process would take place in Cuba. I wondered if perhaps I was missing something. I hit the streets like never before. I cultivated my contacts, searched out the discontented and attended the never ending stream of grass roots meetings that are a constant in Cuba's daily life. Yet, I found no signs that Cuban socialism would follow European socialism into the dustbin of history. In fact, events in socialist Europe and increasing U.S. pressure on the island seemed to be rallying the Cubans around their flag, government and socialism like never before. Despite increasing economic hardships socialist Cuba appeared united and determined to defend its independence and unique system of social justice.

Why hasn't Cuban socialism crumbled? The quality of Cuba's leadership, and in particular Fidel Castro's, is certainly part of the answer. No world leader alive today generates as much interest and controversy as Fidel Castro. For over three decades, a furious U.S. government backed by a complacent media has painted an image of the Cuban President as an iron fisted tyrant. Yet, a glowing Mother Teresa, after meeting with Castro in July of 1986, lauded Cuba's social and economic advances and then told the press: "the most beautiful gift God has given me is my meeting with President Fidel Castro." The millionaire President of the Cuban-American National Foundation and unofficial U.S. candidate for Cuban President, Jorge Mas Canosa, charges Fidel Castro with genocide. Yet, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Latin American Pediatrics Association and Pan-American Health Organization have showered the Cuban President with praise and awards for the island's social gains, which they say have saved countless lives.

My first vivid memory of Fidel Castro dates back to June 27, 1984. He was standing side-by-side with then U.S. presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson in the pulpit of one of Havana's many churches. The occasion marked the end of the Cuban Methodists' annual Martin Luther King Jr., Theological Seminar, attended by representatives from the United States and Cuban religious communities. Castro and Jackson had just returned from touring the Isle of Youth, just south off the mainland, and the largest of Cuba's 1,000 keys. Over 15,000 third world students, mainly from Africa, study there on scholarship.

The event may have marked the first time Fidel Castro had graced a house of worship since the 1959 revolution. Yet, the standing room only religious crowd, after waiting hours for his arrival, chanted "Fidel! Fidel!" as he entered. Perhaps they sensed that the event signaled the start of the thaw in Church-State relations that would culminate five

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