Laura Becquer
Havana, June 15 (EFE).- When the Cuban Elvira García knocked on the door of the babalawo (Ifá priest) she did so looking for answers to her despair in the African-American religion.
This retired teacher was at her limit. Because of her difficulties in putting food on the table with the problems of shortages and inflation in Cuba, but also because of her daughter’s illness and the lack of medicine.
He also sought, he acknowledges to EFE, to reunite with his family – who had emigrated to the United States – and also a spiritual refuge in the face of loneliness and difficulties.
“I never professed any religion, but when my daughter had to have throat surgery and she was very ill, I looked in the orishas for the answers that I couldn’t find on the earthly plane,” he explains.
It was then when he arrived at the house of babalawo Daniel Oliva, who assures that García is no exception. This 46-year-old Yoruba oracle scholar states in an interview with EFE that he has seen a “religious explosion with the growth of believers due to the economic crisis of recent years” in Cuba.
This opinion is shared by experts and people linked to different religions on the island, where there are no official figures by confessions. In the case of these traditional beliefs – which one in three Cubans could practice, according to some studies – it is even more complex, because they are often combined with Christianity.
“People are looking for a dream and see in religious places the possibility of helping them fulfill it,” explains Oliva from his house-temple in Havana.
The link between crisis and religion, he assures, is not new in Cuba. In the so-called “special period” on the island, in the economic depression that followed the fall of the socialist bloc in Eastern Europe, something similar happened, Oliva recalls.
“Many people turned to religion regardless of denomination – Yoruba, Christian, even Muslim – when the crisis of the 90s and things (situation) got bad,” he points out.
In Havana, for example, it is common for groups of practitioners to meet on the shore of the sea or some rivers, and dressed completely in white, perform rituals.
Cuba is currently going through its worst crisis in decades, reflected in frequent and prolonged blackouts, shortages of food, medicine and fuel, rampant inflation and a growing dollarization of the economy.
The combination of the pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions and failed economic and monetary policies have aggravated the structural problems of the island economy.
This panorama – and the lack of expectations for a medium-term recovery – has unleashed an unprecedented exodus in the last three years. According to different unofficial calculations, around 7% of the Cuban population has emigrated.
Since 2021, some 650,000 have left for the United States and another 100,000 for Mexico, plus those who went to Spain, which could be a similar number but are difficult to count because many have dual nationality.
The desire to leave their country in search of a better life is a recurring theme among those who consult Oliva.
“Ifá (father or guardian of secrets) has been listening to people’s prayers for years. The majority come because they want to live a little better and for that they have to emigrate,” explains the Cuban babalawo.
Precisely, leaving Cuba “to improve economically” was the reason that led Cuban chef Vladimir Blanes to “ask Orula” (the orisha who owns the Ifá board and divination).
“I had several difficulties in achieving my dream, so I saw my last opportunity in religion,” this 36-year-old explains to EFE.
Oliva, however, is concerned because “these are times when deception, falsehood and lies increase in the face of people’s suffering.”
However, he tells “all Cubans not to lose faith and continue looking for the aché” (in Cuba, it is like “being lucky”) despite the crisis. EFE
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