For the third time since 2014, all under the Bergoglio pontificate, the Cuban artist who goes by Kcho, fervent admirer of Fidel Castro, is having his work exhibited at the Vatican. Evidently, he found and retains favor there, despite the well known systematic persecution, practically forced emigration and even imprisonment of dissident Cuban artists like Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (who have not been featured at the Vatican, let alone featured multiple times).
Kcho (born 1970, actual name Alexis Leyva Machado) has long been closely identified with and connected to Cuba’s “revolutionary” regime–including personal contact with Fidel Castro, whom he has referred to as his Comandante en Jefe, friend and father. He has said “the wishes of Fidel always were, are and will be orders for me.” After the dictator’s death, he said the loss was like being kicked in his heart, and posted imagery of himself on social media giving a military-style salute before Fidel’s funeral monument (he says he got his Fidel fever by way of his mother).
It appears Kcho has tailored his Vatican shows to his hosts. His first was titled “Vía Crucis” (Way of the Cross), the second was titled “Resurrection,” and the current one, titled “A new world,” is said to respond to the pope’s call earlier this year to put art at the service of humanity. The yellow hardhat worn by Kcho for the show’s opening is meant to symbolize the volunteer construction work (in Cuba) he says now makes him even happier than painting.
This post is not concerned with the quality or lack thereof of Kcho’s art nor with whether or not he is a “true believer,” an opportunist or both. The issue is he is a vocal admirer of an indisputably evil man who was incalculably noxious to Cuba and its people, and that he is a longstanding spokesman for a totalitarian dictatorship–and yet, the Vatican has chosen to sponsor and promote him repeatedly, knowing perfectly well he is an “official” artist. So what about Cuba’s dissident artists and musicians and their precarious and perilous situation? What are they supposed to think of this? Indeed, what are Cubans in general supposed to think of it? Is the Vatican that dense, or does it just not care?
Lord have mercy.
P.S. Two nuns in the photo above wear the headdress of the Bridgettine Order, which operates in Cuba. It has enjoyed unusually privileged status there, given the very cordial relations cultivated by its late head, Tekla Famiglietti (said to have been the most influential woman at the Vatican) with Fidel Castro, Eusebio Leal and Cuba’s government (detailed here).. Thus, there might be a connection between the Bridgettines and the Vatican’s embrace of Kcho.
The hardhat bit is both tacky and self-congratulatory, like showing people canceled checks you’ve made out to charity to impress them with your generosity. Of course, Castroism is inherently vulgar.