Both, abroad and inside Cuba numerous Christian believers have taken an interest in the decision that Cuba would take this year with regard to Christmas Day. Many of them have very respectfully expressed their hopes that, as it is common practice all over the Americas and in the rest of the Western world, that day would be made a holiday like it was following Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba last year. However, there has been no campaign or pressure, inside or outside our country, to act on it.
The Political Bureau made a thorough and mindful analysis on the basis
of the political and revolutionary principles that have always guided our
process of struggle for national liberation, the construction of Socialism
in our homeland and its contribution to the efforts that mankind must unavoidably
make toward the establishment of a fair and supportive social and economic
order in the world.
The Political Bureau, on behalf of the Communist Party of Cuba, wishes
to make the following statement:
Although the Revolution has always defended itself forcefully, and it
will continue to do so, against every attempt to destroy it --for which
imperialism, among many other dirty and unscrupulous methods, used and
has still not given up using religious sentiments with counter-revolutionary
purposes, trying from the very beginning to produce confusion, divisions
and conflicts between religion and revolution, between the religious sentiment
and the patriotic spirit-- the Cuban Revolution has never been characterized
by an anti-religious spirit and with admirable serenity it has kept firm,
rejected such provocation and acquitted itself well.
No other revolution in the history of mankind has such a clean record,
free from religiously motivated violence or repression, that is, diametrically
opposed to what happened in every stage of history characterized by great
changes and social upheavals such as the French Revolution, the Russian
Revolution, the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War to mention
only some of the best known cases.
The religiously motivated struggles and wars that characterized the
whole Middle Ages, well into the so-called Modern Age, were terribly bloody.
No incident of this nature can be attributed to the Cuban Revolution which
is by far the most encompassing social revolution that has taken place
in this hemisphere in five centuries.
This was made possible not only by a correct political conception but
also by the fact that many honest believers from the most diverse religious
denominations --with sincerely patriotic sentiments, weary at the corruption,
the social inequalities and the injustices that had long prevailed in our
country-- remained firmly alongside their homeland and the Revolution,
despite prejudices and misunderstandings, during the dramatic and difficult
times when our heroic people had no other alternative but victory or death.
The suspension of the holiday on December 25th, as everyone in our country
knows or can check in the documents on the history of the Revolution, was
not inspired by an anti-religious sentiment, as some people abroad have
perfidiously tried to make others believe. It was at the beginning of the
1970 sugar harvest when the country was making an enormous effort to produce
ten million tons of sugar by mobilizing hundreds of thousands of workers
throughout the country from the end of November 1969. At the time, there
were no sugar-harvesting machines and 90 million tons of cane had to be
hand-cut.
On December, the situation in the industrially developed countries
of the North packed with riches and virtually covered in snow at that time
of year, with no harvesting or cultivation pending which allows everybody
to take refuge in their homes, is completely different from that in a tropical
country like Cuba where it is a dry, cool month, one of the most suitable
for working in construction and to sow, grow or harvest potatoes, vegetables,
sugar cane, tobacco and other items of crucial importance for the national
economy. That is how we found ourselves obliged to suspend traditional
festivities, New Year's Eve vacations and a wide range of functions transferring
them to the hot months of summer, historically and usually the time to
take vacations to enjoy the beaches and seas surrounding our island.
Furthermore, it was not just the December 25th holiday that was suspended
but also all the festivities commemorating January 1, 1959, an extraordinary
date in the history of our homeland, when a people that had endured four-and-a-half
centuries of colonization and almost a century of struggle achieved full
independence.
The best evidence that the suspension of the December 25th holiday
was not, nor could it be, politically motivated is that it stayed unchanged
for ten years after the revolutionary triumph when the socialist nature
of the Revolution had already been declared on April 16, 1961 and the mercenary
invasion by the Bay of Pigs organized by the United States Government had
been overwhelmingly defeated 72 hours later; when countless acts of terrorism,
sabotage and dirty war had been perpetrated in mountains and plains throughout
the nation's territory and when, in October 1962, the most serious threat
of nuclear destruction the world has known until today had been confronted.
Among the many other atrocities from those years is the infamous slander
of an alleged decree suppressing parental authority and the monstrous kidnapping
and illegal dispatch of 15,000 Cuban children to the United States, an
operation in which certain members of religious institutions took part
with the full support of that country's authorities and intelligence services.
In addition to these brutal aggressions, the most prolonged and cruel
economic blockade that has ever been applied against any people was also
imposed against the people of Cuba.
Neither the Marxist nature nor the depth of our Revolution which affected
the interests and provoked the reaction of the rich sectors --who had the
possibility to study in elite schools and receive a more conscientious
religious education than the vast majority of the people-- altered in the
least our basic ideas on the relations that should exist between Revolution
and Religion.
No enemy action could create an anti-religious sentiment in the Cuban
revolutionary leadership which has always advocated our people's broadest
unity, much less beget the mean, clumsy and politically tactless idea of
suspending a religious holiday for philosophical differences that do not
contradict the profoundly human and revolutionary spirit of the Gospels,
thereby offending hundreds of millions of Christians in Latin America and
many other countries in the world who are set to struggle alongside their
peoples for the transformation of the unjust societies where they live.
No true Marxist would ever make such mistake.
The Socialist Constitution of Cuba, endorsed through a referendum on
February 15, 1976 by 97.7 percent of voters, amended and improved in July
1992 particularly with regards to relations with religious institutions,
reaffirms the secular nature of the State and establishes clearly and categorically
in its Article 8 that "The State recognizes, respects and guarantees religious
freedom".
At the beginning, especially during the above mentioned difficult years,
our Party applied such strict political standards and even some of a philosophical
nature that prevented believers from joining the ranks of the revolutionary
vanguard. This was unquestionably discriminatory on the basis of the principles
enshrined in the Socialist Constitution approved 14 years later, in 1976.
Therefore, following a process of profound and mature reflection which
required no small effort of analysis and persuasion among its members,
the Party opened up to all believers sharing its noble, patriotic, supportive,
human and social objectives.
Many things have since changed. The world has gone irreversibly global.
The prevailing international economic order, which is becoming unsustainable,
is going from crisis to crisis dragging the world to an unprecedented catastrophe
and to an ecological disaster that threatens the very survival of humanity
which, in a few decades, will have a 10 billions population.
Change has thus become a vital necessity for all peoples on Earth.
Our people have heroically resisted the most incredible trials and are
prepared, as few others, for the great challenges humanity will have to
face. Their prestige is growing. Their struggle and actions internationally
in favor of a sustainable globalization where true solidarity prevails
for the benefit of every country on Earth, are more and more extensive.
Inside the country, the revolutionary ranks are increasingly united.
We are waging battle after battle in all different fronts against old and
new challenges, ever more confident that the Revolution is indestructible.
The hospitality and the warm welcome given to Pope John Paul II during
his visit to our country showed the world the impressive maturity, culture,
discipline, organization, moral courage, self-confidence and exalted intellectual
and political ability of our people.
The illustrious visitor's categorical affirmation that the restrictive
economic measures imposed from outside the country were unjust and ethically
unacceptable; the decidedly critical statements by many bishops taking
part in the Rome Synod against the foreign debt, poverty, social inequality
and the unfair distribution of wealth in our continent; the many displays
of solidarity, the donations of medicines and the condemnation of the blockade
by numerous religious institutions from the most varied denominations;
the cooperation of Catholic priests and evangelical ministers with the
Cuban health-care personnel who are confronting, with exemplary selflessness
and sacrifice, the enormous human damage caused by Hurricane Mitch; the
2000 doctors --and still more if necessary-- offered at no cost for the
countries affected by an unprecedented natural catastrophe and the 5500
scholarships granted to young people from those countries to study medicine
in a period of 10 years; the positive reaction by the peoples and authorities,
their expressions of recognition and gratitude for our people's selfless
effort, all these are evidence of the changes taking place in the world
and the broad possibilities of cooperation opening up for all men of good
will, cutting across political, ideological or religious differences, to
work together for the good of mankind.
There is no longer the overriding need to mobilize hundreds of thousands
of workers on December to cut by hand all the cane of a sugar harvest.
Harvesting machines and other equipment do most of the work although the
effort we need to make this time of year is still enormous, and it will
continue to be enormous, due to natural causes.
At this time of glory, victory and heroism for our homeland, every act
of consideration and respect for the purest sentiments and wishes of many
of our fellow citizens contributes to the unity of our people. Even when
a holiday, right in the special period and under the implacable economic
blockade, means sacrificing tens of millions of pesos in wages and in goods
and services that are not produced; fully aware that everything that contributes
to the most indissoluble unity of our people strengthens the Revolution
and its admirable and heroic struggle for a better world; absolutely certain
that the costs can be widely compensated for with our own daily work and
the much greater efficiency with which we are learning to manage our resources;
aware that, as we approach the 40th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution,
all our people will also enjoy a day of rest and family reunion; having
previously consulted and obtained the unanimous approval of leaders and
representatives of the most diverse religions present in Cuba Christian
and non-Christian, the Communist Party of Cuba proposes to the State Council
that, as from this year, every December 25th be considered a holiday for
Christians and non-Christians, believers and non-believers alike.
Communist Party of Cuba Political Bureau
November 30, 1998