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By Frances Kerry
HAVANA, Jan 17
(Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro, scoffing at the notion Pope John
Paul's landmark visit to Cuba next week could be a threat to its communist
system, Saturday urged citizens to turn out in force for the Pontiff.
"We want the squares full,'' the aging revolutionary said in a six-hour
live appearance on state television that lasted into the early hours of
Saturday.
"The people should take part in the (papal) activities through courtesy
and consideration for the visitor,'' said Castro, 71 and in power since his 1959
revolution.
Castro's call for a "patriotic'' attendance is bound to ensure that
going to the Pope's four outdoor masses during his Jan. 21-25 visit becomes very
nearly a duty for citizens, especially Communist Party militants.
Until now, it had not been clear whether Cuban authorities would expect
nonbelievers to turn out for the Pope. If the government did not make the call,
it would let the Cuban Roman Catholic church, enjoying a renaissance after
decades in the cold, take the lead rallying crowds.
"We invite all the people, cadres, (Communist Party) militants to
attend,'' Castro said. He added authorities would provide facilities for workers
who wanted to attend masses that take place Thursday and Friday morning in Santa
Clara and Camaguey cities.
This appeared to indicate people in those cities and nearby areas would be
given a weekday morning off to attend.
While Castro said the Pope's last mass in Havana Jan. 25 would be broadcast
live on national state television, he added that the three masses in the
provinces would be broadcast only on local television -- a decision that will
disappoint both the Vatican and the local church.
Castro, who finished speaking at nearly 3 a.m. EST (0800 GMT), an hour when
he said "many people have been sleeping for a while,'' made plain
revolutionaries might hear some things from the Pontiff they did not like.
But he said nobody should take along revolutionary placards to the masses in
Santa Clara, Camaguey, Santiago de Cuba and Havana; nobody should shout slogans
such as "long live'' any revolutionary leaders and nobody should express
disagreement through gestures such as whistling.
The Cuban leader's performance was in part an instruction to citizens what
to make of the visit, in part a rebuff of the excitement it has generated abroad
as the Polish Pontiff travels to one of the last remaining communist nations.
"I see how many hopes they (opponents of the Cuban government abroad)
have in their desperation for the papal visit to be something the Cuban
revolution cannot resist,'' Castro said.
But the Cuban leader, who first met the Pope at the Vatican in November 1996
and has repeatedly stated his admiration for him, insisted there were few
ideological clashes in the offing.
"Instead of a meeting of the angel with the devil, would it not be
better to think of a meeting between two angels who are friends of the poor, or
perhaps a meeting of the angel with the devil in favor of the poor,'' he said.
Far from being a threat to Cuba's system, Castro said, the Pontiff has
started to attack the same sort of social injustices that Cuba does. Since the
end of the Cold War, the pope had become "one of the biggest headaches that
imperialism has,'' he said.
Some of the Pontiff's speeches could have been written by a "journalist
from Granma, although of course I ma not going to accuse the pope of being a
communist,'' Castro added, referring to Cuba's sole daily newspaper, the
Communist Party organ.
Even if the pope did say some things that the authorities did not agree
with, this would not bother Cuba since the system was strong enough to take
criticism, Castro said.
"If Mr (U.S. President Bill) Clinton would like to come to Cuba to talk
to us about capitalism, neo-liberalization, globalization, democracy, we
wouldn't have the slightest objection,'' Castro said.
While it insists it seeks no political gain from the visit, Havana is
clearly pleased at the contrast between the Pontiff's trip and Washington's
long-standing policy of isolating the island. REUTERS
08:18 01-17-98 |