The Holy See has faced tense diplomatic conflicts with the regimes of Cuba and Venezuela – two of the main political allies of the Daniel Ortega dictatorship – due to the restrictions that these regimes have imposed on the Catholic Church, but they have never reached the point of the suspension of diplomatic relations and being one step away from rupture, as is the case of Nicaragua by unilateral decision of the Ortega dictatorship.
Nicaragua is the first case in the American continent in 162 years to suspend diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
In Cuba, the restrictions imposed on the Catholic Church by the dictatorship of Fidel Castro caused friction with the Vatican, which continued until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990.
With the triumph of the Cuban Revolution and the installation of communism on the Caribbean island, on January 1, 1959, it was imposed that Cuba would be an atheist state, and members of the communist party were prohibited from being Catholics.
Cuban priests and bishops had travel restrictions and churches and parishes were under surveillance by the security agencies of the Castro dictatorship.
“That Cuba open up to the world”, asked John Paul II
The papacy of John Paul II opened the doors to a thaw between the Cuban regime and the Vatican. The supreme pontiff visited the island in 1998, where he called for the lifting of the US embargo. “That Cuba open up to the world, and that the world open up to Cuba” was the historic phrase of John Paul II, being the first head of the Vatican to arrive in Havana.
Gradually the Cuban regime made slight concessions to the activities of the Catholic Church. Travel restrictions have been lifted and Good Friday has been reinstated as an official holiday. With the arrival of Pope Francis, relations with the Cuban regime remained cordial until they entered another rough stage after the strong anti-government protests on July 11, 2021.
The Cuban regime, in its repressive escalation against the leaders of the protests, harassed members of the Church who advocated an end to the repression and publicly supported the protesters’ demands for freedom, such as Father Rolando Montes de Oca, from the Archdiocese of Camagüey, Father Alberto Reyes and Sister Nadieska Almeida, who suffered harassment and acts of repudiation.
This situation reached its most controversial point when, in an interview with Univisión, Pope Francis was asked about the harassment of the Catholic Church and responded that, for him, Cuba is a “symbol” and that he had “a human relationship” with Raúl. Castro, brother of Fidel Castro, who took over from him in power from 2008 until his place was taken by Miguel Díaz-Canel in 2018.
However, the harassment of the Catholic Church in Cuba persists. In December 2022, the United States included Cuba and Nicaragua on its blacklist of countries that systematically violate religious freedom.
In its report, the State Department points to a “growing harassment of Christians in Cuba, in addition to acts of violence and the arrests of religious figures for their alleged roles in the unprecedented opposition demonstrations of 2021.”
But, the repression and harassment of the Cuban regime has not reached the levels of the Ortega regime, with 21 priests and seminarians who were exiled, imprisoned, exiled and declared “traitors to the homeland”, among them the Bishop of Matagalpa Rolando Álvarez, who continues to imprisoned.
Tensions with Chavista Venezuela
In Venezuela, the repressive levels of the Daniel Ortega dictatorship have not been reached either, despite the fact that the Catholic Church has also been a voice of denunciation, mainly due to the food crisis in the country and human rights violations.
The Nicolás Maduro regime sought to politically capitalize on the scandal of sexual abuse committed by priests, which was recognized by the Venezuelan Catholic hierarchy.
On July 6, 2022, the Episcopal Conference of Venezuela (CEV) recognized that priests and other members of the Catholic Church in the country committed sexual abuse against minors and “vulnerable people”, whose number of cases the institution had decided to maintain. “in confidentiality”.
The scandal provoked pressure on the Maduro regime to proceed firmly in prosecuting the priests involved, and criticism from civil organizations and opposition politicians about an interest of Chavismo in using this crisis in its favor to achieve an underhanded support of the Church or its silence. in their complaints about the human rights crisis.
The Vatican was the interlocutor of the first dialogue with the opposition
In the diplomatic field, the Maduro regime officially recognized the role of the Vatican as interlocutor for a first round of negotiations between the ruling party and the opposition, in 2016.
However, these negotiations failed and the Venezuelan opposition and the international community accused Maduro of boycotting the dialogue.
A report from the Argentine news portal Infobae noted that, after the failed negotiations, Pope Francis sent a letter to Chavismo and the opposition, stressing the importance of dialogue. But these words were not well received by the Chavista leadership.
The letter, signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State who also served as Nuncio to Venezuela between 2009 and 2013, called for compliance with the agreements through the “urgent implementation of measures aimed at alleviating the serious food and medicine supply crisis. He also called for the release of detained opponents and stressed the need for an “electoral path.”
“The letter angered Chavismo. Diosdado Cabello warned at that time that the Vatican was not going to “protect Venezuela” and considered it “disrespectful” that Parolin had sent the letter. Maduro, for his part, accused the Holy See of being a “facilitator” who dedicated himself to “sabotaging” the dialogue,” the report quoted.
The rejection of Pope Francis to the request of Nicolás Maduro
In 2019, when the Venezuelan dictatorship was facing a severe crisis of international isolation due to its violations of human rights, Maduro once again requested the intervention of the Vatican. But the answer was not what he expected.
Through a letter, the Pope reminded the Venezuelan dictator that in the past “what was agreed upon in the meetings was not followed by concrete actions.” He maintained that this series of requests was considered “essential for the dialogue to develop fruitfully and effectively,” and stressed “the need to avoid any form of bloodshed.”
In addition to the forceful response, there was another detail that drew attention and marked a contrast with respect to his usual dealings with world leaders: he did not treat him as a “president.” “Your Excellency Mr. Nicolás Maduro Moros, Caracas,” quoted the message that came from the Vatican.
That letter was private and only a few extracts were released in the Italian press. Pope Francis never revealed its full content, but he did refer to the Holy See’s attempts to intercede in the Venezuelan crisis.
“I support all the Venezuelan people, who are suffering. If I were to say ‘pay attention to these countries or to these others’, I would be putting myself into a role that I am not familiar with: it would be a pastoral imprudence on my part and it would cause damage. I thought about the words, rethought them and expressed my closeness and what I feel. I suffer for all this. Agreeing is not enough. A just and peaceful solution. The bloodshed scares me, ”he said in January 2019, on the plane back from a trip to Panama.
However, despite the fact that the diplomatic tension between the Vatican and Caracas still persists, the Maduro regime, like Cuba, has not dared to suspend relations with the Vatican, as Daniel Ortega did unilaterally.