Cubans Ask: Is It Wrong to Pray for Castro’s Death?

c. 2007 Religion News Service ORLANDO, Fla. _ Jose Fernandez’s family was one of the lucky ones. When Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959, his communist government took only the family’s home, dairy farm and food import business, among other things. Many Cubans, he knows, lost even more. Fernandez arrived in the United […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

ORLANDO, Fla. _ Jose Fernandez’s family was one of the lucky ones.

When Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959, his communist government took only the family’s home, dairy farm and food import business, among other things. Many Cubans, he knows, lost even more.


Fernandez arrived in the United States in 1961 at age 13 with a visa and some clothes. Now 58, Fernandez is a practicing Catholic who grew up in Catholic schools and today displays several pictures of Pope John Paul II in his office at the University of Central Florida.

As Castro’s health remains in question _ his health status is a closely guarded state secret _ Fernandez reflects the moral and spiritual struggle played out within many Cuban-Americans: how to react to the frail health of a dictator nearly 50 years into his communist rule.

The central question is this: Is it wrong to pray for Castro to die?

“Of course I despise the things Castro has done. He has trampled practically on anything that is human. But I don’t think it’s Christian to wish for someone’s death,” Fernandez said.

“To wish somebody death even if it is your enemy, I think it goes against what we’re taught as Christians. When Christ was on the cross he didn’t wish death upon the people who crucified him.”

Ever since the announcement last August that Castro would temporarily cede control to his brother, Raul Castro, Cuban-Americans have anxiously awaited news of Castro’s death, and perhaps, liberation of their homeland.

But Castro’s reported resilience has put some in the complex and perhaps uncomfortable position of praying for a man to die. Some see it as retribution for a regime they say robbed them of freedom and prosperity. Others say it is not about wishing death for Castro but rather freedom for the island’s 11 million souls.

The Archdiocese of Miami has remained silent on the dilemma, saying only it is preparing special services to meet the sweeping response expected at Castro’s death.

“The focus is on the Cuban people and their need to move on,” said the Rev. Juan J. Sosa of Miami’s St. Catherine Siena Church and a member of a consulting team for the archbishop on Cuba. “The prayer services are about praying for peace and reconciliation among the Cuban people as they build up a new Cuba, a new future.”


But Sebastian Arcos, 45, questions how unchristian it really is to pray for someone’s death. He left Cuba in 1992 after spending a year in jail for trying to leave the country illegally with his family. Eventually he obtained a visa, but his father, a human rights activist in Cuba, died in 1997 of cancer after arriving in the United States. He went untreated in a Cuban jail, Arcos said.

He blames Castro for what he describes as economic and moral decline in the country. Raised by a devout Catholic mother, Arcos considers himself a non-practicing Christian, and he prays not for Castro to suffer but for the freedom of Cubans, he said.

“I might have a glass of wine. I’ll be happy the day he is gone,” said Arcos, now in community relations and development at Florida International University in Miami.

“Some people wonder whether wishing for someone to pass on is unchristian because, you know, you should not wish anyone to be dead, and I can see that. However, if you consider who this particular person is and how much damage he has done over such a long period of time, you might consider that the Christian thing to do, to wish him dead.”

When Castro took power in 1959, Cuba was a spiritual nation of Catholics and followers of the Afro-Cuban faith Santeria, said Miguel De La Torre, an expert on Cuba and Santeria at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colo. Torre is the author of two books, “The Quest for the Cuban Christ: A Historical Search” and “La Lucha for Cuba: Religion and Politics on the Streets of Miami.”

Early in Castro’s regime, religion was marginalized and Christians were forced into re-education camps and denied membership in the Communist Party, limiting their access to jobs and other opportunities. But Castro reversed his stance in the 1980s and penned the book, “Fidel and Religion,” asserting Christianity is in line with communism. He hosted Pope John Paul II in 1998.


The largest Cuban-American communities are in Miami and Union City, N.J. Cuban-Americans are more inclined to go to church in the United States than they were when they lived in Cuba, Torre said. Some were wealthy and well-established in Cuba and lost virtually everything when Castro’s communist government confiscated property.

“For Cubans, especially in Miami, Castro is the incarnation of evil, the personification of Satan in a very real sense, so to live in Cuba is to be living in hell,” said Torre, who is Cuban and left the country in 1960. “So praying for Castro would be the same as praying for Satan. How do you pray for a lost soul?”

Fernandez is a short, stout man with a hearty laugh. The Cuban government allowed his family to travel to the United States only with some clothing _ no family photos or much else. His family believed they would return in a few weeks. Now, he identifies with those who pray for Castro’s death, but when the dictator finally succumbs, he will be praying for Cubans’ freedom.

“If you have lost a brother, if you have lost property,” he said, “if you have lost, and if you have suffered, I can see why those people would say, `Yeah, I’m praying for Castro to die.’ But I personally don’t because my religious principles _ if I’m going to call myself a Christian _ (mean) I don’t pray for anyone to die.”

KRE END GREENEditors: To obtain photos of Sebastian Arcos and Sosa, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

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