GOD'S MAN IN HAVANA
Natasha Garnett talks to Cubans during the Pope's visit
Havana 'LET ME tell you why El Papa is coming to Cuba,' explained Jose Larrinaga, a tour operator at one of the hotels in Cayo Largo, an island resort off the mainland. 'First, to see what hell is really like. Sec- ond, to meet the Devil. And third, to see how miracles are performed.' Senor Larri- naga's joke made his friends double up with laughter, but one could not help hear- ing something serious behind it.
Cuba, for those living here, must be hell. There is no money, wages are low and food is rationed. Beautiful as they are, most of its buildings are falling down, whole families are forced to share rooms, sanita- tion is primitive. While most Cubans have respect for what President Castro did for Cuba during the revolution, most would say that he is no longer up to the job, that he is to some degree responsible for most of the suffering here. And yet, despite all this, the miracle at work in Cuba is the humour and good nature of its people.
Cubans hope that the recent visit of John Paul II will bring salvation to the country, not spiritual salvation but eco- nomic and political. Joseph Gonzales, aged 73, who has lived in Cuba all his life, hopes that this will be the case. He has degrees in both literature and medicine but is forced now to work in one of the government-run restaurants. 'The visit of the Pope is very important to us but not in the way you think,' he told me. 'El Papa doesn't need to bring religion to us. We have religion here; why else do the Cuban people smile when there is so much hardship? When El Papa sees our faces in the streets, he will know we have faith. The Catholic people of Cuba may not go to the churches but they have it within them. Fidel can't take that away. We have Santeria [their voodoo-like religion], we have our beliefs, this is not what we look for from El Papa.'
Senor Gonzales practises Santeria but was nevertheless excited by the long-await- ed visit. 'I am told that this Pope is a very good man who has done wonderful things in other countries, in Haiti and Poland. We need him to help us. Times are very bad here, worse than they have ever been. Fidel was good for Cuba in the beginning but now he is on his own he needs an ally,' he explained.
No one is more aware of this than Fidel himself. President Castro had been want- ing to make a good impression on the Pope ever since the papal visit was first discussed in the Vatican in 1996. In Havana and the provinces they were call- ing the trip Tidel's last dance', and hoping that their President would listen to the Pope and that he in return would help Castro. 'Cuba does not need the Pope, Fidel does,' said Mario Martinez, a 30- year-old computer technician. 'We do not need religion, we need money; the Pope will see that and help us. It is important that the Pope helps, Fidel knows this,' he continued, laughing. 'Why do you think he is wearing that suit?'
At New Year, Havana heaved with tourists, locals and young Cuban girls sell- ing sex, black market cigars and drugs. At night the bars overflowed onto the street. But by the time of the Pope's arrival last week, the city was barely recognisable. A big clean-up had taken place. Small crowds of Cubans gathered around televi- sion sets in bars to watch the welcoming ceremony. At the Montserrat bar in the Old Town, the crowd there was a mixture of young and old. A woman wearing San- teria beads around her neck watched the television intently. A ten-year-old boy had come to see the event on his own.
The bar was silent except for a group of Dutch male tourists at the back of the room who were entertaining five young Cuban girls. Their hands may have rested on their companions' legs but their eyes were on the television. The sight of a tired, shaking Pope listening to Castro's address made the bar staff laugh. 'Let's hope it's not too long,' one said. But once the Pope stood to address the President and the country the bar fell silent again. Outside the churches, which had been opened this week, groups of old people sat around listening to the broadcasts of the Pope's masses from distant television sets. Some wore old rosaries around their necks. But it was not just the old people and chil- dren who welcomed the Pope. On Christ- mas Eve at midnight mass in Havana the young poured into the cathedral and swayed salsa-style to a jazzed-up Kyrie. 'For the young,' explained Rodriguez, a 20- year-old furniture-maker, 'religion is the way in which we can express our feelings not just about Jesus but about politics too. By going to mass, by seeing the Pope, we are showing Fidel that we want change.'
Castro had encouraged the Cuban peo- ple to see the Pope. Before the Pontiff's arrival the President asked all the people of Havana in a televised speech to go to the mass at the Plaza de la Revolucion, and described the visit as the most important event in Cuba since the revolution. He allowed anyone wanting to see the Pope a paid day off. But most Cubans were cynical about these incentives. 'Fidel wants us to see the Pope, not for us but so he can show the journalists that he has done the right thing,' a taxi-driver told me. 'But when I go to the mass on Sunday with my family it will not be for Fidel but for me. I am a Catholic, sometimes. But my mother is all of the time. It is important that we have religion back. I want my daughter to under- stand this. The Pope can do many things in Cuba, you understand this?'
I asked him if he meant human rights. He surveyed his cab as if it might be bugged, turned round and whispered, 'It's very bad here. But you don't talk about it. I will not say anything, you must use your imaginings, OK?'
Some reports at the beginning of the week suggested that the crowds turning up to the Pope's first masses had been poor. 'It's not very impressive for a Latin Ameri- can country,' one NBC reporter told me. He implied that the visit might not have been as successful as Castro had hoped. 'That is not true,' Mario Martinez argued. 'The visit is very good for us — hear what he said to Fidel — but the Cuban people know that they must look after themselves. A paid day off may sound good but here we live off our tips. Cubans know what they have to do to survive, we have to carry on as we always have.'
Back at the Montserrat, despite the excitement, it was business as usual. When a Dutch tourist asked the barman to make him a daiquiri the plug on the set was pulled so that the liquidiser could be plugged in. No one complained. Meanwhile a young Cuban mulatto wearing platform heels and a lycra body-suit had targeted a Canadian tourist sitting at a table at the back of the bar. 'You want a fuck?' The Canadian ignored her and carried on watching the television. 'You want a free fuck?' No reply. 'I give you a suck for a buck.' The Canadian bought her a beer.
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