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U.S.-Cuba tensions make
U.S. dollars unwelcome in helping Cubans
By Agostino Bono, Catholic
News Service. December 22, 2004.
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Giving away money is
normally easy.
But right now takers are leery if the dollars
come from the U.S. government and are for
people-to-people programs building bridges
between the United States and Cuba.
The usually turbulent relations between
the U.S. government and the 46-year-old
regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro have
whipped up to hurricane force during the
Bush administration.
Caught in the eye of the storm are U.S.
Catholic universities being encouraged by
the U.S. Agency for International Development
to apply for government grants to promote
people-to-people programs aimed at transforming
the country into a democracy in the post-Castro
era.
U.S. Catholic institutions are valuable
links because of their strong ties to the
Cuban Catholic Church, the only national
organization in the Caribbean country independent
of the government. But Catholic university
officials worry that accepting U.S. funds
could put their programs at risk.
It also appears that the Cuban bishops
would not participate in programs funded
directly or indirectly by the U.S. government
given the Cuban government's antagonism
toward U.S.-sponsored initiatives.
Not helping matters is the U.S. government.
It openly talks of helping Cubans deal with
issues they "will face during a post-Castro
transition to democracy."
In that language Castro sees a U.S. plan
to overthrow his communist rule. In December,
he even warned of a possible U.S. invasion
and ordered one week of military-civilian
exercises aimed at repelling an attack.
In such a climate Cubans involved in programs
funded by the U.S. government would be vulnerable
to harassment and arrest, and Castro would
be likely to close down such programs.
Taking U.S. money also jeopardizes existing
people-to-people programs that are privately
financed and quietly working to help Cubans
face the hardships of living in a poor country
controlled by an authoritarian regime.
Two Jesuit universities that have received
people-to-people funds from U.S. AID have
yet to see results.
For two years Georgetown University in
Washington has been unsuccessful in bringing
Cuban students to its campus and to other
U.S. universities to learn English and technical
skills needed to run businesses.
"We've run into a wall," said
Chantal Santelices, executive director of
Georgetown's Center for Intercultural Education
and Development, which would operate the
program.
"It's a waiting game to see if anything
happens to improve relations. I don't see
this happening," she said.
Loyola University in Chicago signed a two-year
$425,000 agreement Oct. 25 with U.S. AID
to work with faith-based, nongovernmental
Cuban organizations to teach English in
Cuba.
But Loyola and AID officials are vague
when asked if the program is getting off
the ground.
AID officials contacted by Catholic News
Service were reluctant to speak on the record
about why they think such programs would
be feasible. Yet, AID began soliciting new
grant applications Dec. 1 from U.S. nongovernmental
organizations, especially Catholic universities.
Holy Cross Father Robert Pelton, a Latin
American studies professor who takes University
of Notre Dame students to Cuba regularly
as part of his courses on the Cuban Catholic
Church, said he needs to act with caution
regarding AID funds.
"We're studying what this (accepting
U.S. funds) could imply for our constructive
work already in place with the Cuban church,"
said Father Pelton, director of the university's
Latin American/North American church concerns
program.
In developing programs, "the primary
institute we want to protect is the Cuban
Catholic Church," he told CNS.
Jesuit Father Charles Currie, president
of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and
Universities in Washington, said he is seeking
more information about the AID program to
pass along to Jesuit institutions because
of "the reaction it might spur with
the Castro government."
Brian Goonan, country manager for Catholic
Relief Services' Cuba program, said that
CRS does not accept AID funds directly or
indirectly for people-to-people programs
or for humanitarian aid.
CRS, the U.S. bishops' overseas relief
and development agency, works closely with
the Cuban bishops' Caritas social welfare
agency.
Cuban-born Marifeli Perez-Stable, who has
written a book on the Cuban revolution and
headed an independent task force on promoting
reconciliation among Cubans, said it is
"reasonable and logical" that
the U.S. government would seek out the Catholic
Church "because it is located throughout
the country. It has newspapers, parishes."
The Cuban church could benefit if the money
came from another source, said Perez-Stable,
an expert in democracy in Latin America
at the nonpartisan Washington-based Inter-American
Dialogue.
"The Cuban church is not going to
touch U.S. AID money with a 10-foot pole.
It's not worth the campaign that the Cuban
government would launch against it,"
said Perez-Stable.
She blamed the intransigence of the Bush
administration and the Castro regime for
the current situation.
Among many Cubans, including church people,
"there is no love lost for Castro,
but they are appalled by the Bush policy,"
she said.
William LeoGrande, dean of American University's
School of Public Affairs in Washington,
said people-to-people programs could work
"if the U.S. government would get out
of the way" and make it easier for
independent programs to operate.
But the Bush administration "is trying
to use people-to-people to explicitly subvert
the Castro government," he said, and
puts organizations working with U.S. money
at risk.
Supporting U.S. policy and its people-to-people
programs is Cuban-born Frank Calzon, executive
director of the Washington-based Center
for a Free Cuba, which receives AID funds.
Calzon's organization uses couriers to
get educational materials and medicines
into Cuba because the U.S. economic embargo
prohibits use of normal export mechanisms.
He said the important thing is to get information
and supplies to Cubans that are not filtered
through the government.
"Whether nongovernmental organizations
in the United States receive U.S. money
is irrelevant," he said.
Regarding possible dangers for Cubans on
the receiving end, Calzon said that they
"are not children" and know the
perils.
"If a parish priest sends messages
that he needs (asthma) inhalers and children's
books, I'll try to get them to him,"
he said.
Meanwhile, not even the Christmas season
caused a lull in the sparring between the
U.S. and Cuban governments. As part of its
outdoor Christmas decorations, the U.S.
diplomatic mission in Havana put up the
number 75 in bright lights, referring to
the number of dissidents jailed by Castro
in 2003.
In retaliation, Cuba put up billboards
across the street from the mission with
giant photos of Iraqi prisoners mistreated
by U.S. forces. The billboards included
swastikas and the word "fascists."
Copyright
(c) 2004 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All
rights reserved.
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