As the Castro era draws to a close in the Caribbean republic, the signs are that the Catholic Church is thriving, that old hostilities between it and the state are being repaired and that the long-desired changes to society are beginning to take place At El Rincón, the Lourdes of western Cuba, the scene is reminiscent of some eighteenth-century Spanish painting of a merry country fiesta. In the hot Christmas sun, thousands of people mill around the Basilica of St Lazarus, often seen as a patron of black people and slaves, and its surrounding stalls. Many are dressed in purple and carry purple flowers and candles, some having arrived there on their knees, some picnicking on the grass, all in honour of Our Lady and the various saints called Lazarus.Horse-drawn carts, packed with peo