

Jimmy Margulies with a commentary on the Pope's visit to Cuba. It is a genuinely rare moment when a political cartoon makes you think and also makes you laugh. Generally, one aspect is sacrificed for the other.

He got'em both.

And he got'em good, because, despite all the people who got on boats or something else that floats and left Cuba, and despite all the people who genuinely embrace Castro's revolution, there must assuredly be plenty who are saying "It's got to get better, and, meanwhile, I'm Cuban. This is my country."

Which I can identify with. I'm one of the Catholics who got on a boat, but I know many, many others who have stayed in the Church, because it's got to get better and, meanwhile, they're Catholic and it's their Church.

The big difference being that, while it's certainly taken longer than anyone thought, the Cubans who expect things to ease up once the Castro brothers have shuffled off this mortal coil are probably right.

By contrast, any Catholic who anticipates the return of Pope John XXIII is in some serious, serious denial. The College of Cardinals is now so packed with neo-conservatives that the odds of a return to modernity, tolerance and inclusion make hitting Mega Millions look like a coin flip.

And, strange to say, as the Church has gone retrograde, Cuba really has made progress towards reason and humanity, perhaps as a result of losing their biggest economic sponsor, the Soviet Union, and having to adopt a less hard-line, more pragmatic reality, and perhaps because there really was an urge for more humanity and less doctrine.

But it isn't Disneyland yet, and not everyone is buying the notion of a "new Cuba."

Gustavo Rodriguez, a Cuban-born artist now living in Florida and cartooning under the name "Garrincha," contributed this gem to the discussion:



When he posted this on Facebook, he helpfully provided a translation and relevant links:

-His Holiness wishes to meet with Cubans that were affected by the Revolution.

- Of course! We have scheduled a visit to meet Gallego Fernandez.

To save you clicking, Fernandez is a powerful figure in Cuba who was jailed before the Revolution and, after, commanded the troops that thwarted the Bay of Pigs invasion and then served as head of the Cuban Olympic organization, a critical part of Castro's public relations efforts, among other things.

Again, a little humor, a little mordant commentary, a very nice result.

And it's worth noting that both Cuba and the Church have moved -- albeit in different directions -- in the years since the first tentative meeting between the two entities, which was well-captured in this 1998 panel from Mexico, by another Cuban emigre cartoonist, Angel Boligan:



I used to use this in my presentation to students as an example of the more metaphorical style of international cartooning. And I used to get depressed by the fact that only old guys like me knew what Castro was holding behind his back.

On a sad note:

Another cartoon about diplomatic visits that I used to use with the kids was this April 2002 Rex Babin gem that commented on a promised trip to Jerusalem by Secretary of State Powell, intended to defuse a standoff between Sharon's Israel and Arafat's PLO. The trip was postponed without explanation for some time, until Babin came up with his own:

Rex Babin died yesterday at 49, of cancer. He was such a solid talent in the profession that, until now, I had no idea he was that young.

The best compliment I can imagine for his legacy came from Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who told Babin's paper, the Sacramento Bee, "Even when you were on the wrong end of his pen -- when you were the one being skewered by Rex -- he was so talented that you had to come away with admiration for the guy."