Castro won’t convert

RAUL Castro’s private audience with Pope Francis last week and his hints about “returning to the Church” should have made his old comrade, Che, turn in his grave.

The pope, with his Latin-American roots, has been working on US-Cuban reconciliation. The sight of Raul taking holy communion in Havana during his next visit would rival Saul’s conversion on the Damascus road and hand the struggling Catholic Church a spiritual jackpot.

But is the ageing Raul really concerned about his soul? He and his brother have maintained Cuban independence despite US hostility for more than 50 years. That’s some achievement. To accept a US reconciliation, the least Raul would want is the return of Guantanamo Bay, reparations and goodness knows what else. Moreover, Venezuela, a great friend of Cuba’s, is currently being “destabilised” by the US.

Crucially Russia, Cuba’s old sugar daddy, is being pushed into an evertighter corner by the US and its Nato allies. It was Raul who originally introduced the Russians to Cuba in the early 1960s. He more than went along with Khrushchev’s plans in 1962, which resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

While the Cuban/Russian relationship subsequently went through hard times, it never broke and now, once again, Russia feels itself to be encircled. Hence the recent visit by Putin and the possible reopening of military bases, including the Lourdes listening post.

Revolutionaries like Raul Castro rarely change their spots. They have too much blood on their hands. I suspect Castro and Putin are going to stir up trouble in the US’s backyard to create a bargaining chip which can be used to force Nato out of the Ukraine. That’s if the move works out according to plan. It did last time, but only just.

Raul Castro’s flirting with the pope and the US is only aimed at putting them off their guard until the Russian strategy is in place, and if there ever is a “holy communion” for the Cuban, it is unlikely to be in a Catholic church.