“You are a soldier dressed in a cassock.”

By Augusto San Martín Albistur

HAVANA, Cuba (Cubanet) – Of the thirteen Cubans who sought refuge in the Church of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre in Havana on March 13, 2012, some withdrew from political activism more out of disappointment than fear. Others are in prison without charges against them or have been released after months of detention without evidence of wrongdoing. Orlando Corso, the oldest of the group, has died.

Fred Calderón Muñoa, Deysi Ponce Arencibia and Vladimir Calderón Frías, three of those thirteen Cubans, agreed to this interview for Cubanet, which attempts to reclaim those 48 hours in the company of the Patron Saint of Cuba.

What was the purpose they were pursuing with the action?

Vladimir Calderón Frías (VCF):

Our demand was for a new government and our rights to freedom of expression and association. Freedom for political prisoners. We made the same demands that the opposition has always made. We are no longer just a number of people who can fit on a sofa, as Castro claimed. We were advocating for those opposition members who protest at bus stops and bodegas. Those people who demand their rights and an end to shortages without realizing that this, too, is opposition.

Fred Calderón Muñoa (FCM):

- We hoped that the Church would help us establish this dialogue, at least by forwarding the written demands that we gave them.

Why did they choose a moment like Benedict XVI's visit to Cuba to deliver the lawsuit?

VCF

- Because of existing international experiences. For example, Poland, and Chile under Pinochet. Pope John Paul II went to Chile and wept alongside thousands of Chileans inside a stadium surrounded by police. The Church's efforts in Chile to request democratic openings during Patricio Aylwin's transitional government are also an example of mediation.

- In 2001, the Pi Church in Barcelona sheltered hundreds of undocumented immigrants for 47 days. Perhaps we were expecting something similar.

What strategy did they follow to carry out this act?

Deysi Ponce Arancibia. (DPA):

We usually go into the church to make our demands known so they can be delivered to the Archbishopric. Some of us talked about going directly to the Archbishopric, but we went on several occasions and they didn't receive us.

From the moment we arrived at the church, members of State Security and their collaborators began to enter. We realized that the church was surrounded by police and decided not to leave.

VCF:

"I don't think we were under siege when we delivered the demands. That place was chosen because the demands were going to be delivered there, and in case of an adverse reaction from the clergy, the Church would be our refuge. We were afraid they would repress us for the challenge of delivering the demands."

The church opens its doors at 8:00 am for worshippers to pray to their patron saint and closes them at 11:00 am. It reopens at 4:00 pm. That day, when we entered in the morning, the church was not closed. It wasn't closed because by 11:30 am, the church was already surrounded by State Security forces.

The priest began mass at 6:00 p.m. and finished at 7:30 p.m. We filed the complaint when the priest asked us to leave the church.

We entered unexpectedly in the morning and continued throughout the day. Some withdrew because they weren't prepared to face the consequences, and thirteen of us remained. The plan was to deliver the lawsuit to three churches in Havana: El Cristo in Old Havana and the Regla Church. The other groups failed to appear.

- The general idea was to do it in thirteen churches across the country, but the provincial ones were raided on the same day.

So the idea was just to hand in the demands and leave the Church…

DPA:

Yes. The idea was to go in and deliver the petition to the government. We knew this would provoke a repressive response against us because we belong to non-governmental organizations with the power to act in the streets. We sought the protection of the Catholic Church, but that didn't materialize in the end. We know how Cardinal Jaime Ortega reacted. First, through Monsignor Suárez Polcari, chancellor of the Archdiocese, who served as our intermediary at one point.

FCM:

I want to share an anecdote from when we were inside the church. We had been there for two days; there were women and elderly people. I asked Monsignor Suárez Polcari for a favor. I told him we had been without food for two days and the street was surrounded by political police officers. I asked him, on behalf of everyone, if he could give us two pounds of bread from the bakery across the street. The clergyman's response, literally, was that we were being disrespectful.

DPA:

I told him that the man who came to talk to us was a military officer (Suárez Polcari), he didn't seem like a man of God. I told him that in those same words. "You're a military officer dressed in a cassock." Madeleine Caraballo, who is now in prison, told him that he was an official in the service of Castroism.

As I say this, I acknowledge that the parish priest provided us with a pound of bread and a jar of mayonnaise. He offered Orlando Corso a bowl of soup when he was very weak and on one occasion gave us something sweet; the rest of the food was what we brought with us.

After the lawsuit was filed, what happened?

VCF:

- We decided to stay in the Church without knowing what was happening outside. We started calling all the international news outlets, the independent press, and the opposition.

We called several people; some didn't answer, others didn't call back, and some hung up on us. I prefer not to go into details about that. There were disagreements with the internal opposition, but the most shameful thing is that most of the calls of support came from exile.

- We had a lot of support from the foreign press, Brazil, Germany, France, Venezuela, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, United States.

FCM:

After the initial shock, they closed the church, only allowing believers to enter and offer prayers at the altar by the door. There were times when we began to study the legal requirements. We had taken the first step and wanted to see it through to the end.

Our behavior was described as good by the parish priest. We didn't leave our designated area. We used the bathroom as directed, following the established order. We prayed with the priest in the morning.

- My brother tried to bring me some bread and when we were eating it, some people approached him and beat him up, dragged him away and took him away.

On the second day, Orlando Corso, who has since passed away, had experienced a drop in blood pressure. The women were lying down, looking tired and exhausted, and no solutions were in sight.

We had a promise from the parish priest that we would have contact with a government official the next day. But the official never arrived; despite the priest's word, they opened the door for the police.

How did the interlocutors act?

VCF:

Monsignor Suárez Polcari spoke with the group and then summoned me to his office. He tried to persuade me with a hint of intimidation. He suggested that our actions could trigger a problem within his Church.

I replied that the church was not for private use. Then I explained the protection we sought in God's house and our demands, but he insisted that we leave the temple.

FCM:

When Monsignor Polcari spoke about our demands, I got the impression he was calling us crazy. It was as if he were acknowledging that there was no way to reach an agreement with the Cuban government on those demands. The Cardinal and his chancellor always implied that it was a political issue.

VCF:

There was a time when Church authorities announced that we were seeking political asylum. Even after learning of our demands, Monsignor Suárez Polcari asked us if we were seeking political asylum.

The Church officials who mediated had no kind of rapport with us. Let me clarify, I'm not talking about the Catholic Church as a whole, but about the specific Catholic Church officials with whom we had contact.

I was attacked by Mr. Iroel Sánchez of CUBADEBATE, who said we had used the Catholic Church to promote our mercenary demands. Our demands are those of the segment of the population that disagrees with the current regime in Cuba.

DPA:

Those of us who were at the church asked on behalf of the people because we are part of them. We weren't expecting the church's support; solidarity was enough for us.

- For me, it was very disappointing when they took us out of the temple. The riot police dragged us out, pulling us from our seats.

When they arrived and pointed their cameras at us, I thought they would have a little more respect for the Church. But the Church gave them the opportunity to take control.

I asked one of the police officers about the government official who was coming to talk to us. One of them answered me imperatively: “You are going to get up right now and leave!” The police officer’s voice sounded like thunder, amplified by the echo in the temple.

Suddenly, they spread out around us and kept repeating that we had to leave the church. I don't remember who said, "We're not leaving." We linked arms and they immediately descended upon us.

They used Vladimir's body to smash the toilet tank. They handcuffed us with plastic ties and beat us. As they moved us, they told us, "Don't scream," and hit us. I was hit in the back and felt it in my abdomen for three months.

Do they consider the action a failure?

VCF:

The action included in the program regarding the non-violent, peaceful, but active struggle promoted by our organization was indeed achieved. What we did not achieve with the action, nor did we have the support of the internal opposition, nor the mediating role of the officials representing the Catholic Church in Cuba.

I don't like to oppose the opposition, but from a critical perspective, we need a more consolidated unity. Our actions didn't have a greater impact because we suffer from a strongman mentality that harms us, and the idea arose and was put into practice by opposition members unrelated to that problem.

FCM:

There is a form of non-violent struggle in the streets that we have adopted to claim our rights. A struggle of peaceful confrontation that demands sacrifice and involves physical and social risks.

What consequences did this action have for you?

DPA:

- We women received the same treatment during the arrest. We were taken to the 4th Police Station, with cameras recording the entire arrest. They took hair samples from various places, scent samples from different parts of our bodies, saliva samples, and fingerprints.

We all refused to eat the bread they offered us. They questioned us about who had submitted the complaint, and without agreeing, we all answered that it was us. I think they were looking for someone to blame and imprison.

We were prosecuted under the Gag Law (Law 88) and threatened with a 25-year prison sentence. When Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Havana, we were all arrested.

FCM:

- I went through similar situations during my arrest. I was imprisoned when Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba and released an hour after he left the country.

- After a beating I received from a police officer, I tried to file a complaint and they left me imprisoned in the cell, where they beat me again while I was handcuffed and hanging from the bars.

The next day they sent me to Valle Grande prison, where I was held for five months without charges. If they trampled on our rights before, now they do it with even more shamelessness.

VCF:

- They used the same strategy with us as they did at the Vatican embassy in December 1980. The García Marín brothers, who were executed the next day after a summary trial, were also prepared to speak with officials before the doors were opened to the repressive forces.

- From the moment we entered and perceived the priest's position, we realized we had to die inside. If we left, they would beat us to death. With the support of the internal opposition, the action could have been consolidated, and the Church's reaction would have ended up playing a secondary role.

There's something important about this action: the government recognized it as a well-thought-out act by the opposition. At least we exist now.

Fred and Vladimir were arrested in the early morning of April 9th in a violent raid on Fred's home. They were beaten along with other members of the Republican Party of Cuba and accused of posting anti-government posters in the Havana del Este municipality. Thirteen hours later, they were released without charges.

The harassment continues.