opted to play the inside game with Cuba rather than
pursue John Paul II-style moral confrontation. So far it has worked
exceedingly well at winding down one vestige of the Cold War—the decades
old tension with the United States. It remains to be seen if the
approach can help to open up the country's creaky authoritarian
political system—another unfortunate 20th century holdover.

Source: Pope Francis heads to Cuba: How hard will he push for freedom
and democracy? -
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/09/18/pope_francis_heads_to_cuba_how_hard_will_he_push_for_freedom_and_democracy.html