The Cuban Knot

foreignaffairs.com

The Vatican's Strategy in Havana

Victor Gaetan

VICTOR GAETAN is International Correspondent for the National Catholic Register.

The restoration of U.S.-Cuban diplomatic ties in mid-December demonstrated

the geopolitical relevance of religious institutions. The deal would not have
happened without the Catholic Church and Jewish organizations. Jewish

groups made Alan Gross, the prisoner at the heart of the reversal, impossible

to ignore; and then the Catholic hierarchy provided the trust required to move
the negotiations beyond stalemate. U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban

President Raul Castro will surely benefit from the thaw in different ways, but
anti-Castro Catholics resent the Churchs involvement.
DRAGNET
Alan Gross was a USAID contractor who specialized in setting up Internet

access. His work had been part of a big shift in the United States democracy
promotion efforts on the island away from traditional political activism. A

major setback occurred in 2003, when Cuba jailed some 75 democratic dissi-

dents [1] who had been associated with U.S. programs, which effectively shut
down one of the most promising local opposition efforts since 1959. By 2009,
the United States had turned toward more technology-driven programs

(including a secret social media platform [2]) and engaging marginalized communities.

It was under these circumstances that Alan Gross traveled to Cuba on tourist
visas five times in 2009. His assignment from USAID (for which he earned

$500,000 and a $3.2 million settlement [3]) was to set up satellite Internet

service for three Jewish communities. An estimated 14,000 Jews fled Cuba
after the revolution, leaving behind a community of some 1,500 believers,

which attracts wide support from around the world [4]. For his USAID assignment, Gross identified himself as part of a Jewish humanitarian group and
gave other American Jews some of his equipment to transport in carry-on
bags, according to an AP review [5] of his reports.

Cuban security arrested Gross in December 2009, sending a strong message to

the U.S. government and collecting a bargaining chip to help in negotiations

over Cubas biggest grievance with Washington: the 1998 arrest in Miami of
the Cuban Five [6], spies convicted of contributing to the deaths of four

Americans. It is likely that Gross was targeted because he is Jewishnot out of

anti-Semitism, but because his identity would make him a more valuable asset
during negotiations.

Soon after Gross was jailed, a campaign to win his release took shape. The

American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, Bnai Brith International, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, the Jewish Community

Relations Council, and the Orthodox Union all played a role. His teamincluding a law firm, a well-connected PR firm [7] working pro bono, and a fleet of

volunteersmobilized over 500 rabbis [8] in countries from Australia to Can-

ada, Columbia to China, Germany, Israel, Italy, Sweden, and the Virgin Islands
to the United Kingdom. At the request of the American Jewish Committee,

Pope Benedict XVI even mentioned Gross to Castro during the pontiffs 2012
visit to Cuba.

NEW BEGINNING
Obama had started his first term by promising a new day with Latin Amer-

icain April 2009 at the Summit of the Americas, he even declared, to great

applause, that the United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba [9]. But,
by the start of his second term, dialog with Cuba was dead and most of the

Southern Hemisphere blamed the United States. And so, to restore U.S. rela-

tions with the entire region, the Obama administration ranked improving ties

with Cuba high. For his part, Castro had ended restrictions on travel abroad in
October 2012 and continued to pursue limited economic reform. Yet, Gross

still stood in the way of a bilateral thaw. In June 2013, secret face-to-face talks

between the United States and Cuba began, but six months later, the two countries were still fixated on prisoner exchange.

In January 2014, John Kerry, by then secretary of state, visited the Vatican for
the first timefor any Catholic, as Kerry is, it was a major event. He toured
the Sistine Chapel and met Pope Francis own new Secretary of State Pietro

Parolin. At the unusually long meeting, Kerry requested the Vaticans help to
free Gross [10] both because ongoing talks between small groups of aides to

the two presidents were faltering and because numerous bishops around the
world, including Havanas Cardinal Jaime Ortega, pointed to Francis as a
potential interlocutor.

Having served as an ambassador to Venezuela, Cubas closest ally, from 2009

to 2013, Parolin knew about Gross. Like most leaders in Latin America, he con-

sidered the U.S.-Cuban stalemate harmful to the region and the embargo counterproductive. He and his deputy, Archbishop Giovanni Becciu, who was

ambassador to Cuba from 2009 to 2011, were thus poised to facilitate a unique

role for the Vaticanserving as guarantor of a deal in which both sides made
uncomfortable concessions, a role the Church played in Cuba in 2010 when 52
political prisoners were released [11].

When Obama met with Francis at the Vatican two months after Kerry, he

briefed the Pope [12] on Gross. A few days later, the Pope wrote letters to Castro and Obama, urging them to resolve humanitarian questionsincluding
the situation of certain prisoners. He also offered to facilitate meetings

between the two sides at the Vatican. According to one U.S. diplomat who has
worked with the Vatican, its most valuable characteristic is secrecy: They

never leak anything, which was particularly valuable in this case. The prisoner exchange deal was finalized at the Vatican two months ago, which

included the release of Rolando Sarraff Trujillo, who had been jailed in Cuba
for 20 years for providing information on the Cuban Five to the United
States.

KNOTTY POLICY
Francis personal style prepared him well to shepherd the interlocutors. He

keeps a little-known painting called Mary Untier of Knots [13] on his desk.

The image shows Jesus mother patiently untying a long knotted ribbon. He

also stresses creating a culture of encounter [14], an idea Francis developed

based on the writings of Romano Guardini, an ItalianGerman priest and philosopher. It means hosting meetings of leaders from different political and

religious groups to encourage trust, friendship, and the common good. This is
why he often meets with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Its

why the Pope sponsored a prayer summit between former Israeli President

Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas last June. And it is why
he urged Cuba and the United States to come together.

Especially with Castro, Francis has pull. Raul and Fidel Castro were raised by a
rosary-reciting, Catholic mother. They attended high school at the Jesuit-run

Belen College, although Raul didnt finish. Despite initially declaring Cuba an

atheist state, the Castros have regularly [15], if hypocritically, paid respect to
the Catholic Church. Fidels visit to the Vatican in 1996 laid the ground for

Pope John Paul IIs historic visit to Cuba in January 1998 [16] when the Pope

called for the release of some political prisoners, which occurred a few months
later.

In Cuba, in other words, the church is still strong. Havanas Cardinal Arch-

bishop Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino has followed a strategy of reconciliation

on the island [17], avoiding confrontation with the state while winning more
independence to carry out the Churchs religious mission. Under Ortegas
35-year leadership, the Catholic Church, to which about 60 percent of all

Cubans belong, has emerged as the only national institution that functions
independent of the state.

Still, Ortega was never popular with regime opponents because of his determination to avoid confrontation. While Benedict was in Cuba, Ortega refused to
arrange a meeting between the Pope and opposition leaders. Instead, devout
Catholic opposition leaders such as Oswaldo Paya found Cuban security sur-

rounding his house to prevent him from attending Benedicts public Mass. Five
months later, Paya was killed in a car accident suspected of being engineered
by state agents [18]. No investigation has ever been completed. Although

Ortega presided over Payas funeral, his family says the cardinal did nothing to
protect or promote the democracy movement Paya fostered. Rosa Maria Paya
Acevedo, the regime opponents daughter, wrote an eloquent critique of the

U.S.Cuba deal in The Washington Post [19]. Many other dissidents are similarly disappointed with the news.

But Ortega likely isnt losing sleep about this criticism. He has a different

vision of Cubas future: A few days after Francis was elected, the Havana Archdiocese published a document containing 23 proposals [20] produced by a

group, Laboratorio Casa Cuba, comprised of professors and researchers of

diverse ideologies (Catholics, critical Marxists, republicansocialists, and

anarchists). Its a Christian socialdemocratic program, with an anti-American cherry on top.

Gross was released on the first day of Hanukkah. He opened his press conference in Washington with the Hebrew phrase Chag Sameach (Happy holiday)

and thanked many, including the Jewish Community Relations Council, syna-

gogues, his Shabbat group, and other Jewish, Christian, and Muslim organizations for his release [21]. He didnt mention Francis, presumably because he

had no direct experience with the Popes intervention in his case. But Francis
probably wont mind. At the Vatican, hes probably already starting on the
next knot.