Page 3 - Presbyterian Connection

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SUMMER 2024
Connection
PRESBYTERIAN
3
Connection
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electricity shortages that caused blackouts on a rotating basis for at least four hours each day, af- fecting family life and industry throughout the island. We heard about and experienced food shor t- ages. Although our hosts ensured that we received the best they had to offer, we saw how limited or- dinary life can be with shortages of bread, rice and coffee, to name but a few of the scarce staples. We know that many children are going without milk or subsist- ing on a government policy that provides powdered milk for those under six years of age. One min- ister told us that it took almost her whole salary to buy two dozen eggs. In fact, while we were in Cuba, the government, for the first time since the revolution, ap- pealed to the United Nations for food assistance.
The Cuban government is not without fault, as John Kirk’s ar- ticle below explores; however, life for the Cuban people could be much improved without the U.S. blockade, and without poli- cies encouraging emigration from Cuba. Almost 500,000 Cubans
P R E S B Y T E R I A N
By John M. Kirk, Professor Emeritus of Latin American Studies at Dalhousie University and the author of several books on Cuba. John met with the Rev. Dr. Carlos Emilio Ham, the international church representative who addressed last year’s General Assembly.
Cuba is a complex, confusing and at times contradictory country. There are, however, two external historical influences that have left a clear mark on its development model—in political, social and economic spheres. The first is the stain of Spanish colonization, which was in place from 1492 until 1898. The second is the cen- turies-old interest of the United States in dominating Cuba—just 90 miles away.
The key to understanding this reality can be found in the roots of struggle—for both independ- ence and freedom to choose its own model of development. Two key dates stand out in this histori- cal process—independence from Spain in 1898 and the revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959.
Prior to assessing the move- ment for independence (which lasted from 1868 to 1898), a brief study of the colonial structure of Cuba is helpful. As our history books have traditionally told us, Cuba was “discovered” in 1492 by Columbus. The term is ludi-
crous, since there were already three Indigenous nations living there (population estimates are between 50,000 and 300,000). In what we now know as Latin America there were approximate- ly 37 million inhabitants.
Columbus termed the island “the fairest island human eyes have yet beheld” and took pos- session in the name of the Catho- lic monarchs in Spain. While the conquest might have held prom- ise for the (white) Spaniards, it certainly wasn’t for the original inhabitants. The vast majority of the Indigenous population were decimated by disease brought by the Spanish, as well as by exploi- tation and violence.
Colonialist domination
of Cuba
The Spanish ruled Cuba from 1492 to 1898, some four centu- ries of total domination, with an insistence upon unquestioning acceptance of Spanish values. They developed a society with a rigid social structure, based upon a system of pigmentocracy (the lighter skinned at the top, with the Indigenous—and later the impor t- ed Black slaves—at the bottom). Catholicism was the only religious expression allowed. Almost all administration—in the military, church, commerce and political offices—was filled by Spaniards parachuted in from Madrid on
fixed contracts. Cubans were con- sidered incapable of holding office, and untrustworthy.
This system lasted for fully four centuries. The purpose of Span- ish colonization was simple—to exploit the riches of the colony for the benefit of the Crown, and Spanish society back home. No attempt was made to support the local economy in Cuba. Instead, the “Mother Land” kept it depend- ent by design.
Over the course of its colonial history, Cuba offered two major advantages to the Spanish—its strategic location (at the entrance to the Caribbean), and sugar. The island was used as a stag- ing ground for the Spanish forces when they arrived to conquer the wealthy, and highly sophisticated, Indigenous Aztec and Inca em- pires on the mainland.
Cuba was soon discovered to have the perfect climate to grow sugar, and the first crops were planted in 1523. By 1860, Cuba produced about one-third of the world’s supply. In terms of the national economy Cuba became dependent upon sugar—which at this time amounted to almost 80% of the country’s exports.
Sugar, though, is highly labour- intensive. After the near destruc- tion of Indigenous society, it be- came necessary to obtain a fresh source of workers, and slavery was introduced. By the 1840s, some 400,000 enslaved people from West Africa had been im- ported—roughly one-third of the island’s population. And, while slavery was abolished in the Unit- ed States in 1865, it continued in Cuba until 1884. (This was also
Seminary Rector Carlos Ham and the Rev. Mary Fontaine.
have left in the past two years, primarily young people or young families who no longer hold out any hope that things will improve. The Cuban American Adjustment Act continues to privilege those who leave Cuba, permitting any Cuban who has lived in the U.S. for a year to become a permanent resident—a privilege that is not available to any other immigrant group. Other benefits include Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA), Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA), to name but two.
Matanzas Seminary.
The Act is a deliberate way to further demoralize Cubans with the aim of bringing them once again under the colonial arm of the U.S. The statement by Lester Mallory, Deputy Assistant Secre- tary of State for Inter-American Affairs, in April 1960, calling for the denial of money and sup- plies to Cuba with the purpose of decreasing monetary and real wages in order to bring about hunger and desperation continues to prove effective in the ongoing
destabilization of Cuban society. After an intensive week, tired but animated by what we had seen and heard, we boarded flights home to Canada, aware in new and significant ways about how the church in Cuba strives to affirm life in a challenging situ- ation. We also return committed to finding ways for our national church, its organizations and con- gregations throughout Canada to provide support for this struggling
yet very much alive church.
Trying to Understand Cuba
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Children with the Presbyterian Church of Los Palos, Cuba.