"El pueblo de Cuba se olvido de Dios. Y Dios se olvido del pueblo de Cuba."

The title of this post is from a previous comment made by Alberto.

Alberto, man, I agree with you. In so far as this statement expresses our sentiments as a people. Yet, I believe that this statement is half right.

La libertad y la religion tiene el mismo origen, y jamas se contrarian porque no puede haber contrariedad en su autor.
-Padre Felix Varela (El Habanero. #67)

As Varela points out that liberty and religion are of the same root and are interconnected. And to be against one is to then be without the other. As we know, Religion is still supressed in Cuba. In the early days of Fidel, many were sent into "diaspora". And now, many of the people who come over from Cuba are atheists.

And it is any wonder why liberty is non-existent.

El pueblo de Cuba se olvido de Dios.

Who can deny it. This is why the Varela project sank. This is why there is no solidarity movement like there was in poland. This is why there is such an opression present today.

Yet...

Let us as a people not go so far as to say: Y Dios se olvido del pueblo de Cuba.

Dios existe, sin embargo, en la idea del bien, que vela el nacimiento de cada ser, y deja en el alma que se encarna en el, un lagrima pura. El bien es Dios. La lagrima es la fuente del sentimiento. -Jose Marti (El Presidio Politico En Cuba.)

Dios es amor, y Dios ha hecho al hombre un ser social para vivir la fraternidad humana... El comunismo es doctrina de odio y de lucha de clases, y el odio solo sirve para destruir -Obispo Eduardo Boza Masvidal (Pongamos oido atento al mesaje de la Virgen de la Caridad.)

Marti and Masvidal hit it on the head. Regardless of what religion you are, no one can deny that God is love and the ideal good. And even if one is sceptical of God, no one can deny the intrinsic weight of these values. OUR love for Cuba and our hope for an ideal society surely shows that in some way God, in whatever form you want grasp God, is not only present, but has NOT forgotten Cuba.

Can anyone deny that there is pain before a child is born?
Can anyone deny that spring follows winter? (Alaskans and Ukrainians exempted)

Admidst the pain, and admist the winter, where is the proof that God has abandoned anything?

Thus, is it not concievable that as Marti says: No hay muerte que no se transforme en vida, ni gran esclavitud de que no surja una grandiosa redencion. That Cuba's opression will pass into a grand redemption, and admist it all, God is indeed present through the opression and in its future redemption so long as we remain committed to our love and ideal goodness for the island.