ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the diplomatic relationships among Spain, Cuba, and the Vatican from the 1950s, around the time of the Cuban Revolution, until the early 1960s, with particular focus on the role of Catholicism in the prerevolutionary period. Analysis reveals that the Vatican or the Catholic Church sometimes worked as a mediator for Cuba.
Some Spanish, such as Pérez Serantes, Ambassador Lojendio, and the nuncios could be called on to some extent to serve as mediators, or as a “lifeline” for Cuba, which was isolated just after the Revolution. Cuba used the Catholic “sense” and linkage that American diplomats could not develop. In this way, Spain and the Vatican could comprehend more accurately the situation in Cuba through priests, who could move more freely among the people.
The Catholic linkage for Cuba was critically important during and after the Revolution and even now. For Spain, it was even more crucial if we consider the lack of intimate political and spiritual linkage in relation to the East–West dichotomy during the Cold War period.
