The Sociopolitical Influence of the Roman Catholic Church on Abortion Policy in the
Dominican Republic and Cuba
Presented to The Faculty of the Departments of Classics, History, and Political Science The Colorado College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Arts
By Charlotte H. Kaye
The Colorado College May 2013
Chapter I:
Introduction to the Sociopolitical Influence of the Roman Catholic Church
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Introduction
Latin American history does not begin in 1492. Historically and historiographically, however, Columbus’ landing reshaped the entire region. Cuba and the Dominican Republic experienced comparable Spanish conquest, lore similar to many of the former European colonies in Africa and Latin America. Christopher Columbus discovered both islands on his first expedition to the New World. Hispaniola and Cuba were extremely profitable to the Spanish; the conquistadores heavily exploited the resources on each island.1 The Roman Catholic Church arrived with the Spanish, and had an even longer and potentially more formative stay in these two countries.
The Church lost no time in implanting itself into the land, and Christianity spread rapidly across the region. Soon, the clergy’s reach extended into Caribbean life from the remotest areas of the islands to the big cities. Thus, much of colonial development integrated Roman
Catholicism into the culture and tradition. As the Church grew and retained its power into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it became the agency for social well-being of the Cuban and
Dominican peoples - “the voice of the voiceless.”2
Cuba and the Dominican Republic both came under the rule of dictators during the twentieth century. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina governed the Dominican Republic for thirty years beginning in 1930. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was dictator of Cuba for over fifty years starting in 1959, but had made appearances as a vocal leftist dissident in the prior decade. The
1 Alan Taylor and Eric Foner, American Colonies, (New York: Viking, 2001), 33.The Dominican Republic and Cuba are the largest nations in the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic is located on the island of Hispaniola or as the Spanish sometimes called it Española or Santo Domingo. The island is split with Haiti on the western side and the Dominican Republic on the eastern side. 2 Emelio Betances, The Catholic Church and Power Politics in Latin America : the Dominican Case in Comparative Perspective, (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007), 1-2.
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two dictators, despite the fact that their rules literally overlapped only a few years, were active as well as at their peak of power during the mid-twentieth century.
During these decades of dictatorship, Trujillo chose to embrace Roman Catholicism and incorporate it into his governmental policies. Cuba, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction. Castro sought to almost rid the island nation of Roman Catholicism both socially and politically. The case studies of these two nations provide a glimpse of extreme cases on the
Latin American axis of Church-state relations.
The pluralized relationship and history of the social and political influence of the Roman
Catholic Church on Latin America and Caribbean nations is a complex topic; many different factors intertwined in the Church’s function given the institution’s extensive reach across the population. These issues include, but are not limited to, economic and class stratification, political strategy, gender relations, ethics, and human rights. The Roman Catholic Church is an institution just like any other that creates its own agenda. Because of this, it effects great change in these areas.3 Doctrine and Canon law can play into national legislation, contingent on the influence of the Church in state affairs.4 Many potential routes regarding a national social policy that may have been shaped by the Roman Catholic Church; I chose to focus on the topic of abortion laws and debate as the measure of sociopolitical influence of the Roman Catholic
Church in Cuba and the Dominican Republic’s governmental policies during periods of their histories.
3 The Church has been and continues to be vocal about its stance on human rights issues. 4Mala Htun, Sex and the State: Abortion, Divorce, and the Family Under Latin American Dictatorships and Democracies, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 210. Doctrinal laws cover social matters such as divorce, religious toleration, welfare, and so forth.
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The topic of abortion, whether taboo or an accepted perspective, is multifaceted. In the first section, I will go further in depth on how the Church relates to abortion policy; and why this is a practical tool for measuring ecclesiastical influence. The second section will lend context to the role of the Catholic Church in Cuba in the Dominican Republic from colonization to dictatorship. Lastly, I will compare and contrast the role of the Roman Catholic Church under
Trujillo and Castro as told through abortion policy.
The theological and historical background of the Roman Catholic Church and abortion policy
In order to better understand the weight of abortion as a tool for measuring the influence of the Roman Catholic Church on the state, I here present a partial background on how opposition to abortion evolved into a fundamental doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, and how it relates to Church-state sociopolitical relations. Legality of abortion has long been a topic of debate and conflict, but not necessarily a central topic until after the Roman Empire adopted early Christian edict as government policy.
Prior to Christianity’s permeating the Empire, laws prohibiting abortion were rare to non- existent, philosophers and scholars wrote and debated on the moral question of abortion, but nothing was concluded. Until the patristic era, laws on abortion would be considered permissive by modern standards. The Roman politicians of the time were not particularly concerned with regulating morality and ethics through laws; the Empire functioned on the foundation of the family as the local government. The paterfamilias, head of the household, was the sovereign
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leader of the house.5 Roman code, in fact, explicitly allowed patrefamilias to make the the decision whether to abort, expose, or kill an infant within the house until the post-Constantinian
Empire.6 This was a long-standing tradition held over from the Roman Republic; according to
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek historian living in Rome under Augustus Caesar, “Romulus granted to the Roman father absolute power over his son, and his power was valid until the father’s death, whether he decided to imprison him, or whip him, to put him in chains and make him work on a farm, or even kill him. Romulus even allowed the Roman father to sell his son into slavery.”7 The paternal figure had autonomy regarding everything familial. This structure encouraged the father to scrutinize the virtues, morals, and ethics of his upstanding Roman family and substituted for government regulations regarding abortions, infanticide, and exposure.8 The head of the household’s judgment ultimately prevailed, the father had - vitae necisque potestas - the power of life and death.
Not only were decisions about family planning decided within the family, but abortion, infanticide, and exposure were quite common occurrences in the Roman Empire. It was not seen as unethical to get rid of a child in order to protect the family or the state.9 Much of the myth surrounding Rome, in fact, tied heroism, fortune, and bravery to abandonment: Romulus and
Remus, founders of Rome, were abandoned as children, raised by wolves, and grew up to found
5 John Boswell, The Kindness of Strangers: the Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1988), 58. 6 Michael J. Gorman, Abortion & the Early Church : Christian, Jewish & Pagan Attitudes in the Greco-Roman World, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982), 64. 7 Jo-Ann Shelton, As the Romans Did : a Sourcebook in Roman Social History, 2ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 17. 8 Boswell, 58. 9 Boswell, 58.
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the great city. Giving up a child was not considered a shameful act.10 This was a practical matter for the group. Several respectable scenarios for terminating a pregnancy or abandoning a child existed in the Romans’ eyes.
Abortion and infanticide were common, for example, when a child was conceived at an inopportune time. This could be related to age of the parents, a lack of resources to raise the child, or a pressing civic need.11 Ovid, a Roman poet, told the story of Ligdus in the
Metamorphoses:
Ligdus was a freeborn man, but from a lower-class family. He was a poor man, but moral and honorable. He told his pregnant wife, when she was approaching labor, ‘I pray for two things – that you may have an easy labor, and that you may bear a male child. For a daughter is too burdensome, and we do not have the money. I hate to say this, but if you should bear a girl – I say this with great reluctance, so please forgive me – if you should bear a girl, we’ll have to kill her.’ He spoke the words, and they both wept, he who had given the order and she who must carry it out.12
This story demonstrates the power of the male head of the family, as well as one of the thought processes behind infanticide. Although Ovid’s story is only a fable, the story exemplifies the cultural acceptance of abortion; the woman in the story is not shocked or appalled by her husband’s expectation that she will murder the child if it will be a burden on the already poor family. They are not unfeeling people; they are depicted as weeping, but they both also understand that such an act is best for their household. The story of infanticide and abortion is one of practicality for the Roman poor.
10 Boswell, 84. Abandonment and abortion were considered natural in an animalistic way. An animal, for example, would not care for its offspring if they could not or if it was malformed, if they were not capable of caring for it, or if the offspring was weak. 11 Boswell, 157. 12 Ovid, Charbra Adams Jestin, Phyllis B. Katz, and Ovid, Ovid : Amores, Metamorphoses: Selections, (2nd ed. Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2000).
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This practice, however, was beyond the stratification of class; abortion was a universal experience for Roman women. In his Satires, Juvenal, a well-read first century writer, explained:
“Rarely does a wife give birth on a gold-plated bed. So great is the power of the magical arts, the potions of the woman who makes them sterile and murders the humans in their bellies for a fee.”13 Juvenal described how women who had the means also chose to abort their fetuses frequently. He explains that among the elite women “on a gold-plated bed,” - the women setting the social standards, went ahead with the procedure for convenience. Ovid wrote about the social status of abortions in the Amores as well, again highlighting abortion in a text read by many of the Roman elite. He composed Amores 2.14 in response to his mistress, a woman outside his familial control, who chose to abort their child: “The woman who first took aim at her helpless fetus/should have died by her own javelin./Can it be possible, that simply to avoid a few stretch marks,/you would make your womb a bloody battle ground?”14 Ovid mourned the loss of the potential child. Abortion was clearly a troubling issue to him, and he was able to express his experience publicly without shame and with only sorrow. Abortion was not a closeted issue, but an issue continually probed and dissected among Romans in all social circles in these early centuries.
Abortion and infanticide commonly took place as an act of loyalty to the state as well.
Roman officials promoted abortion and infanticide as a means of population control. The civil
13 Juvenal, Satires, 6.594-7 excerpted from Suzanne Dixon, Reading Roman Women: Sources, Genres, and Real Life, (London: Duckworth, 2001), 57. 14 Ovid et al., Ovid : Amores, Metamorphoses : selections, 2ed. (Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy- Carducci Publishers, 2000), Amores, 2.14.5-8. In these two Roman texts, I think it is interesting how both stories point to different methods of abortion. Juvenal talks about potions while Ovid says his girlfriend used a surgical procedure. This probably indicates that abortion was so common that there were several medical methodologies for different types and times of abortions.
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responsibility of each paterfamilias was to help control the population, especially within the city of Rome in the first and second centuries.15 For the sake of the state, families would choose to abort their children if civic resources were lacking. There was of a sense of mutual conscience; the laws were not explicit, but there was a certain social pressure to genuflect to the needs of the state. Overall, the sentiment among Romans seemed to have been that abortion was a private decision based on loyalties to the state and the family.
By the end of the second century, Christianity was seeping into the Roman purview.
Romans were skeptical of the new cult. Christians and their beliefs disconcerted the Romans; they did not prostrate before the emperor and they had social norms closer to the Jews than the pagans. The rift became ever more apparent as Christians multiplied and their practices opposed those of the Romans. Pliny the Younger, a Roman magistrate, confirmed this in a letter to Trajan in the late first century:
Dear Trajan: It is my regular practice, my lord, to refer to you all matters about which I am in doubt….I have never dealt with investigations about Christians, and therefore I don’t know what is usually either punished or investigated, or to what extent….It is said that those who are truly Christians cannot be forced to do any of [praying to the Roman gods or praising the emperor]….they were accustomed to meet on fixed day before dawn and to sing in responsion a hymn to Christ as if to a god, and to bind themselves by an oath – not an oath to commit some crime, but an oath not to commit theft, robbery, or adultery, not to break their word, and not to refuse to return a deposit when called upon. When these things had been done, it had been their custom, they said, to depart, and then meet again later to dine together….16
This note demonstrates confusion and the fear that this strange cult would destroy Roman values and traditions. The Christians, in response, needed to establish, define, and differentiate. They
15 John Thomas Noonan, Contraception : a History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists, Enlarged. (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986), 85. 16 Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.96, 97 excerpted from Shelton, 410-411.
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did this by establishing doctrines criticizing and criminalizing many Roman practices such as abortion. Just as Jews had once distinguished themselves with practices such as circumcision and adherence to the strict rules of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, the Christians had their own traditions. Although not mentioned specifically in the above letter, abortion became a focus in
Christianity; abortion was a way to distinguish the Christians from pagan Romans.
The anti-abortion theology, coupled with the infant-centered nature of Christianity, abortion was an avenue for differentiation for Christians. Adopting abortion policy had special resonance for Christians because of the nature of the religion’s foundation. Christianity took as central that Mary bore a child and he was the Son of God. Thus, the religion was commenced at conception; “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.”17
This made Christianity distinct from Judaism and paganism, and was a distinguishing factor for early Christians. Jesus’ conception was and remains one of the most highlighted sections in the
Bible. In Luke 1:39-44 The angel Gabriel has just made the announcement to Mary that she will conceive the Son of God...:
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.’18
17 The Holy Bible, (King James Version), (New York: Oxford Edition: 1769) King James Bible Online, 2008. http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/, Luke 1:39-44, 18 Matthew 1:18.
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Mary was a virgin inspired by the spirit of God; she kept the baby despite suspicions and prevalence of abortion in the Roman Empire.19 Jesus, the ultimate gift from God, would not have survived if Mary had not been so sagacious, trusting, and compassionate. If not for the birth of
Jesus, there would be no Christianity.
A contemporary pope, John Paul II, explained the theological perspective of outlawing abortion in Evangelium vitae in 1995 with grace and clarity:
Man is called to a fullness of life, which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence because it consists in sharing the very life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness and the inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase. Life in time, in fact, is the fundamental condition, the initial stage and an integral part of the entire unified process of human existence….
Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can, in any circumstance, claim for himself the right to destroy directly an innocent human being.
With these words the Evangelium vitae set forth the central content of God’s revelation on the sacredness and inviolability of human life.20 Although often invoked as a contemporary explanation for the anti-abortion stance, Pope John Paul II clearly framed the Roman Catholic long standing resolution on abortion; life is a sacred creation of God, and should not and cannot be toyed with by humans. Referring to the creation story of Adam with the reference to “creative
19 Joseph thinks about divorcing Mary quietly or sending her away when he finds out she is impregnated prior to their marriage then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example , was minded to put her away privily (Matthew 1:19). Maryʼs story is very close to Rhea Silvia the mother of Romulus and Remus. Mary and Rhea Silvia are both virgins (Rhea Silvia is a Vestal Virgin). Rhea Silvia claimed that her sons were the offspring of Mars. Unlike Mary, Rhea Silvia must give up the twins as was a common practice of Romans. 20 John Paul II, Evangelium vitae (The Gospel of Life), Vatican Web site, March 25, 1995, http://www.vatican.va/edocs/ENG0141/_INDEX.HTM, sec. 38 (accessed January 30, 2012).
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action of God,” Pope John Paul II demonstrates how sacred each human existence is in ecclesiastical texts. The question of abortion then comes down to “who is human?”21
The medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas retraced the views of Augustine, an early
Christian theologian, on this topic. Augustine believed that the early fetus was not human because it was not a compilation of body and soul. He believed that hominization occurred approximately forty days after a pregnancy begins; therefore, abortion was murder only after the first two months of the pregnancy.22 The scriptures of the New Testament emphasize life as synonymous with the soul. Matthew 22:37 states, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”23 Matthew explains that one can only worship God with this triad of humanity. In the same category, James 2:26 says:
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”24 A person is only dead when the soul leaves the body; thus when a soul is threatened, even in the womb, then murder occurs. Estimates of hominization during pregnancy varied with many different Church
Fathers’ interpretations. Eventually the Church established that abortion from the moment of conception was a sin since hominization did not happen definitively past the point of conception, and so abortion was an act of murder.25
Thus, the early Church began to legislate against abortion exercising the idea of hominization. Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Tertullian of Carthage, another early
21 John Thomas Noonan, The Morality of Abortion; Legal and Historical Perspectives, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970), introduction x. 22 Noonan, Contraception, 90-91. 23 Matthew 22:37. 24 James 2:26. 25 J. Gordon Melton and Gary L. Ward, The Churches Speak on--Abortion : Official Statements from Religious Bodies and Ecumenical Organizations, (Detroit: Gale Research, 1989), introduction xvii.
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Christian eminent writer, believed “obeying the commands of the Father of immortality, we reject everything which rests upon human opinion.”26 Tertullian knotted religious belief to all actions; no longer could a good Christian also obey only to secular laws. Accordingly, when
Tertullian delivered the radical ideas that God’s words were the only means of faith, to some extent he subjugated Christian leaders to doctrinal law alone.
This set a precedent for Church and Christian leaders. In 305 AD, the conference of western European bishops convened in Spain at the Council of Elvira. The bishops ruled officially on abortion for the first time: “Canon 63: if a woman becomes pregnant by committing adultery, while her husband is absent, and after she decides to destroy [the child], it is proper to keep her from communion until death because she doubled her crime.”27 Nine years later, the bishops of Western Europe and Asia Minor convened to determine Christian articles of faith at the Synod of Ancyra. The Council outlawed the attempt to have an abortion and abortions themselves, and gave women a ten-year punishment for their actions. This ruling was pivotal because it was enforced throughout the Middle Ages, and set the precedent for future abortion rulings.28 The Council considered abortion to fall on the scale of punishment between adultery and premeditated murder .29 This decision affected both social and political views on abortion; if the Church ruled that abortion was close to premeditated murder on a scale of sins, then it could also be considered a civil crime. After the Synod of Ancyra, on November 16, 318 AD,
Constantine made infanticide illegal in the Roman Republic. This law became part of the Codex
26 Etienne Gilson, Reason and Revelation in the Middle Ages, (New York: Scribner, 1938), 13. 27 Gorman, 64. 28 Gorman, 65. 29 Gorman, 66-67.
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Theodosianus.30 Following Tertullian’s expectation of a Christian leader, Constantine became the exemplar for future Roman Catholic leaders.
Christianity gained considerable popularity in the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries; Romans began to accept and convert to Christianity. These early Christians began speaking out against abortion as a policy that exemplified the cruelty of pagan customs. By the fourth century, the Roman Empire had a strong Christian influence and a powerful political proponent in Constantine; the laws in the Codex were heavily religiously influenced.31 Here the
Catholic Church and the state began their long, intertwining relationship.
The junction of church and state would forever be complicated, confusing, and hard to navigate. Nowhere would this prove more true than in Latin America. The state-based spread of
Catholicism through the Spanish Crown and the plausibility of anti-separation of Church-state policy in modern Latin America can all be traced to this seminal moment of Constantine’s conversion.
30 Noonan, Contraception, 86. 31 Noonan, Contraception, 95.
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Chapter II:
The Caribbean and the Roman Catholic Church
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The theory of Church-state relations
“In the name of Jesus Christ,” Christopher Columbus proclaimed in his diary prior to setting sail across the ocean in search of Asia.32 As the widely received narrative goes, Columbus stumbled across the Americas thinking they were the Indies. The islands on where Columbus first landed included current-day Cuba and Hispaniola; this coincidence forever linked the fate of two islands. Columbus’ voyage began a new chapter in history for the island, for Europeans, and the Roman Catholic Church.
Both countries integrated important Roman Catholic teachings into their state laws, culture, and social fabrics. In the mid-twentieth century, however, with the rise of their respective dictatorships, the Dominican Republic went one way on the spectrum of Roman
Catholicism and Cuba went in the completely opposite direction. As Emelio Betances explains in his framework for state-church relations, Cuba ruptured with the Church while the Dominican
Republic adopted Roman Catholicism into the structure of its government.33
In The Roman Catholic Church and Power Politics in Latin America, Betances characterizes three relationships between Latin American states common and the Roman
Catholic Church: Church-state ruptures, church and state integration, and subordination of the church to the state. Church-state rupture he labels as when the Church is strictly separated from the government or even expelled from the state. Cuba under Castro remains the only example of
Church-state rupture in Latin America to date.34 Church and state integration can only be seen currently in Colombia. This relationship is one in which the church and state have equal power
32 Christopher Columbus, Lionel Cecil Jane, and Bartolomé de las Casas, The Journal of Christopher Columbus, (New York: Bonanza Books, 1989; 1960), 1. 33 Betances, introduction. 34 Betances, 19.
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and influence in the country; they share the power and influence.35 Lastly, Church subordination to the state occurs when the Church resides under the state’s authority. In this scenario, the
Church remains a large and influential institution, but remains subservient to government and functions as a façade for social control. The Dominican Republic under Trujillo is the classic example of church subordination to the state.36
Betances’ framework enables a clearer view of the juxtaposition between the status of the
Church in Cuba and the Church in the Dominican Republic. Modern-day abortion policy addresses both social and political life. Since these models can be difficult to tell apart from one another, there are critical sociopolitical markers to differentiate the relationships, and help decipher, the type of relationship a state has with the Church. In this thesis, I will demonstrate the different nature of these frameworks with regard to the Church’s influence in Cuba and the
Dominican Republic, and how these play out as a practical matter. First, I will give a brief background to the tradition and sociopolitical history of the Roman Catholic Church in each of these nations. Then I will examine the differences in the relationship to Roman Catholicism in the respective modern dictatorships. Lastly, I will look at how Church-state relationships manifest themselves in society. One can look at this issue through many different lenses. I chose to focus on the historical, systematic, and traditional aspects of the sociopolitical influence of the Catholic Church on abortion policies in Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
The formation of Church-state relations in the Dominican Republic
35 Betances, 20. 36 Betances, 21. In our time, Americans might even consider that the modern United States of America falls under Church subordination to the state, but this can and is often debated.
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Christopher Columbus was a devout Roman Catholic in search of both booty and conversion of Asians in China and the Indies.37 Columbus, in fact, sailed to the wrong part of the world, but this did not stop him from docking on the island of Hispaniola, building a cross on the land and vowing to convert the infidels.38 The spread of Christianity was faster and more fervent throughout Latin America than even Columbus could have imagined. In order to be fair to the
Portuguese and Spanish, Pope Alexander VI divided the unconquered western lands between
Spain and Portugal. Hispaniola officially was handed to the Spanish and Columbus established a settlement on the island. Santo Domingo, the oldest continuous European colony in the
Americas, struggled during Columbus’ dominion over the islands.39 The Spanish Crown stripped
Columbus of his power and took it upon itself to administer the colonies. While Queen Isabella remained alive, the focus of the Spanish conquest was for the Indians’ souls. Isabella felt that to
Christianize these people was to save them from damnation.
In 1501, Pope Alexander VI granted el patronato real de las indias, in which he allowed the Roman Catholic kings of Spain and Portugal to appoint the major Church leaders, and manage the revenue and recompense for the local churches.40 In exchange, the Church was permitted to send Franciscan and Dominican friars to ensure the conversion of the natives and to have a say in ecclesiastical decisions. So ordered, members of the Order of St. Dominic
37 Taylor, 33. 38 Luis Martínez-Fernandez, "The Sword and the Crucifix: Church-state Relations and Nationality in the Nineteenth Century Dominican Republic," The Latin American Studies Association 30, no. 1 (1995): 82. 39 Charles E. Chapman, Colonial Hispanic America: a History, (New York: The Macmillan company, 1933), 14-17. 40 Chapman, 30.
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immediately landed on Hispaniola to start conversions.41 The New World was an opportunity to ensure missionaries a direct passage to Heaven. Religious dissent against the cruel actions of the
Spanish in the early years moved the Spanish government to enact the Laws of Burgos, a series of progressive, but unenforceable laws that were based in religious morality for better governing practices in the colonies, and were written out of respect for Queen Isabella and to pacify the friars.42 The Laws of Burgos, although supposedly protectionist laws, actually had the effect of justifying the native’s enslavement:
Whereas, the King, my Lord and Father, and the Queen my Mistress and Mother (may she rest in glory!), always desired that the chiefs and Indians of the Island of Española be brought to a knowledge of our Holy Catholic Faith, and Whereas, they commanded that certain ordinances be drawn up, by their Highnesses…Whereas it has become evident through long experience that nothing sufficed to bring the said chiefs and Indians to a knowledge of our faith (necessary for salvation), since by nature they are inclined to idleness and vie, and have no manner of virtue or doctrine (by which Our Lord is disserved), and that the principal obstacle in the way of correcting their vices and having them profit by and impressing them with doctrine is that their dwellings are remote from the settlements of the Spaniards who go hence to reside on the Island, because, although at the time the Indians go to serve them they are indoctrinated in and taught the things of our Faith, after serving they return to their dwellings where because of the their own evil inclinations, they immediately forget what they have been taught and go back to their customary idleness…43 Done in this City of Burgos, December 27, 1512. I, The King I, Lope Conchillos, Secretary to the Queen, our Mistress The Bishop of Palencia – Count of Pernia
41 Antón de Montesinos et al., Three Dominican Pioneers in the New World, (Lewiston, N.Y.: E. Mellen Press, 2002), 9. 42 Bartolomé de las Casas and Nigel Griffin, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1ed. (London, England; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1992), 90. 43 The Laws of Burgos. Laws of Burgos 1512-1513 excerpted in Southern Methodist University Archives, http://www.faculty.edu/bakewell/BAKEWELL/texts/burgoslaws.html (accessed January 25, 2013).
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Friars went back and forth from the West Indies to Spain to report on the abuses of the
Spanish.44 Although this effectively did nothing for the natives, it created the precedent for an institution that would advocate for the victimized and downtrodden. After Isabella died in 1504,
King Ferdinand exploited the colonies solely for money, and the circumstances only got harsher.45 As Spanish technology and greed in the fifteenth century decimated the native populations on Cuba and Hispaniola. Columbus wrote in his journal of the native peoples, “They do not have arms and they are all naked, and of no skill in arms and so very cowardly that a thousand would not stand against three [armed Spaniards]. And so they are fit to be ordered about and made to work, plant, and do everything else that may be needed, and build towns and be taught our customs.’”46 From 1492 through the nineteenth century, Spanish held slaves on these islands; slavery was easy and profitable. The journal entry seemed to be referring primarily religious belief when he mentions “our customs” for the Spanish justified their actions repeatedly by forcing conversions on the natives. Exploitation of the natives became a normative practice, and the native populations were subjected to torture and horror. There was little comfort, with the exception of the Church, which became the institutional provider of benevolence as seen in their efforts to report abuses.
Antonio de Montesinos, Domingo de Betanzos, and Gonzalo Lucero, Dominican friars on
Hispaniola, wrote an account of their activities on the island. In the “Historic Sermon of Antonia de Montesinos,” he reportedly preached in a sermon to the owners and abusers of natives on
Hispaniola:
44 Montesinos et al., 29. 45 Chapman, 25. 46 Taylor, 35.
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I want you to know why I am Christ’s voice in the wasteland of this island; I want to draw your attention, touch your hearts and appeal to your judgment; I want you to listen! This may be new to you, you may had heard my voice before, the most severe, the most demanding, the most terrible for you to listen to…I have to tell you that you are all in a state of mortal sin; you now live in it, and you will die in it, and this on account of the cruelty and tyranny you practice on these innocent natives. What authorities have you for waging war on these people who used to live peacefully and without aggression on their own lands? How dare you keeping them in thralldom, not even feeding them properly nor looking after them in sickness? They have once flourished in large communities, but a great many are now dead and forgotten as a result of your actions. They die as a result of the dreadful burdens you impose on them, or let me express it in strong language: you kill them by compelling them to work in gold mines, for the sake of the wealth you greedily amass. Have you made the slightest effort to introduce them to our faith, to our God, to have them baptized, to attend mass and to observe feast days? Are they not rational human beings? Are you not therefore obliged to love them as you love yourselves? Can you not see and feel this? Are you all sunk in the deepest sleep?47
Montesinos was appalled by his fellow Christians’ enslavement of, and cruelty towards, the natives. He was also bereft to find that Christian conversions were not taking place as frequently or as comprehensively as promised. For centuries, the brutality against the Taínos was severe; much of the population died. Most reproduced unwillingly, with Spanish conquistadores churning out a new mixed race people called mestizos. The Spaniards began bringing African slaves to the island to replace the dying population. The Church, as represented in these friars’ compassionate voices, had the only social presence in Cuba and the Dominican Republic from the earliest European incursion; missionaries accompanied the conquistadores in the name of religion. They were there to spread Christianity and watch over the conquistadores and natives alike. 48
In 1795, Spain ceded the Dominican Republic to France after an invasion from the
Haitian side of the island. This process was neither a quiet nor an easy. At the time, the
47 Montesinos et al., 18-19. 48 Montesinos et al., 76.
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Dominican Republic provided a great amount of raw material for Europe. Political upheaval and fighting had taken place over the exports since 1784. Local struggle on Hispaniola between the
French and Spanish mimicked the larger war on the European continent.49 The French were taking Spanish cities one by one. During this time, much of the clergy remained loyal to Spain and evacuated the island. Some, inspired by the ideas of the French Revolution, secularized.50
Roman Catholicism wavered under French colonial rule, but never faded into oblivion.
Thirteen years later, however, a group of Spanish Creoles revolted and retook Santo
Domingo from the French. Santo Domingo’s españolismo or Spanish loyalist sentiment surfaced during this brief moment of independence. Frank Moya Pons, a Dominican historian, describes the thought process: “Poverty again became universal and a deep pessimism fell on the populace composed mainly of colored people who perceived themselves as white, Hispanic, and Roman
Catholic, and who did not want to be abandoned by Spain.”51 There were still strong tie to the island’s colonial roots; Dominicans had a habit of valuing the Spanish ethnically and religiously above the French or their natives. The Church had played a large role of educating elites during
Spanish rule. A faction of well-trained, educated, wealthy elites with the mindset to rebuild and restore the glory of Santo Domingo.52 These elites maintained a small but forceful presence that paid homage to Roman Catholicism and their Spanish motherland while establishing both as central tenants of Dominican identity. This social group brokered independence for a brief period with the help and influence of Spain. In 1822, however, Haiti invaded the Dominican Republic;
49 Frank Moya Pons, The Dominican Republic : a National History, (Princeton, N.J.: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1998), 98. 50 Moya Pons, 105. 51 Moya Pons, 116. 52 Martinez-Fernandez, 71.
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this was a crushing blow to the Dominican people, and at least for the moment stifled the
Dominican identity that had been reborn during independence.
During the twenty-two years of the Haitian occupation (1822-1844), the Church was stripped of much of its influence and power.53 When Juan Pablo Duarte founded the liberation movement against the oppressive Haitian occupation. He and his fighters were called Las
Trinitarias because they fought in the name of Dios, Patria, y Libertad or “God, Country, and
Liberty,” rooted on the idea of the Holy Trinity. The Archbishop of Santo Domingo Pedro
Valera supported the movement and denounced the heretical nature of the Haitians.54
Juan Pablo Duarte was a devout Roman Catholic. He was vitriolic about the Haitian invasion and especially the treatment of the Church. Las Trinitarias were based in purity and simplicity of independence under God with liberty for the Dominican people.55 Las Trinitarias prevailed against the Haitians, and elevated Catholicism, once again raising the Christian faith into a heroic position. At the end of the long road to independence for the Dominicans, the
Church had endured. Although the institution may have wavered during the occupation, the hearts and minds of the Dominicans remained loyal. Roman Catholicism again served as a rallying point for their identity; the Church became transcendent in the Dominican struggles and a constant reminder of the Dominican identity.
The sociopolitical history of the Dominican Republic after independence is complex.
The political turmoil that ensued after the Haitian occupation created a country rife for revolution after revolution until the government of Generalissimo Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina also
53 William L. Wipfler, "Power, influence and impotence the church as a socio-political factor in the Dominican Republic" (Ph.D. diss., Union Theological Seminary, 1986): 52. 54 Wipfler, 52. 55 Moya Pons, 149.
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known as El Jefe forcibly took charge. The prevailing theme was that Roman Catholicism swathed in españolismo united the Dominican population to fight for independence and identity.
The aftermath of independence
As historian Luis Martinez-Fernandez argues, “the political leadership flip-flopped in their political stances according to which way the geopolitical winds were blowing [in the
Dominican Republic], the Roman Catholic Church remained a bastion of Dominican nationality.”56 After independence, but prior to Trujillo, power shifted forty-nine times and fourteen constitutions were ratified, then discarded in the Dominican Republic. The country was in shambles. In the struggle against the French, the Spanish had shelled and burned the major cities. Crops had gone unplanted and supplies were sparse during the rebellion against Haitian occupation.57
Pedro Santana y Familias became the first president of the Dominican Republic. He believed that God had vanquished the Haitians as a gift to the Dominicans. He honored Duarte and Las Trinitarias as heroes, and he restored the Catholic Church financially and physically.58
The Archbishop of Santo Domingo Portes proclaimed in a pastoral letter citing Deuteronomy:
“‘The Lord will bring against you a people from a remote end of the earth, who are swift as the eagle, whose language you will not understand, shameless people without respect for the elderly nor compassion toward the tender aged, a people who will eat all of your fruits and spare not
56 Martinez-Fernandez, 70. 57 Wipfler, 76. 58 Martínez-Fernández, 73.
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your animals.’”59 He claimed this prophetic message meant that God had been on the
Dominicans side. He and Santana continued to preach the idea that the Haitians were the
“shameless people” and the Dominicans had vanquished them as per God’s will. This idea united the proud Dominicans for a time while Santana established a government.
The second president of the Dominican Republic had been a priest prior to the first of his five terms as president. Buenaventura Báez Méndez was a staunch Roman Catholic; it was not a coincidence that a member of the clergy was elected after Duarte and Santana had elevated the
Church so high. While in power the first time, Báez limited the acceptance of other religions and groups in the Dominican Republic. Only Roman Catholicism would be nationally recognized. He permitted the convocation of the Seventh Diocesan Synod “to update the Church regarding the social and political circumstances of the nation.”60 Garnering favor with the Vatican, a tactic to win him more benediction among the Dominican people and within the Holy See, Baéz abrogated the articles in the new constitution that limited the Roman Catholic Church’s authority in the political sphere. This president prided himself on his Europhilia. He envisioned the
Dominican Republic as a bastion of Europe, and placed Roman Catholicism at the forefront of
Dominican life as a symbol of that vision.61
Over the next several years, Santana and Báez traded off the presidency; they were heated enemies by this point. When Báez returned in 1856, he promised the Pope at their first meeting to: “‘restore the Roman Catholic Church all those things of which it was despoiled with
59 Martínez-Fernández, 74. 60 Betances, 26. 61 Martínez-Fernández, 77.
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sacrilegious impudence in the time of our predecessor.’”62 Before Báez could settle his promise, he had to flee the country because he upset the tobacco farmers with his economic policies. Báez spent his exile in Cuba.63
In and out of office, Santana was sure that the Dominican Republic would only survive if it was annexed. He originally hoped the United States would annex the new republic, but the ongoing American Civil War made that unlikely. Spain already had been eyeing the Caribbean as a western port as the United States fought internally, and so could not defend the sentiment of the Monroe Doctrine. Santana and the Spanish Crown collaborated to annex the Dominican
Republic to Spain. Santana justified this by explaining that the Dominican Republic would go from being “‘a weak nation whose independence was an empty banner repeatedly blown around by powerful winds’ to being ‘the robust offspring of a mighty power [under Spain].’”64 Santana proclaimed in excitement of the annexation: “‘Together we shall kneel in front of the altars built by that nation, in front of the altars that it will find as they were left, intact, unmoved, and still crowned with its coat of arms.’”65 His españolismo showing, Santana was optimistic about a return to tradition.
Generally, however, the Dominican people were outraged and betrayed that they had returned to the Spanish rule of law after going through such great efforts to gain independence; they felt they wanted to retain a connection to the Spanish, but as an independent country.
Traditions could be similar, but statesmen had to be separate. One of the major insults to the
62 Martínez-Fernández, 78. 63 Martínez-Fernández, 79. This is interesting because Cuba in later chapters Cuba and the Dominican Republic will interchange exiles in the name of the Christian faith several times. 64 Martínez-Fernández, 80. 65 Martínez-Fernández, 80.
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Dominican people was that Spain immediately appointed a Spanish archbishop. Bienvenido
Mozón y Martín was not popular among the Dominican clergy. He determined that the
Dominican Church was too loose in their practices, and decided to bring the Dominican people under stricter Roman Catholic rule. He began to impose new rules and regulations for the
Church. The Dominicans were deeply aggrieved to learn of this new infringement on their customs.
Monzón was disliked by all parties; the Dominican population was angry at the accusations that they were not Roman Catholic enough, and the Dominican clergy felt attacked.
General José de la Gandara, the commander in charge of ensuring Spanish control in the
Dominican Republic, accused Monzón of riling up the people and causing them to rebel. As
Sumner Welles, a special foreign service commissioner for the United States, described the
Archbishop of Santo Domingo: “‘Archbishop Monzón soon proved himself to be, in his utter failure to grasp the necessity of conciliating public opinion, a worthy colleague of most of the
Spanish officials.’”66 Monzón returned to Spain, and left the Dominican church in a state of confusion and disarray without a leader.67
Gregario Luperón and Santiago Rodríguez had had enough. In a bold and aggressive move later termed el grito de Capotillo, the two men gathered an army and on August 16, 1863, in the midst of the confusion, initiated the War of Restoration. The Dominican rebels had few resources and fought a guerilla war.68 Two years later, the Spanish signaled that they were not
66 Wipfler, 74. 67 Betances, 27. 68 Moya Pons, 213.
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particularly interested in fighting this war any longer. Queen Isabella II withdrew her troops signing an annulment of the annexation.69
At this point, the Dominican Republic had evolved into an oligarchy; the majority of the population was impoverished and illiterate in rural areas, and a small group relied on magnetism and caudillismo to run the government instead of experience of wisdom.70 There were a few quick presidential transitions; first Duarte then several others passed through the position unsuccessfully. The Dominican clergy, although somewhat disorganized at this point, was held in high esteem for its presence and contribution to the restoration of the Republic.71 Báez returned from his Cuban exile, and took his place as president. The clergy was less supportive of
Báez during this term; they were hoping to bolster nationalism, and Báez was again focused on international relations. He was quickly ousted.
Father Fernando Arturo de Meriño, a well-known priest among the Dominicans and at the
Vatican, stepped forward to become the voice for rebuilding national pride and independence.
Sumner Welles described Meriño: “‘A politician more than a priest…clothed in his clerical robes, Padre Meriño took the oath of office and read his inaugural address, but if any malcontents believed that the clerical garments in which their new President was garbed conveyed any weakness, any pity for the evil-doer, or any reluctance to punish the insurgent, they were grievously mistaken.’”72 Meriño began training local Dominicans at a seminary in
69 Moya Pons, 218. 70 Moya Pons, 221. 71 Wipfler, 77. 72 Wipfler, 88.
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Santo Domingo creating a national clergy.73 His national clergy was revolutionary. Dominicans no longer had to import priests from Spain. Instead, they could have their own people performing the mass. This was a proud moment for the Dominicans and a large step forward in building nationalism. Meriño preferred his position as Archbishop of Santo Domingo (1885-1906) rather than his brief term as president (1880-1882).74 Meriño made great strides in incorporating the
Roman Catholic belief and practice into the national identity. He also signed a proclamation declaring that religion should be taught in all schools in the nation. He pushed for a Christian- oriented government focused on public works projects, and building infrastructure for the people.75
At the same time the Dominicans were reaffirming their national identity, nearby Cuba’s nationalism was undergoing political change. The Dominican Republic took in approximately
5,000 refugees from the Cuban War for Independence. Báez had treated Cuban immigrants poorly because he was trying to garner favor with the Spanish, but the newer and more liberal government accepted the Cubans. This new circumstance bolstered the economy of the
Dominican Republic in unforeseen ways. Wealthy Cubans began investing in sugar plantations and natural resources on the island of Hispaniola, which led to a competitive national and international market for the Dominican Republic. Even the United States joined in on the investments.76 These years were prosperous and plentiful for the Dominican Republic. The
73 Betances, 28. The Spanish had exiled Meriño in the early part of their annexation because of his nationalistic tendencies. 74 Betances, 28. 75 Betances, 29. 76 Moya Pons, 260.
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churches on the island profited with the influx of money as well as the newly ordained
Dominican clergy continuing to grow in numbers.
Over the years, however, public money was mishandled, and by 1886, the Dominican
Republic was in the midst of deep international debt and a political crisis.77 In 1899, the United
States agreed to become the Dominican Republics’ sole creditor and quickly bailed out the country. In this way, the Dominican Church became the United States’ main liaison; it was the most stable institution on the island and the one the Americans most trusted.78 In effect, the
Church fused into the government. To the developed world, the Church was the most reliable organization in the Dominican Republic, superseding the Dominican state department. The
Church acted as the pseudo-international relations body for several years fortifying its eminence.79
On April 1, 1908, the Dominicans ratified a new constitution. Ramón Arturo Cáceres
Vasquez was elected president in a popular vote decreed by the new constitution. Cáceres had served as vice president, politician, and lawyer for many years prior to the promulgation of the constitution. Although a liberal, a peacemaker, and an ally to the United States, Cáceres was assassinated only five years after taking office.80 Cáceres’ period of peace and prosperity was quickly unraveled. Eladio Victoria seized the presidency. Victoria was a puppet for his militant
77 Moya Pons, 279. 78 Moya Pons, 294. 79 Coordinating with the Dominican Church rather than directly with the state department was not an overtly offensive act to the Dominicans at the time, who were developing Roman Catholicism and he institution of the Church into their national identity . This statement may not be wholly true. I am creating this from the several histories and primary sources of this time period, in which the Dominicans seem appeased to have the church dealing with foreign affairs. However, this does not mean that all Dominicans agreed with this tactic, and some may have found the United States to be offensive in not dealing directly with the Dominican government. 80 Moya Pons, 307.
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nephew Eladio Alfredo. With the army by their side, the Eladios were able to take the country and establish a dictatorship. A series of bloody civil wars took place between those who preferred democracy and the Eladios’ army. Hearing of the near fall of the Dominican Republic and acknowledging the United States’ high stake in the country’s success, American President
William Howard Taft dispatched a unit to quell the violence.81
After fighting and blood, on November 30, 1912, the United States helped to set up a provisional government with Archbishop Adolfo Alejandro Nouel as president. Just four months later, however, Archbishop Nouel decided he could not control the country and stepped down.82
José Bordas Valdez swept the subsequent election. Bordas did not have very good luck either, however, and just six months after taking office, the Revolución del Ferrocarril broke out. The
United States again stepped with the guarantee of free elections in exchange for peace.83
As World War I approached, Washington D.C. debated whether to keep troops in the
Dominican Republic or to pull them out. President Woodrow Wilson decided to make the occupation official and post troops permanently in the Dominican Republic.84 Wilson was a known expansionist. He spoke, for example, in Detroit to the Salesmanship Congress on the topic of spreading Americanism:
This, then, my friends, is the simple message that I bring to you. Lift your eyes to the horizons of business; do not look too close at the little processes with which you are concerned, but let your thoughts and your imaginations run abroad throughout the whole world, and with the inspiration of the thought that you are Americans and are meant to carry liberty and justice and the principles of humanity wherever you go, go out and sell
81 Moya Pons, 307. 82 "Dominican Republic," in University of California San Diego [database online]. [cited 2013]. Available from http://libraries.ucsd.edu/locations/sshl/resources/featured-collections /latin-american-elections-statistics/dominican-republic/index.html. 83 Moya Pons, 310. 84 Moya Pons, 321.
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goods that will make the world more comfortable and more happy, and convert them to the principles of America.85
Wilson believed in spreading American trade and liberal ideals. His decision to keep American troops in Santo Domingo was not unexpected. Colonel Edward M. House, advisor to the
President, wrote in his personal diary in 1915 about expansionism in Latin America, and mentioning the U.S. goals in Santo Domingo:
He [Lansing] laid some memoranda before me concerning the Caribbean countries, which he thought needed attention. He believes that we should give more intimate direction to their affairs than we would feel warranted in doing in other South American states. He puts them in the same category with Santo Domingo and Haiti and believes we should take the same measures to bring about order, both financial and civil, as we are taking those countries. I approved this policy and promised to express this opinion to the President.86
House highlighted the financial aid and stability that the United States provided for the
Dominican Republic. Once the United States committed its aid, modernizing developments skyrocketed. Moya Pons expounded: “Although the Dominican Republic still retained many of the characteristics of a rural, traditional, and backward society, by 1927 the urban classes had begun to experience change much more profound than any since the arrival of the Spaniards in
1492.”87 The economic gap became even greater than before. Poor rural areas lapsed into further poverty while the wealthy were growing wealthier as they encouraged foreigners to invest in their economy backed by the United States.
When Horacio Vásquez won the election, it was understandable that he would ask for a loan. The United States lent Vásquez and the Dominican Republic $25 million to consolidate the
85 Norman Gordon Levin, Woodrow Wilson and World Politics; America's Response to War and Revolution, (London; New York: Oxford University Press, 1970), 18. 86 Levin, 20. 87 Moya Pons, 346.
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accumulated debt.88 According to Moya Pons, Dominican leaders deemed their control solely due to the United States’ intervention.89 As it became increasingly clear that the country was dependent on American money and troops, Dominicans began to feel a growing urge towards nationalism. Propaganda advocated Dominican freedom and nationalism dominicanismo.90
American involvement was becoming too reminiscent of Spanish colonization and annexation.
The press began urging term limits for the presidency.91 It was unclear exactly who was behind this movement, but Vásquez fell severely ill; he was too weak to properly rebut and did not mount a competitive opposition campaign.92 In a quick and quiet military coup, Rafael Leonidas
Trujillo Molina seized the capital. A military leader and pugnacious politician, he entered the election with Estrella Ureña as his vice president. Trujillo forced the other party to withdraw from the race, and Trujillo and Ureña won running unopposed.93
This political period was chaotic for the Dominican Republic to say the least. Only the
Church provided the hope of a backbone in this period of mayhem and disarray except the
Church. Often the only constant has been the Church. Despite the involvement of Spain and the
United States, despite the violent revolutions, and despite immigrants from other cultures, the
Church maintained its presence. The Dominicans integrated it into their culture, tradition, and identity - which meant that it would be forever interwoven in Dominican life and politics.
Trujillo’s dictatorship and the Roman Catholic Church
88 Moya Pons, 339. 89 Moya Pons, 339 90 Caudillismo means the want and need for a dictator. The term is specific to Latin America. 91 Moya Pons, 348. 92 Moya Pons, 352. 93 Moya Pons, 356.
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Ninety-five percent of Dominicans define themselves as Roman Catholic to this day.94
Roman Catholicism shapes the social system as well as the political state. The line between church and state is hazy at best; the Church played and still plays a visible role in political decisions thanks to Trujillo. By the time Trujillo penetrated the government, the Dominican
Republic had not had a single polity lead the country for more than a few years at a time in the past century. Recognizing the presence of the Church, Trujillo almost immediately sought to legitimize his rise to power through the Church.95 In his first year in office, he showered the
Church with favors. Trujillo restored the Church, fallen to the wayside during the political turmoil of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the Dominican Republic. He encouraged the return of friars to the countryside, which had not been allowed since the Spanish banned them in the 1767. He poured money into church construction and made sure that the clergy felt welcome.96 In 1931, he reinstated the property rights of the Church.97 El Jefe gave the welcoming speech to Papal Inernuncio Giuseppe Fietta himself. He proclaimed:
The nexus that unite the Holy See and the Dominican Republic are truly immortal. I will be personally and actively interested in consolidating these nexuses while I am in charge of the National Executive. I trust that your efforts will be fruitful under the protection and cooperation that my government will offer you. I believe in the spiritual force of our religion and think that it will be always an unquenchable source of comfort and a moral element of powerful influence in establishing progress, well-being, independence and our definitive constitutional stability.98
94 "The World Factbook," Central Intelligence Agency Publications. October 20, 2012. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html, (accessed October 23, 2012). 95 Betances, 19-35. The idea of seeking legitimacy through the Church was reminiscent of the Divine Right of Kings, but seemed especially appropriate in the Dominican setting. 96 Howard J. Wiarda, "The Changing Political Orientation of the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominican Republic," 239. 97 Wiarda, 239. 98 Betances, 34.
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Immediately, Trujillo acknowledged the power and influence of the institution, even using the words “power and influence” in his address; the Church had the longest-standing history and best reputation in the Dominican Republic of any other institution. Trujillo was politically savvy when choosing his allies; to the common people, these gestures of strengthening the Church demonstrated Trujillo’s confidence in the institution that was so crucial to the Dominican experience. For the dictator, these deeds bolstered favor within the institution which meant that the Church would support him.
Trujillo promised the Church that he was fully committed to building Roman Catholicism to its fullest glory in the Dominican Republic. To prove his loyalty, Trujillo wrote up the
Concordat and Final Protocol between the Dominican Republic and the Holy See. A few of the critical articles read:
Article 1: The Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Religion is the Religion of the Dominican Republic, and shall enjoy the rights and prerogatives due to it under Divine and Canon Law. Article IV, 1: The Dominican Republic shall recognize the legal personality of all religious institutions and associations established under Canon Law in the Dominican Republic on the entry into the force of this Concordat. Article XV, 1: The Dominican Republic grants full civil recognition to marriages contracted under Canon Law. Article XIX, 3: Where possible, the Dominican Government shall charge religious orders with the management of hospitals, old people’s homes, orphanages, and other national charitable institutions. Article XXI, 1: Religious education in [any type of] school shall be freely organized and imparted by the Ecclesiastical Authorities.99
99 Rafael Trujillo and Domenico Tardini, Concordato entre la santa sede y la República Dominicana, 16 de Junio de 1954, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_ state/archivio/documents/rc_seg-st_19540616_concordato-dominicana_sp.html (accessed November 15, 2012).
Artículo 1: La Religión Católica, Apostólica, Romana sigue siendo la de la Nación Dominicana y gozará de los derechos y de las prerrogativas que le corresponden en conformidad con la Ley Divina y el Derecho Canónico.
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The Church became an official national institution; Trujillo stripped it of its independence while glorifying it. In this way, as Emelio Betances explains, the Church had a great amount of representation and notoriety, but the deeds of the Church strategically fell under the purview of Trujillo’s government. The mutual agreement was this that Trujillo would make the state a socially Catholic state and the Church would submit to the power of Trujillo’s government.100 The Church would retain its powerful position as an influential entity among the
Dominican people, but Trujillo would dictate the terms.
Trujillo subtly demanded much in exchange from the Church. He saw the influence and power that the Church had over his people especially among the working classes, and he needed the church to continue to influence them in order to maintain his power. Historically, the
Dominicans had supported politicians who endorsed the Church, from Duarte to the early Baéz presidencies. The Vatican had named Canon Armando Lamarche to the seat of Archbishop of
Santo Domingo. He died soon after, and was replaced by Father Rafael Castellanos. Father
Arículo IV, 1: El Estado Dominicano reconoce la personalidad jurídica a todas las instituciones y asociaciones religiosas, existentes en la República Dominicana a la entrada en vigor del presente Concordato…
Artículo XV: La República Dominicana reconoce plenos efectos civiles a cada matrimonio celebrado según las normas del Derecho Canónico.
Artículo XIX, 3: El Gobierno Dominicano, cuando sea posible, confiará a religiosos y religiosas la dirección de los hospitales, asilos y orfanatos y otras instituciones nacionales de caridad. La Santa Sede, por su parte, favorecerá tal proyecto.
Artículo XXI, 1: El Estado Dominicano garantiza a la Iglesia Católica la plena libertad de establecer y mantener, bajo la dependencia de la Autoridad eclesiástica, escuelas de cualquier orden y grado. En consideración de la utilidad social que de ellas deriva a la Nación, el Estado las amparará y procurará ayudarlas también mediante congruas subvenciones.
100 Betances, 20.
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Castellanos was a student of Father Meriño; he was an apologist who valued the autonomy and dignity of the Church. With Castellanos in power, Trujillo felt threatened by his advocacy of the
Church’s independence.
During a fateful sermon in 1933, Father Castellanos included a blessing for all authorities in the Dominican government, but failed to mention Trujillo by name. This action incensed
Trujillo and he lobbied the Vatican to remove Father Castellanos. The Vatican did not comply.
In a risky maneuver, Trujillo had his Congress name Alejandro Nouel publicly as archbishop. A showdown was avoided by Father Castellanos’ death in January 1934.101 In a demonstration of force, Trujillo revealed that he would not be subjugated to the Vatican’s authority, but the
Church would submit to his jurisdiction.102 This manipulation of the Church for his own power was out of sight for the Dominican population. They saw Trujillo as a friend of the Church, and thus a friend to dominicanismo.
Often comparing him to a great hero or lion heart, Trujillo’s sycophantic followers created a personality cult called Trujillismo surrounding his image; this fell along the lines of
Roman emperors depicted as gods, except more blasphemous in Christianity. The Dominican
Church was equally sycophantic. The Church constantly praised him. A parish priest at the time,
Castillo de Aza, wrote an entire book dedicated to Trujillo as the great benefactor of the
Dominican Church:
101 Wipfer, 126. 102 During Trujilloʼs second term, the Vatican appointed Fr. Ricardo Pittani as Archbishop of Santo Domingo. William Wipfer a theologian suggests that there was talk that Trujillo chose Pittani, but there is no evidence to support this charge. Reverend Pittani was an ideal archbishop for Trujillo. He surrendered the Dominican Church completely to the rule of Trujillo.
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Trujillo, in World History, is comparable to Constantine the Great and Pepin the Brave. As for the first, because of the legal recognition of the Church, and as for the second, because he is a man who has created the patrimony of St. Peter, as a heritage for the Dominican church that all future generations will enjoy.103
Trujillo was the man predestined by God, that, in agreement with the higher echelons of the
Roman Catholic Church would place the Church in a position of advantage.104
Trujillo was also often referred to as a prophet in Dominican circles. Such an attribution was impious and prideful, and would be considered blasphemy except that the Dominican
Church fully supported these professions. Every public gathering including masses, every speech, every public works project featured hyperbole about Trujillo. Even children’s textbooks taught this ideology. An exiled professor, Carmita Landestoy wrote contemptuously about the schoolbooks: “‘Love Trujillo because he gives you peace.’ ‘Trujillo is the best friend of the working man.’ ‘Trujillo is the only one who brings you water.’ ‘Trujillo is sleepless thinking of the welfare of his people.’ ‘We must love and respect Trujillo because he gives us our daily bread.’ ‘Trujillo would sacrifice everything for his people.’ For this reason, I would prefer that
[the children] remain illiterate.”105 Trujillo’s ideology indoctrinated both the illiterate and literate.
The institutions across the island reiterated Trujillismo sentiments; these words echoed through the rural areas and into the cities.
103 Zenón Castillo de Aza, Trujillo, Benefactor de la Iglesia, Editora del Caribe, 1955), 7-8. Trujillo, en la Historia Universal, encuentra su paralelo en Constantino el Grande y en Pipino el Breve. Como el primero, reconoce personalidad jurídica a la Iglesia y como el segundo, que habia creado el patrimonio de san pedro, forma un patrimonio para la Iglesia dominicana que disfrutarán todas las generaciones venideras. 104 Castillo de Aza, 7-8. La Iglesia en la República Dominicana, sin Trujillo en el poder, tal vez habría seguido derroteros similares a los que se acaban de indicar; pero providencialmente, Trujillo fué el hombre predestinado por Dios, para que, de común acuerdo con las altas Jerarquías católicas, situara a la Iglesia en una posición ventajosa.
105 Wipfer,128.
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It is here that one can examine at the similarity between the Spanish who employed the
Church to control the colonies and the state of the Dominican Church under Trujillo. During colonization, priests and missionaries worked to provide a better environment for the natives; but in reality Catholicism empowered the Spanish to continue their exploits in the name of conversion. It is here that one can examine at the similarity between the Spanish who employed the Church to control the colonies and the state of the Dominican Church under Trujillo. During colonization, priests and missionaries worked to provide a better environment for the natives; but in reality Catholicism empowered the Spanish to continue their exploits in the name of conversion. Trujillo used the Church to his advantage. The Church was an established body in the Dominican Republic that people trusted; Trujillo exploited this trust and used the Church to further his power over the working class and poor communities.106 Trujillo used the Church to his advantage. The Church was an established body in the Dominican Republic that people trusted; Trujillo exploited this trust and used the Church to spread his message and to the working class and poor communities.107
The history of the Catholic Church on the island of Cuba
“He says that the island is full of very beautiful mountains, although there are no very long ranges, but they are lofty, and all the rest of the land is high like Sicily.”108 On October 28,
1492, Christopher Columbus sighted Cuba. He sailed from the shores of Hispaniola to the island
106 Psalms 37:11. 107 Psalms 37:11. 108 Columbus, 46.
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that he mistook to be a peninsula.109 When he landed on Cuba, he called the island Juana after
Prince Don Juana.110 Columbus loved this island.
Because I saw, as I recognize, said the admiral, that these people have no creed and they are not idolaters, but they are very gentle and do not know what it is to be wicked, or to kill others, or to steal, and are unwarlike and so timorous that a hundred of them would run from one of our people, although they jest with them, and they believe and know that there is a God in Heaven, and they are very ready to repeat any prayer that we say to them and they make the sign of the cross. So Your Highness should resolve to make them Christians, for I believe that, if you begin in a little while you will achieve the conversion of a great number of peoples to our holy faith, with acquisition of great lordships and riches and all their inhabitants for Spain. For without doubt there is a very great amount of gold in these lands, so that it is not without reason that these Indians, whom I carry with me, say that there are places in these islands where they dig gold and wear it around their necks, in the ears, and on the arms and legs…111
After establishing and securing settlements on the island of Hispaniola, Christopher Columbus returned to Cuba during a second visit. Reporting back, Columbus spoke of the wonderful nature of the Cubeños and their raw material.112 The Spanish king ordered explorations to be kinder to the Cubeños for both spiritual and economic reasons. The Taínos, the natives of Hispaniola, were dying out and the human capacity was fast declining. The friars complained about the terrible conditions for the people; as a result, the King decided this conquest would be somewhat gentler.113
The Spaniard Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar had settled on Hispaniola after Columbus’ second voyage. The king ordered Valázquez to leave Hispaniola and help colonize Cuba. The first settlement on Cuba was launched in 1511 and was called Nuestra Señora de la Asunción or
109 Chapman, 15. Christopher Columbus was under the impression that Cuba was Cipango, a mythical land of gold and precious metals, which Marco Polo had described as off the coast of India. 110 Irene Aloha Wright, The Early History of Cuba, 1492-1586, (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1916), 6. 111 Columbus, 58. 112 Wright, 22. 113 Wright, 23.
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Our Lady of the Ascension. Valázquez used all his own wealth to get to the New World, so to him it seemed pragmatic to reimburse his expenses by enslaving Cubeños. Like the other conquistadores, he claimed that this was in the name of converting the native population.114
Valázquez and his crew practiced a tactic they called repartimiento; they captured Cubeños, house and clothe them, and force them into slave labor as repayment for these “luxuries.” To the conquistadores, this was a benevolent gesture. Valázquez claimed that this was a necessary step in converting the Cubeños. The earliest conquest of Cuba was gradual and less violent than on
Hispaniola, but by modern standards was still quite horrific.
One reason the conquest was actually less deadly for the Cubeños than the Taínos at the beginning of the Cuban conquest was because, during the few years between the conquest of
Hispaniola and Cuba, Haitian and Taíno slaves had escaped to Cuba and warned the Cubeños about the evil doings of the Europeans. The Cubeños began to resist as the conquistadores began to move inland.115 It was not uncommon for natives to escape and establish communities in the mountains of Cuba.116 They were also able to mount limited opposition, which saved some of the population at first. Already, there was a spirit of independence and autonomy taking hold on the island of Cuba that was to often surface in later years. With a surfeit of opportunities for forced labor and resources, however, Cuba became an economic magnet over the years – nobody was safe. Gold washing and foodstuffs brought conquistadores flocking to the island.117 The Cubeño
114 Wright, 28. 115 Wright, 26-31. 116 Gabino La Rosa Corzo, Runaway Slave Settlements in Cuba : Resistance and Repression, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 40. 117 Jaime Suchlicki, Cuba : from Columbus to Castro and beyond, 4th , new, rev, updated. (Washington: Brassey's, 1997), 22.
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opposition ultimately failed and most of the island was enslaved. There was little to no hope for even those Cubeños whom had escaped the first conquest.
The conquistadores preached that God had brought them to this land of riches in exchange for saving the natives’ souls. Another large cross was built on the island to honor
God’s presence.118 From then on, as in the Dominican Republic, Roman Catholicism was an integral part of the colonization era. However, Cuban colonization was contemporaneous to the ascent of capitalism.119 Despite the catholic overtone, the wealth and resources became tainted with greed and corruption. The royal Spanish government on the island became the source of fraud and misconduct, the Spanish government’s means of income, and so the government increasingly allowed the Spaniards on the island to abuse natives in full force to wring out every resource.120 However, this mismanagement lasted a only few decades.
By 1539 conquistadores and adventurers almost completely deserted the island for the even more profitable lands on the continent. The early settlements fell to shambles, and Cuba became solely the gateway to the New World, a refueling stop for incoming ships. Cuba was on the fringe of the Spanish empire during these years; the only attention the Spanish gave Cuba was elaborate fortification to ensure goods and resources got back to the motherland. Leaving
Cuba with only centralized mayors appointed by the Spanish, the island functioned solely as a
Spanish market with few Spanish settlers.121 Cuba became the center of the tobacco exportation to Spain. Spain forced the factoria system on the Cuban tobacco, cacao, and sugar growers; factoria was an arrangement by which Spanish businessmen would advance the money for the
118 Wright, 8. 119 Aurelio Alonso, "Religion in Cuba's Socialist Transition," Socialism and Democracy (2012). 120 Suchliki, 25. 121 Ted Henken, Cuba : a Global Studies Handbook, (Santa Barbara, Calif.: Abc-Clio, 2008), 40.
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products to ensure that the harvest would go directly to Spain.122 This meant that Cuba had to rely only on the Spanish market, which made the island economically vulnerable. The investment in tobacco plantations also meant that few Spaniards were obliged to be on the island as plantation owners, and the rest of the population were plantation slaves or freedmen. This process left a mix of natives, mestizos, poor Spaniards hoping to find their fortune, and an
African slave population to replace the natives. When brought to Cuba, African slaves were always forced to convert to Christianity. The Church became the “political arm to the state.”123
The mayors and plantation owners were not really on the island to govern; they were there to generate profit. The Church filled the void.
In 1756, the Seven Years War began. Britain captured and held Cuba. The Cuban population celebrated the British occupation; Cubans were aware that the British had more advantageous trade agreements with their colonies than the Spanish. Cubans began to take part in the British market. The British brought over Enlightenment theories of government and society as well as ten thousand slaves to bolster the Cuban economy.124 With the growth of the population of slaves and radical Protestant ideas, the Church decided to send even more
Dominican friars to teach at the Royal and Pontifical University of San Jerome in Havana to rebut Enlightenment ideas.125
Fearing the spread of British influence across the globe, Spain decided to trade Louisiana for Cuba, Florida, and Manila.126 During the British occupation, Cuba had begun to look towards
122 Henken, 46. 123 Suchliki, 29. 124 Henken, 50. 125 Germán Muñoz, Catholic Social Thought: Cuba, Anonymous , Ph.D.ed. 126 Suchliki, 40.
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North America as a market; after 1776, the United States had become the largest and most profitable economic market for Cuba.127 Spain allowed this trade agreement to continue in order to stem potential revolts on the island; finally, Cuban had a place to export and sell their goods other than Spain. Again, Cuba became a gateway, but this time for the profitable slave trade to
North America.
As slaves entered onto the island in chains, a priest sat in an ivory chair baptizing each as he/she exited the ships from Africa.128 By 1840, the vast majority of those living in Cuba were of
African descent.129 In Cuba, like on most islands where African slaves were working, the slaves acculturated by incorporating traditional African religious practice into Roman Catholic practice.
There were many such religions in Cuba, but the most studied has been Santería.130 Santería is a set of practices that help one to accept and live in harmony with their assigned fate. The religion celebrates the Catholic saints while integrating traditional folkloric beliefs from different African cultures.131 The Church retained a degree of influence, and a hefty congregation legitimizing their presence, because Santería still had partial Christian roots. The Church became wealthy through land acquisition and tithes. A sense of national identity grew as the wealth of the island
127 Suchliki, 46. 128 Miguel A. De La Torre, Santería : the Beliefs and Rituals of a Growing Religion in America, (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2004), 3. 129 Lydia Chávez and Mimi Chakarova, Capitalism, God, and a Good Cigar : Cuba Enters the Twenty-First Century, (Durham: Duke University Press, 2005), 212. The practice of manumission was not uncommon when a slave became too old or decrepit to work. In the Siete Partidas of King Alfonso the Wise written in the thirteenth century, slaves were technically allowed to buy their freedom (Ayorinde, 9). This meant that there were a large group of freed slaves on the island by the late eighteenth century; they formed groups called Cabildos de Nación (Henken, 38). These groups were influential in the society, and played a big role in furthering African shaped Christian religious like Santería. 130 Rosanne Marion Adderley, "New negroes from Africa" : Slave Trade Abolition and Free African Settlement in the Nineteenth-Century Caribbean, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006), 156. The different religions practiced in Cuba stem from the origins of the slaves [Christine Ayorinde, Afro-Cuban religiosity, revolution, and national identity, (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004, 12)]. 131 De La Torre, 4 and 11.
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increased, and Roman Catholicism bridged some of the racial differences. Moreno Fraginals, a poet of the period, wrote:
The black and the Cuban together Make war on the cruel Spaniard.132
Together all the races of Cuba would rise up and defeat the Spanish. Consciousness of community formed from increased wealth and unification.
While Cuba was chaffing for independence, the United States closely observed the burgeoning movement. The Cubans waged several wars for independence in the nineteenth century; however, the United States did not act. Finally, in the 1898, Cuban liberation movement was coming to a climax.133 The United States felt that it was time to intervene, and entered the war against Spain in support of Cuba libre.134 With aid and encouragement from the United
States, the Cubans signed a new constitution in 1902 with the Platt Amendment attached stating that Cuba was a “protected republic” and the United States had the authority to intervene if its independence was threatened.135 This newly written Cuban constitution weakened the influence of the Church’s role in Cuba. Among other things, the new Cuban constitution officially separated the Church from the state; and invalidated religious marriage and the teaching of religion in schools. Cuba immediately struggled with corruption in the new government, and economic instability undermined the markets. In 1920, the instability provoked a sugar market
132 Ayorinde, 31. El negro y el cubano juntamente Al cruel español hagamos guerra. 133 Henken, 71. 134 Henken, 72. The United Statesʼ Congress signed the Teller Amendment: The United States “ʻdisclaims any intention to exercise sovereignty or controlʼ over Cuba and would ʻleave the government and control of the island to its people.ʼ” 135 Henken, 74.
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collapse. This depression impacted the Cuban middle class hardest; many were compelled to sell their plantations to foreigners in an attempt at survival.136 The loss of a middle-class led to an extremely stratified society and an incursion of foreign investments led Cubans to plea for national reform. Many Cubans felt that the United States’ role was harmful; they charged the
United States with imperialism and demanded the removal of the Platt Amendment.137 After a few years of threats and revolts against the United States’ presence in Cuba, political corruption, and the beggarly economy, Sumner Welles, arrived in Havana to help restore democracy and protect American investments.138 To that end Welles backed the young Fulgencio Batista y
Zaldívar as the next president of Cuba. Batista had control of the military and was popular among Cubans. In a controversial move, Welles backed by the United States, the Cuban Church, and Batista supporters encouraged the overthrow of the president of the time Gerardo Machado y
Morales.139
Batista drafted the 1940 Constitution which was largely a progressively secular document. He supported the United States in World War II and allowed the American military to use Cuba as a base.140 Cuba’s economy was again growing.141 During this time, the Church was officially apolitical and was allowed to remain a presence in society. According to John C.
Super, however, the Church was only moderately engaged in country.142 Politically, Batista was indifferent towards the Church, which did not help its cause. He, in fact, legalized the practice of
136 Henken, 78. 137 Henken, 79. See Note 133. 138 Henken, 84. 139 Muñoz, 3. Many Roman Catholics in activist positions had advocated the overthrow of Machado since he had come to power. 140 Henken, 90. 141 Henken, 92. 142 John C. Super, "Interpretations of Church and State in Cuba, 1959-1961." The Roman Catholic Historical Review 89, no. 3 (2003): 513.
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Afro-Cuban religions which took their practice outside the authority of the Church.143 This led to a lack of tithes which meant that there was less money flowing through the local churches which further reduced their ability to have much public impact in Cuba at this point.
The Church habituated into an institution for the wealthy, the only segment of society left to support it. Sergio Arce Martínez, a Presbyterian theologian in Cuba described the Roman
Catholic Church: “‘it was a church of the wealthy, the powerful, and the exploiters, and never ceased to be such.’”144 Most people wealthy and poor, however, still considered themselves
Roman Catholic.145 Those who did consider themselves Roman Catholic in rural areas, where the Church had little influence, received sacraments and went to mass infrequently.146 The
Church was best known for its work in schools.147 The Church, however, retained an important presence. With an influx of clergy members from Spain during the independence movement, the
Church financed schools for the Cuban elite and social institutions for the poor.148
The theologian Giulio Girardi defended the Church in Cuba:
The churches, particularly Roman Catholic, are not mobilized primarily to defend the interests of the bourgeoisie and of the empire but to defend their own political and cultural interests, namely their intellectual and moral supremacy. They do not oppose the revolution primarily because it strikes at the interests of the bourgeoisie and the empire, but rather because it proposes a system of values, an interpretation of reality, a new conception of man and an educational program that presents an alternative to the church;
143 Ayorinde, 41. 144 Super, 515. Of course this is a bias perspective but still shows what the Church seemed to be doing from the international perspective. 145 Alonso, 149. 146 Super, 513. 147 Super, 513. According to Gregorio Delgado García, Cuba was one of the most developed in healthcare in all of the New World. He writes that the first public health institution was built in 1634 to try to cure Yellow Fever. There were several breakthroughs about tropical diseases made in Cuba. Cuba has gone through several adjustments to the health system to fit the most current need of the population [Gregorio Delgado García, "Martí y la medicina cubana. (Spanish)," Revista Cubana de Salud Pública 33, no. 4 (2007): 1-9.] 148 Muñoz, 2.
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and therefore appears as a new hegemonic actor and competes with the church over its own territory.149
Giardi suggests that the Church was filling in as much as it could in the absence of a sympathetic government; schools, however, were not enough to win the Church favor among the dissatisfied
Cubans.
Cuba and the Roman Catholic Church under Fidel Castro
In his first attempt at revolution, Fidel Castro led a guerilla militia into battle against
Batista’s men at the Moncada barracks outside of Havana. Castro was captured and imprisoned.
At the trial, he proclaimed: “History will absolve me.”150 Castro displaced the first words of the traditional Catholic penance of absolution that priests say – “Our master Jesus Christ will absolve you,” with the word “history”.151 Castro liked to use symbolic language; this statement, consciously or subconsciously, foreshadowed the displacement of the Cuban Church after the success Castro’s revolution.152
Batista made the mistake of releasing the man who had won favor with the Cubans in his efforts to overthrow the government. Freed from prison, Castro fled to Mexico. There he met
Ernesto “Che” Guevara; together the rebels put together a militia.153 On July 26, 1959, Castro,
Guevara and 1,200 combatants waged a violent coup against Batista: el Movimiento 26 de Julio
149 Alonso, 152. 150 Ignacio Ramonet, Fidel Castro, and Andrew Hurley, Fidel Castro : My Life : a Spoken Autobiography, 1 Scribner, (New York: Scribner, 2008), 165. 151 Sacramento Pœnitentiæ: Dominus noster Jesus Christus te absolvat. And, La historia me absolverá. 152 Ramonet and Castro, 245. 153 Theodore H. MacDonald, A Developmental Analysis of Cuba's Health Care System since 1959, (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999), 26.
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M-26-7.154 During this moment, Guevara and Castro started Cuba on a path unlike that of any other nation in its region.155
The penance of absolution would have been familiar to Castro, a Roman Catholic by birth. He attended Catholic elementary school then both a Jesuit high school and university, as was the custom for the upper/middle class Cubans of the time. Castro candidly shared how he saw the world through a Christian lens throughout his youth. He attributed his sense of sacrifice, adventure, and disdain for a profit motive to his Jesuit education.156 In an interview 2006, Castro spoke candidly about his childhood:
What memories do you have of [your younger years]? …There was a change in the status quo. The family moved into a house – next door – which was better, so now our roof didn’t leak, and there was more space. And a little less hunger too….Anyway, my sister married the Haitian consul, who earned a salary, the food was a little better….They were the ones who took me to the cathedral in Santiago to baptize me, because I was called ‘the Jew’ – that’s what they called people that weren’t baptized… You hadn’t been baptized? No, I was baptized after I’d turned eight…157
When Castro’s family married into the middle class, he was assured access to the conservative
Roman Catholic education. His most pronounced memory from youth was an experience
154 Ramonet and Castro, 107. 155 Che Guevara, a rebel and one of the instigators of the revolution against Batista was not a proponent of religion. Guevaraʼs ambition was to better Cuba, but interestingly he did not see the Church as an instrument for making changes for the working classes. Guevara publicly announced his blasphemous ideas in an article : “In fact, if Christ himself stood in my way, I, like Nietzsche would not hesitate to squish him like a worm” (Timothy P. Wickham-Crowley, "Terror and Guerrilla Warfare in Latin America, 1956-1970," Comparative Studies in Society and History 32, no. 2 (1990): 216). The inspiration for the Revolution lacked religious aspects. Guevara was a principled man; he believed in certain morals, but these did not fall under the purview of the Church (Ramonet and Castro, 165). He did not see the Church laboring for the working class, and thus dismissed religious participation in the coming Revolution. Guevara remained an influential member of the post-revolutionary government for just a few years before leaving to broker more revolutions across the globe.
156 Sheldon B. Liss, Fidel! : Castro's Political and Social Thought, (Boulder: Westview Press, 1994), 12. 157 Ramonet and Castro, 58-59.
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determined by his religious status. He was both an observant Christian and a member of the middle to upper echelon of society in his early years.
“‘[T]he Roman Catholics of Cuba have lent their most dedicated co-operation to the cause [of the revolution],’” Castro remarked in an early speech to the Cubans; the Roman
Catholics were people like himself who sought reform for Cuba after the painful dictatorship of
Batista.158 The revolutionaries were not quick to label the revolution a Marxist movement; the leaders described it instead as a call the destruction of tyranny, a growth of nationalism, and a reinvention and commitment to human dignity for all Cubans – omitting the words “socialist” and “Marxist” from the revolution’s vocabulary.159 “‘The Cuban people have achieved a source of national independence that they never had before. They enjoy a personal dignity that has always been denied them. For the first time, Cubans are masters of their own country,’” said
Castro.160 Cuba, having struggled with identity, finally had a national outlook; this renewed the pride of the country.161 Castro and his cohorts crusaded for these changes, but rarely mentioned the means by which they would change the face of Cuban politics. The revolutionary government spent eleven months slowly fashioning Cuba into a communist-socialist society from a capitalist-semi democratic system without mention of Marx; it was not until 1961 that
Fidel publicly termed the coup a “socialist revolution”: “‘We have effected a socialist revolution under the very nose of the United States.’”162 At this point, some Cubans left the country, but for
158 Super, 516. 159 MacDonald, 23. 160 Liss, 64. 161 Beginning in the holiday season of 1961, all nativity scenes had to have a bohio (Cuban hut) as the birthplace of Jesus. Nelson claims that even the three wise men resembled Guevara, Castro, and Juan Almeida (Nelson 158). Castro clothed the Church in his influence. 162 Liss, 64.
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the most part those who had stayed after the revolution had a good sense of what was going on even if it was not explicitly stated. There new developments were, however, a shock to foreign governments like the United States.163 At first, the Church sided with the revolutionaries as seen in Giulio Giardi’s statement above; they could no longer stand by while Batista ruled poorly as a depraved dictator. Only after he proclaimed himself a Leninist-Marxist in 1960 did the Cuban
Church begin to view Castro as a threat.164
In 1960, all businesses including foreign-funded companies in Cuba were nationalized.
This move alarmed the United States, and aggravated the fear of communism spreading worldwide during the uncertain period that marked the beginning of the Cold War. As Castro said: “From the first moment [to this day], the American administration has been working to create an unfavorable image of the Cuban Revolution. They have carried out huge publicity campaigns against us, huge attempts to isolate Cuba. The objective has been to halt the influence of revolutionary ideas.”165 The United States did what it could to quell the revolution; almost immediately, it cut off business ties with Cuba.166 The United States had little success. Castro was not a proponent of external institutions. This included the United States, which he realized early on, did not support his revolutionary goals, as well as the Church, a foreign-influenced institution that he understood to be lethargic at best and anti-revolutionary at worst.
163 At the beginning there was a mass exodus of wealthy Cubans and religious Cubans, even before Castro announced his plans to impose socialism on Cuba (John M. Kirk and H. Michael Erisman, Cuban Medical Internationalism: Origins, Evolution, and Goals, (New York: St. Martinʼs Press LLC, 2009), 26). 164 Super, 517. 165 Ramonet and Castro, 256. 166 Liss, 22-23.
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Castro replaced the reputed role of the Church as an institution for the people, and promised he would do a more comprehensive job than the Cubans had ever seen. Already by
1959, Raúl Castro, second in command, demobilized all Roman Catholic action groups.167 It was a slow persecution. An article in The Catholic World, a Catholic magazine, described the process from an international perspective: “[c]ontrols were imposed gradually and under plausible pretexts. Direct interference with individual devotion was kept to a minimum. Every precaution was taken to avoid making martyrs. Instead the Church was ridiculed, weakened, isolated, penetrated. Our job, they said, is to cut away the roots, and the tree will wither and die.”168
As a proponent of equal access to education, Castro nationalized all the Catholic schools.
He also exiled over one hundred and thirty foreign priests who preached anti-revolutionary sermons. If they preferred to stay in the country, anti-communist priests were forced into re- education camps.169 Castro often referred to the Roman Catholic Church with such incendiary language as “‘peons of the American embassy,’ ‘Franco Fascists,’ and ‘scribes and
Pharisees.’”170 He “ridiculed, weakened, isolated, penetrated” the churches effectively.171 Castro made very clear to the Cuban Church that they must stay out of politics.172 The Church understandably became more and more fearful of Castro’s government. Castro announced in
1961,
167 Super, 518. 168 M. Aguirre, "The Persecution in Cuba," The Catholic Modern World 193, no. 1153 (1961): 28. 169 Larmer, Brook, Paternostro, Silvana, "The Battle for Cuba's Soul," Newsweek, 1/19/1998 1998, sec. International: 2. 170 Roman Catholic Church, "Castro v. the Church," 76, no. 8 (1960). 171 Roman Catholic Church, 76. 172 Lowry Nelson, Cuba: the Measure of a Revolution, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1972), 156.
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We must talk of a new constitution…a constitution contributing to a new social system without the exploitation of man by man. That new social system is called socialism…education, the dignity of man, civil rights for women, secure old age, artistic freedom, nationalization of monopolies, and the necessities of life…is the program of our socialist revolution.173
In a personal interview later in his life, Castro replied to the question: “Another accusation that was made against you in the early years of the Revolution is that there was religious persecution.
You nationalized the Roman Catholic schools, expelled some of the clergy and arrested priests.
Do you think there were excesses there?”
We nationalized all education, not just the Roman Catholic schools. This is a radical profound revolution, those are the words I use for it, and I can justify and show why – but there was not a single priest executed. And that is part of a policy and an idea – [it stems from] not just ethical principles, but also political principles. It was in the interests of imperialism, or imperialist government of the United States, to portray the Cuban Revolution as an anti-religious revolution, based on the conflicts that occurred in the first few years and forced us to take certain measures. That’s how the conspiracy got started, and really, we couldn’t just sit back and watch it happen. Very serious things happened.174
The Vatican responded to Castro’s actions with tempered words about its fears for the
Church in Cuba and Fidel’s blasphemy. The Church opposed the revolution on ideological reasons. Giulio Girardi, a Roman Catholic theologian, explained that the Church opposed the revolution because the ideals of the revolution stripped the Church of its moral supremacy.175
The Marxist-Leninist ideology that Castro adopted created a materialist dream that all people could be satisfied and comfortable in this life; whereas, the Church was preaching that this earthly life did not so much matter and that the afterlife was the ultimate goal and place for comfort and serenity, the “meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in an
173 Liss, 23. 174 Ramonet and Castro, 236. 175 Alonso, 152.
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abundance of peace.”176 After a pastoral letter in 1960 was made public to the Cuban population criticizing socialism, a bomb exploded in a church dedicated to the patron saint of Cuba. It was never determined who set off the bomb, but much of the evidence suggests it was ordered by the government.177 Castro was serious about keeping the Church in its place.
Socially, Castro sought to drive the elite out of their positions of power. The state confiscated and nationalized Cuban-run companies and land plots, effectively powerful and leveling downward in the Cuban population. Many upper and middle class emigrated from Cuba to protect their wealth.178 With regard to the Church, the new socialist government continually enforced the idea that the Church did not help the laity by terming the clergy and Church the
“foreign bourgeois institution.”179 Castro used the Church as an example of an ineffective institution that the government could and would replace. Healthcare was a key element in
Castro’s plan to provide social welfare. During 1957, 42.3% of rural Cuban families had inadequate shelter, 63.97% had no indoor sanitation facilities, only 3.26% had running water,
30.93% had suffered from malaria, and 13.25% at the time of the survey had typhus. The Church had two hundred and fifty institutions that were meant to provide social welfare to the Cuban people.180 These were focused on the cities and upper class and had little impact on the rural populations. In 1957, 44.11% of rural Cubans did not attend school and 43.09% were illiterate.181
176 Dermot Keogh ed., Church and Politics in Latin America, Anonymous St. Martin's Press, 1990), 254 and Psalms 37:11. 177 Nelson, 156-157. The patron saint of Cuba is La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre. 178 Nelson, 171-172. 179 Keogh, 259. 180 Keogh, 269. 181 Keogh, 269.
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Castro made these statistics known. Not only that, he reformed the entire social welfare system.
Every person was provided with government funded health care and education.182
Cuban socialism provided equal access and care for all Cubans.183 These were services the Church had once advocated or provided on a limited scale. Now Castro’s government was actually implementing these reforms and on a wider scale. There was a leveling of hierarchical systems across the country; militantly radical changes were being put in place. In order to incorporate his new works officially, Castro rewrote the constitution. Issued on February 24,
1976, his document guaranteed that all Cubans were protected from exploitation at work, that peasants had access to land, that rents were regulated, that education was mandatory, and that medical care and hospitalization was free and accessible to all. Castro ensured that his people were both mentally and physically cared for: physical education would be taught and sports facilities would be built; everyone had the right to a vacation and rest days; all Cubans would be provided with accident and life insurance, maternity leave, job retention; and gender and racial equality would be practiced across the country.184
These were strategically progressive plans; Castro was able to reduce inequality while creating dependency. Because all these provisions were delivered through the government, the
Cubans became reliant on Castro and his far reaching programs. Theoretically, Cubans would not have to look outside of their government-supported lifestyle to gain the benefits from social welfare. As an example, in an interview, Castro promoted his health care system as the most advance and equal in the hemisphere:
182 Nelson, 187. 183 Nelson, 192-193. 184 Liss, 66-67.
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Our infant mortality rate has dropped from 60 per 1,000 live births to a figure that ranges between 6 and 6.5, the lowest in the hemisphere, with the exception of Canada, from the United States to Patagonia. Life expectancy has increased more than fifteen years. Infectious and transmittable diseases such as poliomyelitis, malaria, neonatal tetanus, diphtheria, measles, chicken pox, mumps, whooping cough and dengue have been eliminated; others, such as tetanus, meningococcal meningitis, hepatitis B, leprosy, Haemophilus meningitis and tuberculosis are totally controlled. Today, people die in our country of the same diseases as in the most highly developed nations: cardiovascular disease, cancer, accidents, and so on. A profound revolution is being carried out to take medical services to the population, in order to facilitate access to clinics, preserve lives and relieve pain.185
The Cuban health system especially was state of the art. Thus, this was one more essential service that the Church was no longer needed for. Roman Catholicism became a secondary institution in the lives of everyday Cubans.186 The Cuban Church no longer had the social influence that had been so integral to legitimizing the organization; Castro had created a holistic system in which no external institutions could realistically compete with the government.
185 Castro and Ramonet, 585. 186 Lydia Chávez and Mimi Chakarova, Capitalism, God, and a Good Cigar : Cuba Enters the Twenty-First Century, (Durham: Duke University Press, 2005), 208. Castro did not fully rid the country of the Roman Catholic Church for he recognized the religious and spiritual aspect of the life of the mind. However, by providing these provisions, he aimed to lessen the influence and power that threatened his own dictatorship.
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Chapter III:
Abortion Policy as it Relates to the Sociopolitical Influence of the Catholic Church in Cuba and
the Dominican Republic
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The function of social policies with Roman Catholicism influence during dictatorships of Trujillo and Castro
Roman Catholicism served as an integral part of the identity in both the Dominican
Republic and Cuba for centuries. Not only was Catholicism part of the identity, but the Church served as the only countervailing force against raw exploitation of people and resources for long periods in Caribbean history. The traditional and underlying view of the Church was that the poor and suffering on Earth will actually be the ones who reach Heaven, as stated by Matthew’s gospel states: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven” and “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”187 So, although the Roman Catholic Church often provided basic social welfare, it was not a fundamental tenet of the Church nor in the best interest of the congregants to radically change the social welfare system. Church teachings reminded the laity that they could suffer through life on earth, but then would be guaranteed spiritual redemption and eternity in Heaven.188
Looked at more broadly, the Church, even in moments of kindness and service, was fundamentally conservative; it was not an instigator of change or revolution.189 By providing social welfare at a low level, in fact, the Church helped maintain the status quo in these countries. Maintaining social welfare was different from advocating for social reform; it was ancillary to the already established society. On the spectrum, if the Church was at full strength,
187 Matthew 5:3 and Matthew 5:10-11. 188 Some people do disagree on this point. 189 In the case of Duarte, the adopted Dominican identity included Catholicism, but it was not the actual institution that launched the independence movement.
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it would provide some needed services; if it was weak, it would sometimes speak for social welfare, but the theme prevailed that the Church was an attendant to the afflicted rather than an insurrectionist for the suffering.
While the Church continued into the twentieth century as a provider of social welfare, to some degree a global movement began to sweep governments. National governments began to be proactive in providing social welfare to their citizens; neither the Dominican Republic nor
Cuba would be left out this trend.190 Economist Peter Lindert argues that taxpayers began supporting the poor when the population began aging and the average income increased, there was a trend of private and public investment in social welfare increased between the periods of
1880 to 1930 and then from 1960 to 1980 due to the increase in gross domestic product among the middle and upper classes.191 Trujillo’s surge to power took place right on the cusp of the first wave of the worldwide increase in government involvement in social welfare, and Castro’s at the beginning of the second wave.
Trujillo was aware of the newly developing expectations of a national leader, but he was working within a system that favored hierarchy and private investment in social welfare. This made the Church a perfect vehicle for meeting those expectations and otherwise enhancing his control, and helps explain why his regime came to embody Betances’ notion of Church subordination to the state. The Dominican Church was weak and in disarray when Trujillo arrived. It only had one archdiocese in the country. The institution was at a point of stagnation.192
Trujillo bolstered the presence of the Church with a revived fervor. As discussed above, he went
190 Peter Lindert, Growing Public : Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century, (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2004), 11. 191 Lindert, 61. 192 Wipfler, 116.
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through the measures of ensuring that the Church was properly respected in the Dominican
Republic, unearthing the dregs of the once vital tradition. Trujillo endeared himself to the institution then and harnessed its power to his own advantage. A Dominican historian, Howard J.
Wiarda, explained that Trujillo was one of the few totalitarians who was almost able to “‘secure absolute mastery over every political and social institution.’”193 This meant that, although, the
Church still existed, it was forced to work within the framework of Church subordination to the state to remain a viable institution. Trujillo was able to mold the Church into a vassal for his dictatorship. In this way, he invested in the Church, and the Church provided the masses with enough social welfare and optimism to keep them passive.
Raphael Trujillo had complete control and influence over the handful of elites in society.
He was an oligarch and did his best to guarantee that those on top would remain at the on top.
The history of the Dominican Republic points to the power and influence of the aristocracy – dating back to the elites who brokered independence prior to the Haitian invasion to the string of wealthy dictators securing their place with the elite classes. Trujillo did not reinvent the system; he kept the status quo intact. He promised the Church power if it, in return, would continue its traditional role of assuaging the working classes and the impoverished. El Jefe took over the media and all forms of communication; one of the most effective modes of communication in rural Dominican Republic was the local churches. He employed the local churches to spread his message to the rural and illiterate population. With the increase in physical church structures and clergy, the Dominican Church was rejuvenated, and so Dominican people were attending church regularly and receiving the information repeatedly. Pericles Franco Ornes, an exile of the
193 Wipfler, 119.
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Trujillo regime wrote, “Unfortunately he [Trujillo] has received the ready cooperation of many prelates and priests who have been converted into his most furious cheerleaders…And the pulpit is used too often as a rostrum where they proclaim their immoral discourses that defend
Trujillo’s crimes and forget the people’s misery.”194
To further his goal of using the Church as an instrument of his dictatorship, Trujillo had to encourage and support the social constructs of the Catholic Church, so that it would retain legitimacy.195 In order for the Church to be a legitimate part of the state, the codes could not contradict one another. One such rule was the mandate against abortion. Making abortion illegal, for example, was absolutely necessary in order for the Church and state to be in sync.
Theologically, the Roman Catholic Church was grounded in the idea that abortion was murder the ultimate sin.196 The Dominican law had to follow therefore, and so abortion was strictly outlawed.
Trujillo’s policy in this case meant integrating already established Catholic social edict into national law. The Dominican criminal code reads:
Article 317. - (Model Law No. 1690 of 8-4 - 1948 GO 6783, Law 224 of 26.06.1984 and by law 46-99 of 20/05/1999). The one who causes or cooperates directly causing abortion of a pregnant women, through the use of substances, medicines, concoctions, treatments or any other means, shall be punished with imprisonment, even when she consents to it. The same penalty shall be imposed on the woman who causes a self-induced abortion, consents to the use of substances for such purpose, or undergoes abortive practices, provided that the abortion was carried out. People who have put a pregnant woman in communication with someone who performs abortion, will face a penalty of imprisonment ranging between six months and two years, even if they have not cooperated directly in the abortion, provided that the abortion is carried out. Physicians,
194 Wipfler, 130. 195 Nancy Stepan, The Hour of Eugenics : Race, Gender, and Nation in Latin America, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), 210. 196 Stepan, 111-112. Stepen goes on to argue that this is why negative eugenics did not spread into Latin America in the 1920s and 1930s when the idea and science was spreading across Europe.
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surgeons, midwives, nurses, pharmacists and other medical professionals, who, abusing their profession, shall cause abortion or cooperate in it, will face a penalty of five to twenty years of high security imprisonment, if the abortion is carried out.197
“Actors [the Roman Catholic Church] employ frames that advance strategic interests, and they are more or less likely to prevail depending on their political clout, the extent of opposition, and their ‘fit’ with historic patterns of policy,” says Htun et al.198 Trujillo may not have directly been concerned with the abortion laws, but his support of anti-abortion laws aligned with in the systemic tradition of the Dominican Republic.
According to a United Nations report on the Dominican Republic’s human rights:
“persons who perform an illegal abortion are subject to imprisonment for an unspecified term, as are women who cause their own abortions or consent to an abortion…If the person performing the abortion belongs to the medical or paramedical profession, he or she is subject to five to twenty years of hard labor.”199 This is the harshest and most stringent national abortion policy in
197 Decree No. 2274 National Congress, Sanctioning the Dominican Penal Code. Criminal Code Decree No. 2274 of the National Congress read and still reads: Art. 317.- (Mod. Ley No. 1690 del 8-4- 1948 G. O. 6783; Ley 224 del 26-6-1984 y por la ley 46-99 del 20-5-1999 ). El que por medio de alimentos, brebajes, medicamentos, sondeos, tratamientos o de otro modo cualquiera, causare o cooperare directamente a causar el aborto de una mujer embarazada, aun cuando ésta consienta en él, será castigado con la pena de reclusión menor. La misma pena se impondrá a la mujer que causare un aborto o que consintiere en hacer uso de las substancias que con ese objeto se le indiquen o administren o en someterse a los medios abortivos, siempre que el aborto se haya efectuado. Se impondrá la pena de prisión de seis meses a dos años a las personas que hayan puesto en relación o comunicación una mujer embarazada con otra persona para que le produzca el aborto, siempre que el aborto se haya efectuado, aun cuando no hayan cooperado directamente al aborto. Los médicos, cirujanos, parteras, enfermeras, farmacéuticos y otros profesionales médicos, que, abusando de su profesión, causaren el aborto o cooperaren a él, incurrirán en la pena de cinco a veinte años de Reclusión Mayor, si el aborto se efectuare. 198 Htun et al., Divorce and Abortion, 211. 199 “Data and Statistics,” The World Bank [database online], 2012, http://www.worldbank.org/.Population Policy Data Bank (accessed October 12, 2012).
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the Caribbean.200 This law is incredibly similar to the fourth century traditional Catholic- influenced law in the Roman Empire that lasted through the Middle Ages in Europe:
She who has deliberately destroyed a fetus has to pay the penalty of murder. And there is no exact inquiry among us as to whether the fetus was formed or unformed. For, here it is not only the child to be born that is vindicated, but also the woman herself who made an attempt against her own life because usually the women die in such attempts. Furthermore, added to this is the destruction of the embryo, another murder, at least according to the intention of those who dare these things. Nevertheless, we should not prolong their penance until death, but should accept a term of ten years, and we should determine the treatment not by time, but by the manner of repentance.201
Rarely is a woman put in jail for the attempt of abortion in modern days, but in both these texts women cannot even attempt to have an abortion without a punishment; abortion is considered in both texts as a heinous crime. In the modern doctrine of Evangelium vitae, the Pope decreed:
The Church's canonical discipline, from the earliest centuries, has inflicted penal sanctions on those guilty of abortion. This practice, with more or less severe penalties, has been confirmed in various periods of history. The 1917 Code of Canon Law punished abortion with excommunication. The revised canonical legislation continues this tradition when it decrees that "a person who actually procures an abortion incurs automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication. The excommunication affects all those who commit this crime with knowledge of the penalty attached, and thus includes those accomplices without whose help the crime would not have been committed. By this reiterated sanction, the Church makes clear that abortion is a most serious and dangerous crime, thereby encouraging those who commit it to seek without delay the path of conversion. In the Church the purpose of the penalty of excommunication is to make an individual fully aware of the gravity of a certain sin and then to foster genuine conversion and repentance.202
These comparisons demonstrate how closely Trujillo’s laws associate with traditional canon law.
Trujillo included a penalty for a woman who received an abortion, a professional who performs abortions, or anybody else involved and penalties for attempts at abortion. Laws prohibiting
200 “The Worldʼs Abortion Laws 2013,” The Center for Reproductive Rights, 2013, http://worldabortionlaws.com/map/, (accessed February, 2013). 201 Gorman, 66-67. 202 Pope John Paul II, Evangelium vitae.
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abortion in the Caribbean typically assign punishment to the doctor who performs an abortion.
Rarely do they go as far as to legislate on considering an abortion, and there is usually more leniency if the mother’s life is in danger.203
Strict laws prohibiting abortion remain standard in the Dominican Republic to this day.
According to Morgan, however, the elite women were able to find and pay for doctors who could perform abortions. Safe clinical abortions were available to those with economic resources. The working-class and impoverished women were the ones forced to either abide by the law or choose to have an unsafe and unregulated abortion.204 Upper-class women outwardly supported the illegality of abortion as well as other Roman Catholic edicts, but went ahead and had safe procedures despite the taboo nature of it. Merike Blofield an author on morality and ethics wrote, “The distribution of income and resources mediates the strategies and the relative impact of the Roman Catholic Church and conservatives on the one hand and feminists and reformists on the other hand. The higher the share of income in the hands of the elites, the harder it is to mount an effective reformist challenge to resolve urgent social problems, even on a policy area where we would not intuitively expect it to have much, if any, effect.”205 In a stratified society, such as the Dominican Republic, it was hard to make change when the wealthy caste had all the money. According to Morgan et al., it is nearly impossible to mobilize a society without the
203 "The World's Abortion Laws 2013," The Center for Reproductive Rights, 2013, www.worldabortionlaws.org/map/, (accessed February, 2013) 204 Lynn M. Morgan and Elizabeth F. S. Roberts, "Reproductive Governance in Latin America, Anthropology and Medicine 19, no. 2 (13 August 2012), 249. This also means that maternal deaths among lower class women are sky rocketing compared to elite those in the elite due to unsafe abortive practices. Thus, because poorer women are suffering the consequences, and in the Dominican Republic those with economic resources are the ones with power, there are few political movements to save these women and reverse the laws. 205 Merike Blofield, The Politics of Moral Sin : abortion and divorce in Spain, Chile and Argentina, (New York: Routledge, 2006): 6.
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upper class supporting the movement. So, as long as the wealthy women could get their abortions, there was no conspicuous move for change. A similar experience was happening in
Antigua, one medical administrator commented:
If we try to push this legalization business, we are just going to push the Church, the conservatives, the whole society against us, and the safe abortions that are happening are going to stop…The Church knows about this…I’m not going to ruin what works well here because our concern is the health of our women…Down the line, legal. Right now, safe. This is our highest moral principle.206
In this way, Trujillo further garnered the support of the elite. If upper class women were able to get abortions clandestinely, easily, and safely, they had no complaints about the law.207
The Church was a political tool for Trujillo. The Church maintained certain standards for the lower classes, and Trujillo provided the support and freedom of the wealthy class. Removing the religious component to abortion, anti-abortion laws were an example of the way the traditional-minded society worked: the poor followed the Church and the rich ran the country.
Thus, abortion presents an excellent example of how Trujillo used the Church and its teachings to exercise control. Through his policies ensured that the elites were satisfied, thus, there was little trepidation of an uprising. He fortified the institution that controlled the lower classes most.
The Church was happy because it had legal backing for a fundamental religious dictum and
Trujillo was happy because the Church had dominion over the lower classes without threatening the upper classes.
The Cuban experience under Castro, on the other hand, reduced the Church’s power and influence to almost nothing. Cuba is an interesting case study of Church-state rupture; the island
206 Gail Pheterson and Yamila Azize, "Abortion Practice in the Northeast Caribbean: "Just Write down Stomach Pain", Reproductive Health Matters 13, no. 26 (2005): 48. 207 Morgan et al., 249.
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is the only Caribbean nation to completely break from the Church. Although Castro and
Guevara brought the radical idea of Leninist-Marxist socialism to Cuba, this staggering individuality can be, in part, understood as arising from the Cuban colonial experience and the people’s interaction with the Church. The specific outcome of socialism could not have been predicted, but the island was primed by its history to accept a system that was not Church-based.
From the African tradition of Santería to Che’s dismissal of the Church, the institution was not as wholly received favorably in Cuba as it was in the Dominican Republic. Cuba had a streak of independence running through its past which when compounded with a declining Church means that a rupture was not such a radical shift. When asked whether the Cuban Revolution began on
July 26 after Castro invaded Havana, Castro replied: “That wouldn’t be completely fair, because the Cuban Revolution began with he first War of Independence in 1868, which started on 10
October of that year.”208 Castro implies here that, from the beginning, his people were revolutionaries whom were not friends of external institutions controlling their lives.
Because of the influx of slaves or because the Spanish abandoned Cuba very quickly,
Christianity did not take root in Cuba during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as deeply as it did in the Dominican Republic. This difference could be that the Dominican Republic was not as profitable a plantation island as Cuba, and did not have as many slaves, or because the
Spanish had executive structures set up in the Dominican Republic through the nineteenth century and Cuba had few to none. My hypothesis is that, even though the Spanish exercised control over Cuba, the Spanish Crown and conquistadores did not settle in Cuba for very long.
Few Spaniards stayed in Cuba after the mainland was found. This contrasted with the
208 Ramonet and Castro, .
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Dominican Republic where the Spanish and French set up communities and sent large Spanish and French populations to inhabit the cities. There is a difference between prescribing cultural practice such as religion from another continent as in Cuba, and making it a culture to celebrate mass every week, for example, by doing it oneself as in the Dominican Republic.
Margaret Crahan, a historian of Cuban government, explains that the Cuban Church experienced a long decay in the 1920s and 1930s. The Church was not reaching out to the people in the rural and impoverished communities. Instead, the Church had been focused on preventing the spread of Protestantism, secularism, and communism on the island mainly in the urban areas.209 Of four hundred families polled in rural Cuba in 1957, 53.3% identified as Roman
Catholic, but half had never laid eyes on a priest.210 Thus, in 1959, when Castro came to power, the Church did not have the weight or agility in these communities to remain an influential body in the face of Castro’s promise of a holistic social welfare program.211 The Church lost the opportunity to be part of the movement, the Archbishop of Havana Enrique Pérez Serrantes admitted gloomily in a sermon to his congregation: “‘We cannot say that communism is at the doors for in reality it is within our walls, speaking out as if it were at home.’”212 Castro did not need the Church to convince the population to support his regime. Cuba’s new socialist government embraced the role of the comprehensive welfare state.
209 Koegh, 256. 210 Koegh, 257 and 269. 211 The Church reaffirmed their commitment to social justice in January 1959 during the Conference of Latin American Bishops, but it was already too late. Castroʼs socialist regime promised and followed through with a social welfare program for the masses (Koegh, 254). 212 Crahan, 258.
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By 1987, only eight Roman Catholic institutions still existed from the previous two hundred and fifty that were established on the island pre-revolution.213 Fidel Castro put a special emphasis on women’s health and well-being because of their important role in building an egalitarian society. Castro had the health department set up women’s clinics, Sanitary Brigades, and a network of hospitals to specialize in feminine care. Contraception and abortion became widely and readily available to all women.214 In 1965, Castro’s public health department officially decriminalized abortion to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality rates.215 This action made Cuba’s abortion policy the most liberal policy in the region and most of the world, at the time.
After the revolution, many doctors including gynecologists and obstetricians fled the country when Castro promised a nationalized health care system.216 In a way, this was fortunate for Castro’s goal of liberalizing the reproductive laws because this allowed for a whole new generation of doctors to be trained in new reproductive protocol. In addition, this new generation of doctors proved more open to the secularization of the nation; they did not feel any traditional loyalty to Christian values that their grandparents may have held on to. Irving
Kenneth Zola explained in his article “Medicine as an Institution of Social Control,” that abortion is such a specialized practice that involves specific techniques that only a trained professional can perform. Thus providing safe and effective abortions, as promised, could only
213 Crahan, 269. 214 Elisabeth Croll, "Women in Rural Production and Reproduction in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and Tanzania: Case Studies," Signs 7, no. 2 (1981): 389-390. 215 Bélanger, Danièle and Andrea Flynn, "The persistence of induced abortion in Cuba: Exploring the notion of an ʻabortion cultureʼ," Studies in Family Planning (2009): 13. Along with abortion care, the Cuban government made contraception was also widely available. In 1962, however, the U.S. embargo stopped contraception from freely flowing into the country. So, Cuba promoted sterilization and abortion as a means for birth control (Bélanger and Flynn, 15). 216 Bélanger and Flynn, 15.
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be in the hands of a skilled doctor.217 This meant that, at the very foundation of abortion practice, the doctor had to believe that the procedure was ethical and would not balk when it was time to perform the procedure. Replacing the older generation of obstetricians and gynecologists in
Cuba meant that this new crop of doctors was less likely to have qualms based in the Roman
Catholic faith; these were the people who remained in the country during the revolution who were trained as doctors and had jobs under the revolutionaries.218
Cuba’s social and professional medical context was the antithesis to what many doctors said they felt in the Dominican Republic under Trujillo. As one Dominican doctor described:
“‘Why study ob/gyn? I am the seventh of fifteen [children]. For five years I was an altar boy in the Roman Catholic Church. I grew up in the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church, and the branch [of medicine] most linked with life and the human being was obstetrics. When we help a labor, we are helping a new life. In that moment I don’t know whether it’s my ego or the spirit that’s giving life to that product. This is a spiritual practice. I worked with nuns during my pasantia [year of national health service]….We are completely tied up with the Roman Catholic
Church.’”219 Trujillo, by encouraging the Church, had allowed the Dominican Church to dictate the moral and ethical practices of a doctor. The life of a Dominican was innately intermingled with the Church, and so many societal ethics, norms, and morals were based in Roman Catholic teaching.
217 Irving Kenneth Zola, "Medicine as an institution of social control" (Ph.D. diss., Netherlands Institute for Preventive Medicine, 1971): 494. 218 The liberalization of contraception and abortion also allowed freer discussions on the topic between doctors and among the Cuban people. Often, according to Doble Discurso, the transition to liberalize laws on reproductive rights, but with a strong Church, the discussion does not happen and there is a lack of support and understanding of the procedures (Ortiz-Ortega, 161). 219 Ana Teresa Ortiz, "`Bare-handed' medicine and its elusive patients: The unstable construction of pregnant women and.." Feminist Studies 23, no. 2 (1997): 263.
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Castro took over the institutional role that once belonged to the Church and forced
Cubans into a symbiotic relationship. He did not need the ethical or moral rules of the Church in order to further his goals. In Social Control in Cuba, Aguirre argued that Castro made the state’s rule the official truth of the nation, so there could be no competing ideologies.220 He was able to create a sense of unity and a “dominant ideology.”221 Fidel Castro manipulated the situation of the impoverished and promised to make their lives better in this life. The Church only truly offered comfort in spirituality and the afterlife.
In reversing anti-abortion laws, Castro stood up against the Church in a formidable way.
He dissolved their power and delegitimized the Church’s teachings. Castro demonstrated that his state was on the cutting edge of science, an adversary of Roman Catholicism as practiced in
Latin America in many ways, by creating a state of the art health care system, especially concerned with women’s reproductive rights and gender equality.222 His health care system reviewed and analyzed the future of Cuba as well as the present in order to maintain the promises that the government had invoked; abortion provided population control and thoughts about
220 Aguirre, "Social Control in Cuba," 68. 221 Augirre, "Social Control in Cuba," 68. 222 Many of the most stringent doctrinal laws were oriented towards womenʼs sexuality and reproductive rights. Castro made a point of targeting women in the Revolution; and in order to win favor with the left wing womenʼs groups, he liberalized womenʼs reproductive rights. Particularly contentiouswas his decision to legalize abortion and make it free and accessible to all women. In a speech to the Womenʼs Congress (FMC), Castro praised the revolutionary women: “I do not have to tell you how much we have always appreciated the revolutionary role of Cuban women and the FMCʼs work…[The FMC] was created by the Revolution and, together with the rest of the social forces, has waged the long and heroic struggle of these years” (Castroʼs Address to the FMC). Politically, women were an essential part of the Revolution for Castro in numbers and in force. He took extreme measures to equalize the genders which included equalizing health care for both females and males. Here lies the reason for Castroʼs denouncement of the Church and his legalization of abortion; he ensured the liberal left wing women to flock to him. Castro was not looking to win over the old world Cubans, but instead those radical Revolutionaries that would favor and support his new radical regime.
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resource allocation.223 Cuba had the semblance and the ideals of a modern state. The average
Cuban arguably lived better than the average Dominican because of the comprehensive welfare system. Cuba remains the only country in the region to fully legalize and provide free abortion in
Central America and most of South America.
Conclusion
When I started writing this piece, I thought that the summation would focus on the idea of the Roman Catholic Church as a powerful institution in modern Latin America; instead I have found that the Roman Catholic Church was harnessed by the political systems in Cuba and the
Dominican Republic. From the inception of state-based religion, there are few nations that can claim complete and total separation of Church and state. Since Constantine and the Roman
Christian Empire, there has been the intermingling between the Church and state.
Roman Catholicism was omnipresent in each society from 1492 onward, even if sometimes it not always the most clearly defined or central factor in the their histories; however, the consistent aspect of the Dominican and Cuban Churches was that they were constantly politicized. The Churches were used as part of the political character of the nation in both positive and negative ways. While examining the countries’ political structure, neither Trujillo nor Castro made as radical changes to the Church’s position as one might expect from totalitarian dictators. The Church’s trajectory of the countries’ respective histories followed a somewhat predictable pattern. Trujillo fit within the long progression of close relations between
223 Not only was this establishing Castroʼs power and influence, but increasing womenʼs health care was a necessary step for Cuba. With the growing sexual revolution that inevitably came with the political revolution, a new set of problems were arising. There was an increase in unintended adolescent and adult pregnancy starting in 1959 correlated to the rise in sexual liberation.
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Church and state in the Dominican Republic. Castro moved Cuba forward as a radical nation, independent of external influences.
Today these two nations remain consistent with the Church-state relationship forged by their respective dictators. In the end, the link between the structures put in place through historical events, to differing patterns of colonization, to extremist dictatorships has been much stronger than I ever would have expected. From the first, European governments and their colonies have been shaped by the religious, social and political influence of the Church. This point was crystallized for me while exploring how the treatment of abortion policy has evolved on these two Caribbean islands.
I like to think that the systems in Cuba and the Dominican Republic work for them within their structures, but then comes the issue of abortion as a human right. Is it moral that working class and poor women in the Dominican Republic do not have access to abortions because their state was designed to integrate the canon law? And is it fair that Cuban Catholics could not easily or freely worship?224 Did each dictator even really have the freedom to choose their respective paths, or were they fated by the systems already put in place – or at least severely constrained by history, culture and the social systems he inherited? I do not have the answers, but it is a hot button issue, and will be a renewed topic of debate especially with the election of the new Pope in March 2013.
When thinking about the divergence between these two island nations in the Caribbean with respect to religion, I cannot help thinking that the struggle with understanding the sociopolitical relationships of the Catholic Church is not unique to time or country. Indeed,
224 The relationship in Cuba between the Church and the state changed in 1996 when the Pope visited Cuba for the first time since before the revolution.
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Castro and Trujillo took the island nations to the extreme ends of the spectrum, but nations worldwide have grappled with the issue of separation of Church and state since the beginning of the nation state. This is somewhat reassuring: nobody has the answers and there is no profound conclusion except to say that Church-state relationships worldwide are complicated by every aspect of political, social, and religious history.
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to Carol Neel for all your advice and edits. I would also like to thank Owen Cramer,
Timothy Fuller, Juan Lindau, and Dennis Showalter for all their input in this process. I would like to acknowledge my family and friends for their support especially Gordon Kaye.
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