It's hard to say. I'd look at China as a model that may (or may not) be a step or two ahead of where Cuba could end up, but with obviously some big differences.
Estimates of how quickly Chinese people are turning to faith in Christ are almost mind-boggling: something like 10,000 or more every day. David Aiken has said that by the year 2040 (?), China will be a Christian nation. Over ten years ago there were more Christians than Communist Party members and by now it may very well be twice as many Christians as party members.
How does the Chinese government feel about this? They are panicked. That might be putting it a tad strongly, but they do exhibit a great amount of paranoia over this change. Relatively few government officials beyond the local level recognize that having citizens become Christians actually solves many of the very problems they are trying to overcome. You often hear about how the government is dealing harshly with the Falun Gong cult (and some of it is justified, in my opinion), but when they start lumping Christians in with the Falun Gong people, it reveals a great deal of ignorance.
In Cuba, I would say that it's up to Castro how he will choose to deal with the growing number of evangelical Christians. He may feel threatened by that trend, but I would guess that he's got much bigger worries on his mind than that. It's possible that he might have the opportunity to blame all sorts of social and political problems on these Christians, but given that Catholicism is so strong in Cuba, it doesn't seem like an easy charge to make believably.
I'd like to comment on the Great Commission and totalitarian or otherwise corrupt governments. Our human perspective is so limited that we tend to think that governments can prohibit or restrict the gospel coming into a country. God is so much bigger than that, though, and we'd do well to get God's perspective. The conditions in Cuba may be exactly what is needed to see the gospel really advance there in a healthy way. If Cuba had been a free country all these years, I can't really imagine that we'd be hearing about this kind of revival.
I know the same is true in China. In 1949 in China, after more than a century of relatively open mission work, there were about 1.5 million Christians in that country. By the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 70s, a ten-year period of incredible suffering and persecution, there were around 20 million Christians in China. Now there are somewhere between 60 and 100 million Christians. Despite China's seemingly oppressive conditions placed on Christianity, the Holy Spirit is growing a church that is going to start flexing its muscles even more than it is. (Chinese Christians are now one of the greatest hopes for the gospel being established in the Middle East.)
Hope this wasn't too wordy for you, Molly.
Am going to "mull" it over Mr. Mulliner, and probably ask a question or 2 more tomorrow.
Will say this...the person who told me this is pretty liberal.
I think he took this development as a sign that Castro's tyranny hasn't been a great as we've been led to believe - you know, the Jeeeeemy approach.
Instead, I think it is as you say the over-arching power of God at work, and perhaps a sign that Castro's grip on power is loosening. Or perhaps, the practice of religion has never been in danger there despite Castro's hold on parts of the culture.
That's what I'd like to know.
Took on a new activity today at a nearby Lutheran church - we are UCC - joined a group there putting together Braille Bibles for overseas.
The group works on several specific chapters. Today it was Chapter I, Exodus.
The suppression of Christianity today pales by the standard set in Rome some 1900 years ago.
If government suppresion had the power to reduce the growth of Christianity, then the teachings of Christ would have not survived the second century.