US-Cuba relations: Pope Francis proves his mettle in international diplomacy
US-Cuba relations: Pope Francis proves his mettle in international diplomacy
By Shobhan Saxena, ET Bureau | 28 Dec, 2014, 05.46AM IST
SAO PAULO: In the afterglow of the Cuban revolution, so goes the joke, Che Guevara once asked Fidel Castro: "Do you think the Americans will ever lift their embargo against us?" Staring at somewhere in distance, Castro said: "Forget it, Che. The chances of the sanctions ending are as good as a black man becoming American president or an Argentine going to the Vatican as Pope."
This week, as the US and Cuba sealed a deal that may end the trade boycott of the Communist country, this old joke went viral on social media across Latin America. It would have remained a joke, had the Argentine seer not mandated three top Vatican officials to push for a breakthrough after his meeting with Barack Obama in March.
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He may be new to international diplomacy, but Pope Francis is an old Cuban hand. In 1998, after Bergoglio accompanied Pope John Paul II on his historic visit to Havana, he wrote a book called Dialogues between John Paul II and Fidel Castro. In the book, he explained how John Paul sought more space for the church and Castro kept talking about the similarities between Marxism and Christianity. "But they both had to listen to each other," he wrote, emphasising on the "importance of dialogue".
Coming from South America, the 78-year-old Jesuit has been a witness to dictatorships, their dirty wars against their own people. At the height of the Cold War, almost all South American countries — from Argentina to Brazil to Chile — were in the grip of US-backed army rulers who didn't even spare the church, especially the leftist priests, for standing up for the people.
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