We need to view both Raul Castro and Fidel Castro considering Fr Felix Varela’s Letters to Elpidio (which regretfully he did not complete it) on impiety, superstition, and fanaticism.
Impiety: Despite his Jesuit education, Fdel Castro was a committed Marxist-Leninist and state atheist who officially suppressed all religious institutions. It is said that he even consulted Santeria priests. This needs further factual analysis. Fr. Armando Llorente SJ, his mentor and friend during his education at elite Belen High School in Havana, kept contact with him throughout his entire life trying to persuade him to reform, but to no avail. I remember Fr. Llorente commenting to me about his efforts after going from Miami to talk to him personally in Cuba without success.
Superstition: many think that tyrant Fidel held a pragmatic and sympathetic view toward Santeria. Some think that babalawos greatly influenced him.
Fanaticism: Fidel Castro was the architect and head of Cuba’s single-party state which has been so repressive even until now. Take note that 1,281 political prisoners were said to be jailed in 2026, now under Raul Castro shadow. Fidel was totally intolerant to political opposition and held absolute refusal to compromise his goals. He viewed dissent as treason, rejected political pluralism, and created a one-party state under his sole command and imposed mandatory state-run education and ideology while shutting down independent institutions and Christian churches. What he did, regretfully endures even to today. The damage of closing all Catholic schools was an immense catastrophe to the Cuban nation and culture. Catholic schools in Cuba before 1959 were one of the best in Latin America. Venerable French Br. Victorino 50 years of dedicated service to the Cuban culture is just an illustration.
One word that describes him perfectly is that he was a liar and a fraud. He had promised to restore democratic elections and human rights, he denied being a communist before nationalizing the economy and aligning with the Soviet Union.
We need to recover what Ignacio Rasco and so many others knew about dictator F. Castro. Alina Fernandez, the estranged daughter of Fidel has described her father as radical, solitary, cold, capricious, and narcissistic. Alina hated what he did to Cuba turning the island to a ruined state. Take the disaster that is Cuba in September/October 2026.
I dream for a true democratic Cuba, as Jose Marti envisioned and Fr. Felix Varela articulated so perfectly under the patronage of Nuestra Senora de la Caridad. Virgen de la Caridad salva a Cuba. Sagrado Corazón de Jesus en ti confío y espero.
+Felipe de Jesus Estevez Montero, STD
10th Bishop of St. Augustine
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