ISSUE 12 - MARCH 2021 - COPIES

Sanctioning Faith: Religion, State, and U.S.-Cuban Relations
Jill I. Goldenziel♦
ABSTRACT
Fidel Castro's government actively suppressed religion in Cuba for decades. Yet in recent years Cuba has experienced a dramatic flourishing of religious life. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Cuban government has increased religious liberty by opening political space for religious belief and practice.
In 1991, the Cuban Communist Party removed atheism as a prerequisite for membership. One year later, Cuba amended its constitution to deem itself a secular state rather than an atheist state. Since that time, religious life in Cuba has grown expostially. All religious denominations, from the Catholic Church to the Afro-Cuban religious societies to the Jewish and Muslim communities, report increased participation in religious rites.
Religious social service organizations like Caritas have opened in Cuba, providing crucial socito services to Cubans of all religious faiths. These religious institutions are assisted by groups from the United States traveling legally to Cuba on religious visas and carrying vital medicine, aid, and religious paraphernalia.
What explains the Cuban government's sudden accommodation of religion?
Drawing on original field research in Havana, I argue that the Cuban government has strategically increased religionous liberty for political gain. Loopholes in U.S. sanctions policies have allowed aid to flow into Cuba from the United States via religious groups, tying Cuba's religious marketplace to its emerging economic markets.
The Cuban government has learned from the experience of similar religious awakenings in post-Communist states in Eastern Europe and has shrewdly managed the workings of religious organizations while permitting individual revival.
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2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Cuba

Executive Summary

The country’s constitution, in effect since February 25, contains written provisions for religious freedom and prohibitions against discrimination based on religious grounds. According to human rights advocacy organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and religious leaders, however, the Cuban Communist Party (CCP), through its Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), continued to control most aspects of religious life. According to CSW, following the passage of the constitution, which was criticized by some religious groups, the government increased pressure on religious leaders, including through violence, detentions, and threats; restricting the right of prisoners to practice religion freely; and limiting or blocking international and domestic travel. Media and religious leaders said the government escalated its harassment and detention of members of religious groups advocating for greater religious and political freedom, including Ladies in White leader Berta Soler Fernandez, Christian rights activist Mitzael Diaz Paseiro, his wife and fellow activist Ariadna Lopez Roque, and Patmos Institute regional coordinator Leonardo Rodriguez Alonso. According to CSW, in July and November, authorities detained, without charges, Ricardo Fernandez Izaguirre, a member of the Apostolic Movement and journalist. Many religious groups said their inability to obtain legal registration impeded the ability of adherents to practice their religion. The ORA and MOJ continued to deny official registration to certain groups, including to several Apostolic churches, or did not respond to long-pending applications, such as those for the Jehovah’s Witnesses and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church of Jesus Christ). According to CSW, many religious leaders practiced self-censorship because of government surveillance and infiltration of religious groups. In April media reported authorities arrested and sentenced homeschooling advocates Reverend Ramon Rigal and his wife Ayda Exposito for their refusal to send their children to government-run schools for religious reasons. In July the government prevented religious leaders from traveling to the United States to attend the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. According to CSW, on November 10, authorities prevented the president of the Eastern Baptist Convention from leaving the country. A coalition of evangelical Protestant churches, Apostolic churches, and the Roman Catholic Church continued to press for constitutional amendments, including easing registration of religious groups, ownership of church property, and new church construction.

The Community of Sant’Egidio, recognized by the Catholic Church as a “Church public lay association,” again held an interfaith meeting – “Bridges of Peace” – in Havana on September 22-23 to promote interreligious engagement, tolerance, and joint efforts towards peace. Approximately 800 participants from different religious groups in the country attended the meeting, which focused on the importance of peaceful interfaith coexistence.

U.S. embassy officials met briefly with Caridad Diego, the head of ORA, during a Mass in September celebrating Pope Francis’s elevation of Havana Archbishop Juan de la Caridad Garcia Rodriguez to the rank of cardinal; Diego declined to hold a follow-up meeting. Embassy officials also met regularly with a range of religious groups, including Protestants, Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, and Catholics concerning the state of religious freedom and political activities related to religious groups’ beliefs. In public statements and on social media, U.S. government officials, including the President and the Secretary of State, continued to call upon the government to respect the fundamental freedoms of its citizens, including the freedom of religion. Embassy officials remained in close contact with religious groups, including facilitating meetings between visiting civil society delegations and religious groups in the country.

On December 18, in accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as amended, the Secretary of State placed Cuba on the Special Watch List for having engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom.

Section I. Religious Demography

The U.S. government estimates the total population at 11.1 million (midyear 2019 estimate). There is no independent, authoritative source on the overall size or composition of religious groups. The Catholic Church estimates 60 percent of the population identifies as Catholic. Membership in Protestant churches is estimated at 5 percent. According to some observers, Pentecostals and Baptists are likely the largest Protestant denominations. The Assemblies of God reports approximately 150,000 members; the four Baptist conventions estimate their combined membership at more than 100,000.

Jehovah’s Witnesses estimate their members at 96,000; Methodists 50,000; Seventh-day Adventists 36,000; Anglicans 22,500; Presbyterians 25,000; Episcopalians 6,000; Quakers 1,000; Moravians 750; and the Church of Jesus Christ 150 members. There are approximately 4,000 followers of 50 Apostolic churches (an unregistered loosely affiliated network of Protestant churches, also known as the Apostolic Movement) and a separate New Apostolic Church associated with the New Apostolic Church International. According to some Christian leaders, evangelical Protestant groups continue to grow in the country. The Jewish community estimates it has 1,200 members, of whom 1,000 reside in Havana. According to the local Islamic League, there are 2,000 to 3,000 Muslims, of whom an estimated 1,500 are native born. Immigrants and native-born citizens practice several different Buddhists traditions, with estimates of 6,200 followers. The largest group of Buddhists is the Japanese Soka Gakkai; its estimated membership is 1,000. Other religious groups with small numbers of adherents include Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, and Baha’is.

Many individuals, particularly those of African descent, practice religions with roots in the Congo River Basin and West Africa, including Yoruba groups, and often known collectively as Santeria. These religious practices are commonly intermingled with Catholicism, and some require Catholic baptism for full initiation, making it difficult to estimate accurately their total membership. Rastafarian adherents also have a presence on the island, although the size of the community is unknown.

Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom

Legal Framework

According to the constitution, “the state recognizes, respects, and guarantees religious liberty” and “distinct beliefs and religions enjoy equal consideration.” The constitution prohibits discrimination based on religious beliefs. It declares the country is a secular state and provides for the separation of religious institutions and the state.

The constitution also “recognizes, respects, and guarantees people’s freedom of thought, conscience, and expression.” It states, “Conscientious objection may not be invoked with the intention of evading compliance with the law or impeding another from the exercise of their rights.” It also provides for the “right to profess or not profess their religious beliefs, to change them, and to practice the religion of their choice…”, but only “with the required respect to other beliefs and in accordance with the law.”

The government is subordinate to the Communist Party; the party’s organ, the ORA, enlists the MOJ and the security services to control religious practice in the country. The ORA regulates religious institutions and the practice of religion. The Law of Associations requires all religious groups to apply to the MOJ for official registration. The MOJ registers religious denominations as associations on a basis similar to how it officially registers civil society organizations. The application process requires religious groups to identify the location of their activities, their proposed leadership, and their funding sources, among other requirements. Ineligibilities for registration may include determinations by the MOJ that another group has identical or similar objectives, or the group’s activities “could harm the common good.” Even if the MOJ grants official registration, the religious group must request permission from the ORA each time it wants to conduct activities other than regular services, such as holding meetings in approved locations, publishing major decisions from meetings, receiving foreign visitors, importing religious literature, purchasing and operating motor vehicles, and constructing, repairing, or purchasing places of worship. Groups failing to register face penalties ranging from fines to closure of their organizations and confiscation of their property.

The penal code states membership in or association with an unregistered group is a crime; penalties range from fines to three months’ imprisonment, and leaders of such groups may be sentenced to up to one year in prison.

The law regulates the registration of “house churches” (private residences used as places of worship). Two house churches of the same denomination may not exist within two kilometers (1.2 miles) of one another and detailed information – including the number of worshippers, dates and times of services, and the names and ages of all inhabitants of the house in which services are held – must be provided to authorities. The law states if authorization is granted, authorities will supervise the operation of meetings; they may suspend meetings in the house for a year or more if they find the requirements are not fulfilled. If an individual registers a complaint against a church, the house church may be closed permanently and members may be subject to imprisonment. Foreigners must obtain permission before attending services in a house church; foreigners may not attend house churches in some regions. Any violation will result in fines and closure of the house church.

The constitution states, “The rights of assembly, demonstration and association are exercised by workers, both manual and intellectual; peasants; women; students; and other sectors of the working people,” but it does not explicitly address religious association. The constitution prohibits discrimination based on religion.

Military service is mandatory for all men, and there are no legal provisions exempting conscientious objectors from service.

Religious education is highly regulated, and homeschooling is illegal.

The country signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2008 but did not ratify it. The government notes, “With respect to the scope and implementation of some of the provisions of this international instrument, Cuba will make such reservations or interpretative declarations as it may deem appropriate.”

Government Practices

Many religious groups said notwithstanding constitutional provisions providing for freedom of conscience and religion and prohibiting discrimination based on religion, the government continued to use threats, detentions, violence, and other coercive tactics to restrict certain religious groups, and leaders’ and followers’ activities, including the right of prisoners to practice religion freely, and applied the law in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Religious leaders said before and following implementation of the new constitution on February 25, the government increased its pressure on religious leaders, while curtailing freedom of religion and conscience.

According to CSW, reports of authorities’ harassment of religious leaders increased in parallel with churches’ outspokenness regarding the constitution. CSW reported that, before the passage of the constitutional referendum in February, officials told religious leaders they would be charged as “mercenaries and counterrevolutionaries” if they did not vote for the new constitution. According to CSW, on February 12, CCP officials summoned Christian, Yoruba, and Masonic leaders in Santiago, to “confirm” they and their congregations would vote to adopt the new constitution. According to online media outlet CiberCuba, on February 22, security agents from the Technical Department of Investigation (Departamento Tecnico de Investigaciones, or DTI) arrested Roberto Veliz Torres, a minister of the Assembly of God in Palma Soriano, allegedly for pressuring his congregants to vote “no” in the constitutional referendum. Several other pastors, mostly Protestants, were arrested, threatened by state security officials, and attacked in official media for the same motive, such as Pastor Carlos Sebastian Hernandez Armas of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Havana’s Cotorro neighborhood. In a February 23 article in a state newspaper, Herndandez Armas was attacked by name as a “counterrevolutionary” for refusing to support the new constitution. According to media outlet 14yMedio.com, an official from the ORA named Sonia Garcia Garcia telephoned Dariel Llanes, head of the Western Baptist Convention, of which Hernandez Armas’ church is a member, to inform him that the pastor would “no longer be treated like a pastor, but instead like a counterrevolutionary.” One church leader stated government officials sought to intimidate religious leaders because the officials thought some religious leaders were openly promoting a “no” vote on the constitution. Some religious groups stated concerns the new constitution significantly weakened protections for freedom of religion or belief, as well as diluting references to freedom of conscience and separating it from freedom of religion.

According to the U.S-based Patmos Institute, police summoned and interrogated Yoruba priest Loreto Hernandez Garcia, vice president of the Free Yorubas of Cuba, which was founded in 2012 by Yorubas who disagreed with the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba, which they allege is controlled by the ORA. According to the U.S. based Global Liberty Alliance, authorities accused the Free Yorubas of “destabilizing society,” and subjecting their leaders to arbitrary detentions and beatings, destruction of ceremonial objects, police monitoring, and searches-and-seizures without probable cause.

According to media, prison authorities continued to abuse Christian rights activist Mitzael Diaz Paseiro for his refusal to participate in ideological re-education programs while incarcerated. Diaz Paseiro, imprisoned since November 2017 and recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, was beaten, prohibited from receiving visits or phone calls, denied medical and religious care, and confined to a “punishment” cell. Diaz Paseiro was serving a three year and five-month sentence for “pre-criminal dangerousness” for protesting municipal elections in 2017.

Media reported that police continued their repeated physical assaults against members of the Ladies in White, a rights advocacy organization, on their way to Mass. Reports indicated the group’s members typically attempted to attend Mass and then gathered to protest the government’s human rights abuses. Throughout the year, Soler Fernandez reported repeated arrests and short detentions for Ladies in White members when they attempted to meet on Sundays. According to media, because of the government’s intensified pressure on the movement, the women were placed under brief house arrest on Sundays in order to prevent them from attending Mass. Soler Fernandez said she was arrested every Sunday she tried to exit her house to protest. She and other Ladies in White members were frequently physically abused while in police custody, as shown by videos of their arrests. After being taken into custody, they were typically fined and released shortly thereafter.

According to media, authorities specifically harassed and threatened journalists reporting specifically on abuses of religious freedom. On April 22, police arrested and assaulted journalist and lawyer Roberto Quinones while he was reporting on a trial involving religious expression. Officers approached and arrested Quinones while he was interviewing a daughter of two Protestant pastors facing charges because they wanted to homeschool their children because of hostility and bullying their children were subject to in state schools due to their faith. When Quinones asked why he was being arrested, an officer pulled Quinones’ hands behind his back, handcuffed him, and threw him to the ground. The officers then dragged him to their police car. One of the arresting officers struck Quinones several times, including once on the side of the head with enough force to rupture his eardrum. On August 7, a court sentenced him to one year of “correctional labor” for “resistance and disobedience”; he was imprisoned on September 11 after authorities denied his appeal. Quinones continued to write while in prison, especially about the bleak conditions of the facility, although he wrote a letter stating he was happy to “be here for having put my dignity before blackmail.” When the letter was published on CubaNet, an independent domestic online outlet, prison authorities reportedly punished Quinones and threatened him with disciplinary action. Patmos reported that on August 9, Yoel Suarez Fernandez was detained and threatened for reporting on the Rigal and Quinones cases, and authorities confiscated his phone.

According to media, in April authorities arrested homeschooling advocates Reverend Ramon Rigal and his wife Ayda Exposito. The couple said they objected to the atheistic ideological instruction integral to the Communist Party curriculum of state schools and the abuse their children were subjected to for their parents’ beliefs, including the bullying of their daughter at school because she was Christian. The couple withdrew their children from the state school and enrolled them in an online program based in Guatemala. The reports stated the family, who belong to the Church of God in Cuba, were given 30 minutes’ notice before their trial began on April 18. At trial, the prosecutor stated education at home was “not permitted in Cuba because it has a capitalist foundation” and only government teachers are prepared to “instill socialist values.” In addition to a fine for truancy, Rigal was sentenced to two years in prison and Exposito 18 months for refusing to send their children to the government school, as well as for “illicit association” for leading an unregistered church. In December, Diario de Cuba reported state judicial officials denied Ayda parole. Another couple in their church was also sentenced to prison for refusing to send their children to state schools.

According to CSW, on July 12, state security agents detained Ricardo Fernandez Izaguirre after he left the Havana headquarters of the Ladies in White where he had been documenting human rights abuses. A member of the Apostolic Movement and a journalist, Fernandez was released on July 19 and reportedly never charged. According to CSW, on November 13, authorities summoned Fernandez and his wife Yusleysi Gil Mauricio to the Camaguey police station. After separating the couple, security agents reportedly told her that Fernandez “would be judged for being a counterrevolutionary.” Fernandez was released November 19 after four days of detention, again without charge. Fernandez said he believed the detentions were because of his reporting on authorities’ religious freedom abuses.

Patmos reported that on October 31, authorities detained, interrogated, and threatened Velmis Adriana Marino Gonzalez for two hours for leading a female Apostolic movement. Another member of the Apostolic Movement and leader of the Emanuel Church in Santiago de Cuba, Alain Toledano Valiente, reported to CSW that police had summoned him three times during the year. He said authorities opposed the construction of a new church (authorities demolished the previous Emanuel Church and detained hundreds of church members in 2016), even though he had the permits to build the new church. Following one summons, Toledano stated, “In Cuba pastors are more at risk than criminals and bandits… I cannot carry out any religious activity; that is to say they want me to stop being a pastor.”

Patmos reported during the year authorities repeatedly pressured and threatened 17-year-old Yoruba follower Dairon Hernandez Perez for his refusal to enlist in the military due to his religious beliefs.

According to CSW, many religious groups continued to state their lack of legal registration impeded their ability to practice their religion. Several religious groups, including the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ, continued to await a decision from the MOJ on pending applications for official registration, some dating as far back as 1994. On October 23, Ambassador to the United States Jose Cabanas met with the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ in Salt Lake City and told church leaders the denomination was “welcome” in Cuba; however, the ORA did not approve the Church’s registration by year’s end.

Representatives of several religious organizations that had unsuccessfully sought registration said the government continued to interpret the law on associations as a means for the ORA and the MOJ to deny registration of certain groups. In some cases, the MOJ delayed requests for registration or cited changing laws to justify a lack of approval. EchoCuba, a U.S.-based international religious freedom advocacy group, reported that some Apostolic churches repeatedly had their attempts to register denied, forcing them to operate without legal status. According to Patmos, in June seven registered groups formed the Alliance of Evangelical Churches (AIEC), but the ORA denied their registration.

Members of Protestant denominations said some groups were still able to register only a small percentage of house churches in private homes, although some unregistered house churches could operate with little or no government interference. According to EchoCuba, however, several religious leaders, particularly those from smaller, independent house churches or Santeria communities, said the government was less tolerant of groups that relied on informal locations, including private residences and other private meeting spaces, to practice their beliefs. They said the government monitored them, and, at times, prevented them from holding religious meetings in their spaces. CSW reported authorities continued to rely on two 2005 government resolutions to impose complicated and repressive restrictions on house churches.

According to EchoCuba, the ORA approved some registration applications, but it took up to two to three years from the date of the application to complete the process. Soka Gakkai was the only Buddhist group registered with the government.

According to religious leaders and former prisoners, authorities continued to deny prisoners, including political prisoners, pastoral visits and the ability to meet with other prisoners for worship, prayer, and study. Many prisoners also said authorities repeatedly confiscated Bibles and other religious literature, sometimes as punishment and other times for no apparent reason.

According to media, in August the ORA informed Catholic leaders that it had cancelled the annual Catholic public youth day celebrations, except in the city of Santiago. The announcement came after police prevented some Catholic priests, journalists, and others from attending the funeral of Cardinal Jaime Ortega at the Havana cathedral on July 28.

According to CSW, the government, through the Ministry of Interior, systematically planted informants in all religious organizations, sometimes by persuading or intimidating members and leaders to act as informants. The objective was to monitor and intimidate religious leaders and report on the content of sermons and on church attendees. As a result, CSW assessed, many leaders practiced self-censorship, avoiding stating anything that might possibly be construed as anti-Castro or counterrevolutionary in their sermons and teaching. Catholic and Protestant Church leaders, both in and outside of the Council of Cuban Churches (CCC), reported frequent visits from state security agents and CCP officials for the purpose of intimidating them and reminding them they were under close surveillance, as well as to influence internal decisions and structures within the groups. In October state security officials reportedly summoned and interrogated a Protestant leader and a Catholic leader, warning both to leave their churches for their “counterrevolutionary” activities and threatening them with imprisonment if they did not comply. Many house church leaders continued to report frequent visits from state security agents or CCP officials. Some reported warnings from the agents and officials that the education of their children, or their own employment, could be “threatened” if the house church leaders continued with their activities. In March an officer informed Yoel Ruiz Solis in Pinar del Rio that he was operating an illegal church in his home and threatened to confiscate his house and open criminal proceedings against him. In August and October officials from the Ministry of Physical Planning accused Rudisvel Ribeira Robert of various violations; during the second visit they threatened him with a fine if he continued to allow religious activities on his property.

Many house church leaders continued to report frequent visits from state security agents or CCP officials. Some reported warnings from the agents and officials that the education of their children, or their own employment, could be “threatened” if the house church leaders continued with their activities. In March an officer informed Yoel Ruiz Solis in Pinar del Rio that he was operating an illegal church in his home and threatened to confiscate his house and open criminal proceedings against him. In August and October officials from the Ministry of Physical Planning accused Rudisvel Ribeira Robert of various violations; during the second visit they threatened him with a fine if he continued to allow religious activities on his property.

According to Patmos, the Rastafarians, whose spiritual leader remained imprisoned since 2012, were among the most stigmatized and repressed religious groups. The Patmos report said reggae music, the primary form of Rastafarian expression, was marginalized and its bands censored. According to Sandor Perez Pita, known in the Rastafarian world as Rassandino, reggae was not allowed on most state radio stations and concert venues, and Rastafarians were consistently targeted in government crackdowns on drugs, incarcerating them for their supposed association with drugs without presenting evidence of actual drug possession or trafficking. Authorities also subjected Rastafarians to discrimination for their clothing and hairstyles, including through segregation of Rastafarian schoolchildren and employment discrimination against Rastafarian adults.

According CSW, Christian leaders from all denominations said there was a scarcity of Bibles and other religious literature, primarily in rural areas. Some religious leaders continued to report government obstacles preventing them from importing religious materials and donated goods, including bureaucratic obstructions and arbitrary restrictions such as inconsistent rules on computers and electronic devices. In some cases, the government held up religious materials or blocked them altogether. Patmos reported one pastor witnessed authorities at the airport confiscate 300 Bibles U.S. tourists attempted to bring in with them. According to Patmos, the Cuban Association for the Divulgation of Islam was unable to obtain a container of religious literature embargoed since 2014. Several other groups, however, said they continued to import large quantities of Bibles, books, clothing, and other donated goods.

The Catholic Church and several Protestant representatives said they continued to maintain small libraries, print periodicals and other information, and operate their own websites with little or no formal censorship. The Catholic Church continued to publish periodicals and hold regular forums at the Varela Center that sometimes criticized official social and economic policies.

By year’s end, the government again did not grant the Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (CCB) public requests to allow the Catholic Church to reopen religious schools and have open access to broadcasting on television and radio. The ORA continued to permit the CCB to host a monthly 20-minute radio broadcast, which allowed the council’s messages to be heard throughout the country. No other churches had access to mass media, which remained entirely state-owned. Several religious leaders continued to express concern about the government’s restriction on broadcasting religious services over the radio or on television.

According to media, the government continued to prohibit the construction of new church buildings. All requests, including for minor building repairs, needed to be approved by the ORA, which awarded permits according to the inviting association’s perceived level of support for or cooperation with the government. For example, despite spending thousands of dollars in fees and finally receiving ORA approval in 2017, in April the ORA rescinded permission for renovations to the Baptist Church in Holguin after church leaders participated in a campaign to abstain from nationwide voting on the new constitution. Berean Baptist Church, whose request for registration was pending since 1997, could not repair existing church buildings because as an unregistered group it could not request the necessary permits.

According to CSW, “The use of government bureaucracies and endless requirements for permits that can be arbitrarily cancelled at any time is typical of the way the Cuban government seeks to control and restrict freedom of religion or belief on the island. The leaderships of the Maranatha Baptist Church and the Eastern Baptist Convention have done everything right and have complied with every government requirement. In return, the Office of Religious Affairs has once again acted in bad faith and subjected them to a Kafkaesque ordeal, where they find themselves right where they started over two years ago.” Reportedly, the ORA’s processes meant many communities had no legal place to meet for church services, particularly in rural areas. Other denominations, especially Protestants, reported similar problems with the government prohibiting them from expanding their places of worship by threatening to dismantle or expropriate churches because they were holding “illegal” services.

According to CSW, several cases of authorities’ arbitrary confiscation of church property remained unresolved – including land owned by the Western Baptist Convention the government confiscated illegally in 2012 and later transferred to two government companies. Many believed the act was in retaliation for the refusal of the Western Baptist Convention to agree to various ORA demands to restructure its internal governance and expel a number of pastors. One denomination reported the Ministry of Housing would not produce the deeds to its buildings, required to proceed with the process of reclaiming property. The ministry stated the deeds had been lost. The Methodist Church of Cuba said it continued to struggle to reclaim properties confiscated by the government, including a theater adjacent to the Methodist church in Marianao, Havana. The Methodist Church reportedly submitted all necessary ownership documentation; government officials told them the Church’s case was valid but took no action during the year. According to CSW, In March officials threatened to confiscate a church belonging to a registered denomination in Artemisa. On April 17, during the week before Easter, officials notified the Nazarene Church of Manzanillo that they intended to expropriate the church building used by the congregation for 20 years. The government took no further action regarding the Manzanillo church through the end of the year.

According to media, religious discrimination against students was a common practice in state schools, with multiple reports of teachers and Communist Party officials encouraging and participating in bullying. In November Olaine Tejada told media authorities were pressuring him to retract his earlier allegations that his 12-year-old son, Leosdan Martinez, had been threatened with expulsion from a secondary school in Nuevitas Camaguey in 2018 because they were Jewish. On December 3, media reported schoolmates took off his kippah and beat him in the face with a pistol. According to CSW, on December 11, education authorities forbade sons from entering the school if they wore the kippah. The Nuevitas municipal director of education imposed the kippah ban after a government commission found a school guard guilty of failing to protect the older of the two boys, who had been beaten by fellow students on a regular basis for several months. Rather than sanctioning the guard, they instituted a kippah ban. Authorities threatened to open legal proceedings against the parents for refusing to send the children to school.

According to religious leaders, the government continued to selectively prevent some religious groups from establishing accredited schools but did not interfere with the efforts of some religious groups to operate seminaries, interfaith training centers, before- and after-school programs, eldercare programs, weekend retreats, workshops for primary and secondary students, and higher education programs. The Catholic Church continued to offer coursework, including entrepreneurial training leading to a bachelor’s and master’s degree through foreign partners. Several Protestant communities continued to offer bachelor’s or master’s degrees in theology, the humanities, and related subjects via distance learning; however, the government did not recognize these degrees.

Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders continued to state they found the requirements for university admission and the course of study incompatible with the group’s beliefs since their religion prohibited them from political involvement.

CSW reported a new development in the government’s use of social media to harass and defame religious leaders. In some cases, posts were made on the Facebook accounts of public figures targeting religious leaders or groups. In most instances, the accounts posting attacks targeting religious leaders seemed to be linked to state security. In the run-up to the constitutional referendum, Pastor Sandy Cancino, who had been publicly critical of the draft constitution, was criticized on social media and accused of being a “religious fundamentalist paid by the imperialists.”

According to CSW, on October 18, a Catholic lay leader running a civil society organization with a Christian ethos was stopped on his way to Havana, where he planned to visit a priest for religious reasons. His taxi was stopped in what first appeared to be a routine police check, but a state security agent came to the checkpoint, interrogated him for an hour and a half, and threatened him with prison if he continued to work for this organization.

According to Patmos, immigration officers continued to target religious travelers and their goods and informed airport-based intelligence services of incoming and outgoing travel. Patmos reported that in May Muslim activists from the Cuban Association for the Divulgation of Islam traveled to Pakistan to attend a training session. Throughout their stay in Pakistan, Cuban security officials sent threatening messages through their relatives in Cuba, warning them they would be arrested if they returned. Reportedly, the activists returned home despite the threats.

The government continued to block some religious leaders and activists from traveling, including preventing several religious leaders from traveling to the United States to attend the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom at the Department of State in July and other religious gatherings outside of Cuba. The Patmos Institute’s annual report listed 24 individuals who were banned from traveling due to their religious affiliation. CSW reported that a pastor from the Western Baptist Convention was prohibited from traveling to the United States in September to attend a spiritual retreat. According to CSW, on November 10, the president of the Eastern Baptist Convention, one of the largest Protestant denominations on the island and one of the founding members of the Cuban Evangelical Alliance, was stopped from boarding a flight and informed that he was banned from leaving the country.

According to 21Wilberforce, a U.S.-based Christian human rights organization, in November the government prevented several church leaders affiliated with the AIEC from leaving the island to attend the AIEC’s general assembly in Indonesia. One pastor said that in addition to harassment, intimidation and interrogations, authorities prevented the AIEC from receiving visits from overseas pastors and church leaders by denying them the necessary visitor visas.

According to Patmos, the government denied a considerable number of religious visas, including to a group of missionaries from Florida that had visited annually to rebuild temples. On September 13, immigration officials interrupted an Apostolic conference in Mayabeque Province and threatened foreign visitors with deportation for participating in an “illegal conference.” Also, according to Patmos, pastors on tourist visas reported constant and obvious monitoring by security officials and occasional interrogations and threats.

According to EchoCuba, the government continued to give preference to some religious groups and discriminated against others. EchoCuba reported the government continued to apply its system of rewarding churches obedient and sympathetic to “revolutionary values and ideals” and penalizing those that were not. Similarly, the government continued to reward cooperative religious leaders and threatened revocation of rights for noncooperative leaders. According to EchoCuba, in exchange for their cooperation, CCC members continued to receive benefits other nonmember churches did not always receive, including building permits, international donations of clothing and medicine, and exit visas for pastors to travel abroad. EchoCuba said individual churches and denominations or religious groups also experienced different levels of consideration by the government depending on the leadership of those groups and their relationship with the government. Of the 252 violations of freedom of religion or belief reported to CSW during the year, only 5 percent involved members of CCC religious groups.

Reportedly because of internal restrictions on movement, government agencies regularly refused to recognize a change in residence for pastors and other church leaders assigned to a new church or parish. These restrictions made it difficult or impossible for pastors relocating to a different ministry to obtain government services, including housing. Legal restrictions on travel within the country also limited itinerant ministry, a central component of some religious groups. According to EchoCuba, the application of the decree to religious groups was likely part of the general pattern of government efforts to control their activities. Some religious leaders said the decree was also used to block church leaders from traveling within the country to attend special events or meetings. Church leaders associated with the Apostolic churches regularly reported they were prevented, sometimes through short-term detention, from traveling to attend church events or carry out ministry work.

Some religious leaders said the government continued to restrict their ability to receive donations from overseas, citing a measure prohibiting churches and religious groups from using individuals’ bank accounts for their organizations and requiring individual accounts to be consolidated into one per denomination or organization. Reportedly, it continued to be easier for larger, more organized churches to receive large donations, while smaller, less formal churches continued to face difficulties with banking procedures.

Some religious groups continued to report the government allowed them to engage in community service programs and to share their religious beliefs. International faith-based charitable operations such as Caritas, Sant’Egidio, and the Salvation Army maintained local offices in Havana. Caritas continued to gather and distribute relief items, providing humanitarian assistance to all individuals regardless of religious belief.

Some religious groups again reported an increase in the ability of their members to conduct charitable and educational projects, such as operating before- and after-school and community service programs, assisting with care of the elderly, and maintaining small libraries of religious materials. They attributed the increase in access to the government’s declining resources to provide social services. Religious leaders, however, also reported increased difficulties in providing pastoral services.

Media reported that during the year, the government-run historian office in Havana helped restore the Jewish cemetery, the oldest in the country, as part of its celebration of the 500th anniversary of the founding of the city.

On January 26, the first new Catholic church since the revolution, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was opened in Sandino, near the town of Pinar del Rio. This church was the first of three Catholic churches for which the government issued building permits.

Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom

The Community of Sant’Egidio, recognized by the Catholic Church as a “Church public lay association,” again held an 800-person interfaith meeting – “Bridges of Peace” – in Havana on September 22-23 to promote interreligious engagement, tolerance, and joint efforts towards peace.

Section IV. U.S. Government Policy and Engagement

Embassy officials had a brief encounter with Caridad Diego, the head of ORA, during a Mass in September celebrating the Vatican’s appointment of Cardinal Garcia Rodriguez; Diego declined to hold a requested follow-up meeting. In public statements and through social media postings, U.S. government officials, including the President and Secretary of State, continued to call upon the government to respect its citizens’ fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of religion and expression.

Embassy officials met with the head of the CCC and discussed concerns unregistered churches faced to gain official status.

Embassy officials continued to meet with a range of registered and unregistered religious groups, including Protestants, Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, and Catholics, to discuss the principal issues of religious freedom and tolerance affecting each group, including freedom of assembly, church expansion, access to state-owned media, and their inability to open private religious schools.

Embassy engagement included facilitating exchanges among visiting religious delegations and religious groups, including among visiting representatives of U.S. religious organizations. The groups often discussed the challenges of daily life in the country, including obtaining government permission for certain activities, and difficulty for local and U.S. churches to maintain connections in the face of increasing travel restrictions imposed by the government that prevented religious leaders from leaving the country, and increased refusal rates of visas for U.S. travelers to Cuba for religious purposes.

On December 18, in accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as amended, the Secretary of State placed the country on the Special Watch List for having engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom.

X. LIMITS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

The Church calls all to bring their faith to life... in order to achieve true liberty, which includes the recognition of human rights and social justice.

Pope John Paul II, Homily in Santiago, Cuba, January 24, 1998

...The Cuban people cannot be deprived of links to other peoples that are necessary for their economic, social, and cultural development, especially when the isolation provokes indiscriminate repercussions in the population, exaggerating the difficulties of the most weak in basic respects, as with food, health, and education. Everyone can and should take concrete steps for a change in this respect.

Pope John Paul II, Farewell Address at the José Martí International Airport, Havana, January 25, 1998

Pope John Paul II's January 1998 visit to Cuba sparked hope that the government would ease its repressive tactics and would allow greater religious freedom. The papal visit provided unprecedented opportunities for public demonstrations of faith in a country that imposed tight restrictions on religious expression in 1960 and was officially atheist until 1992. Although Cuba refused visas to some foreign journalists and pressured some domestic critics, the pope's calls for freedom of religion, conscience, and expression created an unprecedented air of openness. But while Cuba permits greater opportunities for religious expression than it did in past years, and has allowed several religious-run humanitarian groups to operate, the government still maintains tight control on religious institutions, affiliated groups, and individual believers. Since the exercise of religious freedom is closely linked to other freedoms, including those of expression, association, and assembly, Cuban believers face multiple restrictions on religious expression.

Cuba's reluctance to lift additional bars on religious expression likely stems from the status of Cuban churches as among the country's few nongovernmental institutions with national scope. The Catholic church, which claims as adherents some 70 percent of Cuba's population—although only a small portion of these are practicing Catholocism—stands as the largest, best organized, national,nongovernmental institution.77 Practicioners of Afro-Cuban faiths, including Santería and La Regla de Ocha, are believed to be second to Catholics in numbers, while Protestant churches, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Jews comprise smaller denominations.78 Despite substantial impediments to religious expression, which are detailed below, Cuba's faithful have made progress in recent years. For example, Cuba apparently has improved its treatment of the nation's approximately 80,000 Jehovah's Witnesses, who previously encountered government harassment due to their religious opposition to military service and participation in pro-government organizations. At a December 1998 international conference of Jehovah's Witnesses in Havana, a member of the religion's governing board praised the Cuban government, saying that it "clearly sees that Jehovah's Witnesses form an integral part of the society in which we live."79 Believers from distinct faiths are holding services, forming community groups, in some cases producing publications—albeit with limited distribution—and offering significant humanitarian assistance to the population.80

Yet, Cuba apparently keeps religious groups, particularly the Catholic church, under surveillance. One former Interior Ministry official who reportedly was responsible for questions of national security told the Miami Herald, that "The church was always seen as a danger because it is the only force inside the country capable of bringing people together and even organizing a subtle form of
resistance." This official and two other high-ranking former Cuban governmentofficials said that Cuba assigned between ten and fifteen intelligence officials to spy on religious institutions.81

Cuban law claims to ensure religious freedom, and has allowed for broader religious expression in recent years, yet simultaneously restricts it. In 1992, reforms to the 1976 constitution decreed that Cuba was no longer an atheistic state and that religious freedoms would be guaranteed if they were "based on respect for the law."82 But Cuba's constitution and other laws create impediments to the freedoms of association, expression, and assembly, all essential aspects of religious expression. Cuba's Criminal Code penalizes "abuse of the freedom of religion," which is broadly defined as invoking a religious basis to oppose educational objectives or the failure to take up arms in the country's defense or to show reverence for the homeland's symbols.83 While Human Rights Watch does not know of any recent prosecutions for this crime, Cuba's failure to rescind it calls into question the government's commitment to protecting religious rights.

Cuba grants the Department of Attention to Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Departamento de Atención a los Asuntos Religiosos del Comité Central del Partido Comunista) a prominent role in overseeing religious institutions. Not surprisingly, religious leaders who support the government face fewer impediments to their activities than do believers who find themselves at odds with the ruling party. At the 1991 Communist Party Fourth Congress, the party decided that religious belief would no longer pose an obstacleto membership.84 In the wake of this decision, some religious figures are now members of the Communist Party or even political leaders themselves, such as Pablo Odén Marichal, the president of the Cuban Council of Churches (Consejo Cubano de Iglesias), who is a deputy in Cuba's National Assembly. Baptist Minister Raúl Suárez Ramos, with the Cuban Council of Churches, also is a deputy in Cuba's National Assembly, and heads the Martin Luther King Memorial Center, a nongovernmental group with close ties to the government.85 Suárez Ramos earned government acclaim in 1990 when he lauded the revolution as "a blessing for our poor people" and criticized U.S. policy toward Cuba as an "economic, political, radio, and television aggression."86 Both deputies often travel internationally and participate in conferences on religion in Cuba. But the party treats distinctly those who do not share its political views. The current head of the party's religious affairs office, Caridad Diego, criticized an American Catholic priest who had worked in the Villa Clara area for supporting "counterrevolutionary groups."87 The priest, Patrick Sullivan, had posted copies of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in his church and had urged his parishioners to defend those rights. In April 1998, facing increasing government pressure, Sullivan chose to leave Cuba. Although Cuba and the Vatican had agreed that the pope would visit Cuba in 1989, the Catholic church's failure to condemn the U.S. embargo at that time apparently contributed to the several-year delay in finalizing the visit.88 When the pope did travel to Cuba in early 1998, the Cuban government trumpeted his criticisms of the U.S. embargo.

Pope John Paul II's Visit to Cuba

On a positive note, the government allowed massive public demonstrations of faith during the pope's January 1998 visit to Cuba. The pope presided over four open-air Catholic masses, in Santa Clara, Camagüey, Santiago, and Havana. Tens of thousands of Cubans attended, hearing the pope's exhortations for freedom of religion and conscience, which also were broadcast on Cuban state-controlled television. In a remarkable visual display, Cuban authorities allowed a huge mural of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to rise in the Plaza of the Revolution, where it stood for the papal mass between statues of Cuban heroes Ernesto "Ché" Guevara and José Martí. The government not only allowed citizens to attend papal masses, but encouraged them to do so, calling on the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and other mass organizations to turn out as well. However, government agents reportedly notified some dissidents that they should not attend the papal events. At the papal mass in Havana, some government supporters reportedly attempted to drown out the cries of "liberty" from the crowd. Two men and one woman who criticized the government reportedly were arrested at the same mass, one by state security agents and the other by men wearing Cuban Red Cross uniforms.89 Cuba also had failed to grant dozens of foreign reporters and some international human rights activists permission to travel to Cuba for the papal pilgrimage.90

In his speeches and homilies, Pope John Paul II urged respect for human rights and called for the unconditional release of political prisoners. At the mass in Havana, the pope stated that liberation "finds its fullness in the exercise of the freedom of conscience, the base and foundation of the other human rights."91 Of the Cuban clergy, Archbishop Pedro Meurice of Santiago received public acclaim when his welcoming remarks for the Santiago papal mass included the statement that, "our people are respectful of authority, and want order, but they need to learn to demystify false messiahs."92 Following the papal visit, Cuba released some one hundred political prisoners, but most of these had served the majority of theirsentences, and police required them to agree to refrain from opposition activities. Cuba freed seventeen of these prisoners on the condition that they accept exile in Canada, violating their right to remain in their homeland and setting aside the pope's request for the reintegration of prisoners into Cuban society.93

Restrictions of Religious Expression

The Central Committee of the Communist Party's Department of Attention to Religious Affairs reportedly reviews religious institutions' requests to build churches, hold marches, print materials and obtain printing presses, import vehicles or other supplies, receive and deliver humanitarian aid, obtain entry or exit visas for religious workers or operate religious schools. Cuba's heavy-handed measures against religious institutions on these matters impede religious freedom. For example, the department's director, Caridad Diego, stated that her office had no intention of approving religious schools. Diego gave a vague response when asked about 130 pending visa applications for foreign clergy, saying only that they were "not a closed issue."94 Since Cuba expelled most foreign priests and nuns shortly after the revolution, there are now some 900 Catholic clergy in Cuba, half of them Cuban. Cuba had approved some twenty entry visas for foreign clergy shortly before the papal visit. As of December 1998, Cuba had approved entry visas for forty additional foreign Catholic priests and nuns.95 Cuba pressures Cuban religious workers by denying them exit visas. The government reportedly denied a Baptist pastor, Rev. Roberto Hernández Aguiar, permission to travel outside Cuba in September 1998.96 Churches hoping to expand operations in Cuba also are slowed by the government's refusal to permit church construction and a ban onservices held outside of churches, in "house churches."97 From the revolution until 1990, Cuba reportedly only allowed the construction of one church, a Protestant one in Varadero. In 1997 and early 1998, Cuba granted the Catholic church permission to build one seminary and one church.98

In June 1998 the Communist Party reportedly refused permits for religious processions in Arroyo Naranjo to celebrate the feast day of Saint Anthony, and in Calabazar, in the municipality of Boyeros, to celebrate the feast of Saint John the Baptist. When the priest requesting the permits tried to go to the municipal authorities for permission, as would other nongovernmental institutions, those authorities insisted that the Communist Party review the request.99 On September 7, 1998, Cuban authorities allowed approximately 1,000 people to take part in a religious procession honoring the Virgin of Regla in Havana.100 But on the next day, the feast of Cuba's patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, seven activists could not attend the festivities because they were under arrest, while state security agents prevented thirty others from attending by not allowing them to leave the Havana home of Isabel del Pino Sotolongo of the Christ the King Movement church.101

Cuba allowed unprecedented access to its national airwaves during the papal visit, but has provided little opportunity for religious institutions to broadcast their message since that time. Cuba has no independent radio or television stations. While the government maintains tight control over the printed word, a few churches have been able to publish religious newsletters with limited circulation in recent years. Protestants and Catholics, in particular, continue to push for furtheraccess to the state-controlled airwaves.102 On December 25, 1998, Cuba permitted Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the leader of Cuba's Catholic church, to deliver a Christmas message on the government's national music radio station, which reportedly has a small listening audience.103

One of Cuba's most prominent dissident organizations, the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), under the direction of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, has been trying for a few years to get 10,000 signatures on a petition for political reform, in the hope that it would lead to a referendum. Payá Sardiñas has been outspoken in his calls for religious rights, such as the freedom to build churches and offer religious education, as well as related rights, such as forming independent associations and releasing political prisoners.104 The MCL's activities have resulted in government pressures. In February 1997, a Cuban court convicted MCL member Enrique García Morejón, who had been gathering signatures for the petition, of enemy propaganda and sentenced him to four years in prison.105 Cuban government officials have denied several requests from Payá Sardiñas to leave the country for MCL-related events, most recently in October 1998, when migration authorities refused permission for him to attend a human rights conference in Poland.106

Impediments to Humanitarian Aid Programs

Religious institutions such as the Catholic organization Caritas have assumed increasingly important roles in the provision of humanitarian aid to the Cuban population. The Martin Luther King Center, which maintains close government ties under the direction of Raúl Suárez, a Baptist pastor and member of Cuba's National Assembly, also undertakes humanitarian aid projects.107 In October 1997,Religious Affairs Director Caridad Diego notified religious groups carrying out humanitarian work that the Commerce Ministry had passed Resolution 149/97 (on August 4, 1997), which created restrictions on institutions' purchases from Cuban government stores.108 The resolution bars wholesale purchases from any entity but the government's EMSUNA Corporate Group (Grupo Corporativo EMSUNA). Diego apparently told some religious leaders that the restrictions were in response to churches allegedly having acquired illegal products, having abused their right to buy from state stores, and having trafficked materials on the black market.109

The resolution bars religious institutions from purchasing fax machines, photocopiers, and other electronics.110 Since Cuba criminalizes clandestine printing and enemy propaganda, and the government has seized computers, faxes, and photocopiers from dissident groups, this measure appears designed to impede religious groups freedom of expression.111 The law also creates cumbersome notification requirements. Institutions planning purchases from the government must provide sworn statements, signed by "accredited and recognized authorit[ies]" in the institution, detailing what each product will be used for and confirming that they will be used only for that purpose and will not be given to any other church entitity.112 Since many religious groups operate without official government recognition, such as the Catholic church's human rights group, the Justice and Peace Commission (Comisión Justicia y Paz), they would not be able to make any purchases under this provision. Humanitarian organizations cannot make any food purchases without giving the government thirty-day advance notice.113 In order to buy personal hygiene products for homes for the elderly, children, and the physically handicapped, sanatoriums, and residences for those suffering fromleprosy, the resolution requires the religious group to provide sworn declarations of the number of persons residing in each site.114

While Cuba can legitimately exercise its right to ration essential supplies, these restrictions impede free expression and create unreasonable limits on the capacity for religious institutions to carry out humanitarian efforts. One lay activist said that "'the message of the new regulations is that the churches...were doing too much, they were too active.'"115

Restrictions on Religious Visits to Prisons

The government's restrictions on pastoral visits to prisoners are detailed above, at General Prison Conditions: Restrictions on Religious Visits.
77 Tim Golden, "After a Lift, Cuban Church has a Letdown," New York Times, September 13, 1998.78 There is some cross-over in the numbers of Catholics and believers in Afro-Cuban rites, since the Afro-Cuban religions often require believers to be baptized as Catholics. Practitioners of Afro-Cuban rites faced serious impediments to practicing their faith in the aftermath of the revolution. However, in 1978, the government apparently began promoting several Santería priests-called babalowas-who one expert referred to as "diplo-babalowas," as a tourist draw. Juan Tamayo, "In Cuba Clash Between Religions: Afro-Cuban Creeds, Catholics at Odds," Miami Herald, January 12, 1998. 79 "Se Abre Espacio para Testigos de Jehová," Reuters New Service printed in El Nuevo Herald, December 26, 1998.80 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Damian Fernández, Ph.D., professor of international relations, Florida International University, Miami, July 15, 1998. Gillian Gunn, Ph.D., "Cuba's NGOs: Government Puppets or Seeds of Civil Society?" Cuba Briefing Paper Series: Number 7, Georgetown University Caribbean Project, February 1995.81 Juan O. Tamayo, "Cuba has Long Spied on Church," Miami Herald, January 21, 1998. One of the defectors, Dariel Alarcón, a former army colonel, told the Miami Herald that he had helped frame a Catholic priest accused of assisting an anti-Castro hijacker who had killed a flight attendant in 1966. Alarcón said that Father Miguel Laredo, who served ten years in prison, was innocent. The government's intelligence-gathering methods are further discussed above, at Routine Repression. 82 Constitution of the Republic of Cuba (1992), Articles 8 and 55. The constitution and Criminal Code provisions on religion and other fundamental freedoms are discussed in detail above, at Impediments to Human Rights in Cuban Law: Cuban Constitution and Codifying Repression. 83 Criminal Code, Article 204. This provision is discussed above, at Codifying Repression.84 For a detailed discussion of this decision, see Roman Orozco, Cuba Roja (Buenos Aires: Información y Revistas S.A. Cambio 16 - Javier Vergara Editor S.A., 1993), pp. 587-590. 85 Frances Kerry, "Spirits in Soup Tureens Await Pope in Cuba," Reuters News Service, January 15, 1998; and Homero Campo, "El Gobierno les Ve con Recelo y las Somete a Estrictos Controles," Proceso, May 18, 1997.86 "Pese a sus errores la Revolución ha Sido una Bendición," Granma, April 15, 1990, as cited in Orozco, Cuba Roja, p. 599.87 Tim Golden, "After a Lift, Cuban Church has a Letdown," New York Times, September 13, 1998.88 Orozco, Cuba Roja, pp. 594-596.

Religious Leaders In Cuba Outspoken And Critical Of Proposed Constitution

February 23, 20192:37 PM ET

Tom Gjelten

Evangelicals pray during a church service in Havana, Cuba. Religious groups on the island have come out in opposition to a new constitution which will be voted on on Sunday.

Ramon Espinosa/AP

People in Cuba vote Sunday on whether to make socialism "irrevocable" on the island and establish the Cuban Communist Party officially as the "supreme guiding political force" in the state and society.

In recent weeks, debate around those propositions has been unusually intense for an island not known for democratic processes, and it has featured the growing strength of religious leaders.

The political and ideological monopoly would come via a new constitution that Cubans can either endorse or reject in a popular referendum. The draft document, prepared under the guidance of the Communist Party, would replace the current Soviet-era constitution, adopted in 1976 and amended numerous times in subsequent years.

No opposition parties are allowed in Cuba, but in the deliberation over the proposed constitution, religious groups on the island have taken a lead in criticizing the government plan, revealing a level of influence they have not previously demonstrated.

Catholic bishops in Cuba have been particularly outspoken, issuing a joint statement earlier this month that noted how the document "effectively excludes the exercise of pluralist thought regarding man and the social order."

In an objection reminiscent of religious freedom debates in the United States and other countries, the Catholic bishops argue that "the free practice of religion is not merely the freedom to have religious beliefs but the freedom to live in conformity with one's faith and to express it publicly."

The government reaction to the church criticism came swiftly. Mariela Castro, the daughter of party leader Raúl Castro and a leading member of the National Assembly in Cuba, shared a post on her Facebook page calling the church "the serpent of history."

The government's campaign to promote a "yes" vote in the constitutional referendum has also encountered fierce opposition in the growing evangelical community. An early version of the constitution defined marriage simply as "the union of two persons," which conservative Christian leaders saw as an implicit endorsement of gay marriage.

"We love the sinner, but there are some practices that are not in accord with our biblical principles," says the Rev. Moises de Prada, president of the Assembly of God denomination in Cuba.

In their joint statement, the Catholic bishops made the same objection to the marriage article. "Given its importance for the future of the family, the society, and the education of new generations," the bishops said, "it's natural that this article was the one that most alarmed our population." The bishops said opposition to the marriage article was widely evident among Cubans as a whole.

In what appeared to a recognition of the opposition to the marriage article, the committee drafting the new constitution removed the reference in the final draft. Communist party leaders, however, denied the move came in response to the criticism, and they promised to revive it as part of a new family law.

This uproar over the proposed constitution marks another turning point in the Cuban government's ever-shifting attitude toward religion. In the early years of the revolution, the Catholic church in particular was subject to severe repression. Relations with the church improved in the period after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, when Cuban leaders were seeking alliances with western countries to make up for the loss of subsidies from former Communist allies. The Catholic church was revived, and evangelical Protestantism gained new ground.

The new churches enjoyed relatively good relations with the government for a while, but in recent years tensions have been rising.

"Evangelism for me doesn't live just within the four walls of the church," says Pastor Mario Felix Lleonart, who founded a Baptist church in the town of Taguayabón, in the province of Villa Clara. "Our faith doesn't just free us from the eternal consequences of sin. It also makes us free here on earth, and that brings us into conflict with a totalitarian regime that restricts our freedoms."

After starting a Christian blog in his community, Lleonart faced harassment from local Communist party leaders.

"They would tell me, 'Pastor, you could be better in your pastoral work if you stuck to teaching songs to your congregation and talking about the Bible and staying inside the church,'" Lleonart said. "They told me I was mixing with too many delinquents." After his children began suffering the consequences of his activism, Lleonart and his family sought political asylum in the United States.

Some articles in the new Cuban constitution suggest a further hardening of government attitudes toward religion, according to an analysis by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a religious freedom advocacy group based in the United Kingdom.The new constitution does guarantee religious freedom and freedom of conscience. Under the previous constitution, however, those provisions were tied together. In the new version, they are separated, and the freedoms are not defined as clearly as they were before.

"At least the language was there [previously]," says Anna-Lee Stangel, CSW advocacy director for the Americas. "Now that seems to be taken away. I don't think it's necessarily going to change things hugely but I do think it's symbolic. And if the language is going backwards, even symbolically, that's significant."

An especially big problem for religious and other opposition groups is that the guaranteed right to freedom of conscience is not actually guaranteed; it cannot be invoked to get around other constitutional provisions, like the ones officially establishing the Communist Party as the "supreme guiding power" and declaring the socialist system "irrevocable."

Thus, there may be freedom in Cuba, but not if it is used to oppose Communist rule.

In the weeks leading up to the constitutional referendum, Cuban religious leaders say they have come under intense pressure to urge their congregants to vote Yes.

"If a pastor dares in church to raise some criticism of the constitution, he's branded a counter-revolutionary," says Rev. de Prada.

Given the government's tight control in Cuba, the new constitution is virtually certain to be approved in this weekend's referendum, but the deliberation over its provisions appears to have given energy to a new church-based opposition movement on the island.

https://www.npr.org

By Diana Chandler, posted February 28, 2019 in The Persecuted Church

HAVANA (BP) — Cuban pastors fear the government will further restrict religious freedom after clergy actively opposed the nation’s new constitution, a religious liberty advocate said today (Feb. 28).

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), tracking religious persecution in Cuba and 20 other countries, said the Cuban Communist Party (CCP)is fearful of pastors because they sway public sentiment.

“We’ve seen the churches, particularly the Protestant churches, mobilize in a way they never have since 1959 in the past few months against the constitution and they’ve become very vocal,” Anna Lee Stangl, CSW joint head of advocacy, told BP.

“That’s always something the government has feared. They’re aware of the role religious groups played in the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe for example,” she said. “And so they’ve always tried really hard to divide the churches, to shut them up, to really scare them.”

The government does not use physical violence against pastors, Stangl said, but has detained pastors for hours and used various methods of intimidation to force pastors to support the communist party, such as threatening to limit educational opportunities for their children.

The new constitution, approved with 86.6 percent of a nationwide vote Feb. 24, remains largely symbolic, Stangl said. Laws dictated through administrative codes are oftentimes not available to the public. Codes are used to restrict the practice of religion, requiring churches to register with the government and to hold church events only after securing permits, which can be delayed for years.

“I think nobody expected things to change drastically with the new constitution,” Stangl said. “But just the fact that the Cuban government found it important enough to weaken the language even further is indicative to us that they intend to go in an even harsher direction.”

The government is likely preparing an intense wave of Christian persecution, Stangl believes.

“I think me and a lot of other people I know who observe religious freedom in Cuba are expecting some sort of major crackdown,” she said, “because the government does not want the churches to be united in the way they are.”

A cross-denominational group of Christian leaders, led by the Methodist Church of Cuba and Assemblies of God, was ignored when it called for changes to the proposed legislation in advance of the election, and the government pressured pastors to support the referendum.

Pastors campaigned to amend constitutional language that defined marriage as between “two people,” as opposed to one man and a woman. But the government responded by dropping the clause entirely. Likely, legal codes affecting families, “family codes,” will be used to usher in gay marriage, Stangl said.

The new constitution drops the state’s recognition of “freedom of conscience and religion” and no longer recognizes an individual’s right to change their religious beliefs or to profess a religious preference. Instead, the constitution simply “recognizes, respects and guarantees religious freedom,” according to a CSW press release. Also, the new constitution states that religious and state institutions both have the same rights and responsibilities.

In its reports today of harassment and persecution, CSW named three pastors who were detained for hours in the days before and after the Feb. 24 election. Christian literature was described as “against the government” and confiscated from two high-profile pastors in the Apostolic movement, CSW said. Hired drivers employed by the government were fired for giving rides to church members, and the government has withdrawn permits required for church events where foreign missionaries were scheduled to speak.

Pastor Sandy Cancino, an outspoken opponent of the new constitution, was blocked from voting at the Cuban Embassy in Panama despite having the proper identification and documentation, CSW said.

“It’s horrible what is happening in our country,” CSW quoted another church leader, who said the government has become paranoid. “A friend in my church was fired from his job. A 16-year-old student was questioned on how she was going to vote and because she said ‘no,’ they issued a pre-arrest warrant against her and took the case to the municipal level…. There are many other [similar] stories.”

Cuba is already a USCIRF Tier 2 “country of particular concern” for religious liberty violations noted in the USCIRF 2018 Annual Report. The CCP threatened to confiscate church property, repeatedly interrogated and detained religious leaders, prohibited Sunday worship and controlled religious activity, USCIRF noted.

Only 5 percent of Cuba’s 11.147 million people are Protestant, according to the U.S. Department of State. As many as 70 percent are Roman Catholic, mixed with traditional African religions including Santeria, the State Department said. A quarter of Cubans are religiously unaffiliated.

https://www.baptistpress.com

Regimes target the faithful in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela

‘Castro’s death won’t end repression of Cuban Church’

The death of Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro will not reduce the harassment and surveillance to which the Church is already subjected, an analyst at the charity Open Doors has warned.

Following Castro’s death at the age of 90 on Saturday (26 Nov.), Paul Groen told World Watch Monitor: “Fidel’s regime really has been a huge source of suffering for the Church,” referring to the communist rule instigated by Castro and other revolutionaries in 1959 and continued by Fidel’s brother Raul since 2006. “Many leaders don’t expect any immediate change. Raúl Castro will continue governing the way his brother did. This means that the restrictions on the Church that existed before Fidel’s death are likely to be maintained, at least until the elections in 2018 when Raúl, who will then be 87, has said he will resign as president.”

Cuban church leaders chose not to comment publically on Castro’s death. The Catholic bishops’ conference in Havana issued a brief and carefully worded statement expressing “our condolences to his family and the authorities of the country”, entrusting the communist leader to Christ, “the Lord of Life and History”, and praying “that nothing would disrupt the coexistence among Cubans”.

“Christians in Cuba face harassment, surveillance, discrimination and the occasional imprisonment of leaders,” said Groen. “New churches and seminaries cannot be built, and foreigners may enter the country with no more than three Bibles.”

Aid work carried out by the Church is also subject to government control. Officials have demanded that some churches hand over donated goods, such as food and building materials that they were distributing to people whose homes were destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Matthew in October. Church leaders said officials believed the state should be responsible for the material needs of the people. Nonetheless, they acknowledged that there has been an improvement in the government’s treatment of the Church over the last two decades, and pointed out that Christians are no longer subject to beatings, imprisonment and even murder that terrorised the Church in previous decades.

Raúl Castro’s effort to have more contact with the Catholic Church has strengthened its public role, and Fidel openly expressed his admiration of Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope and an outspoken critic of economic inequality. Francis has visited the island twice since his election, once for a long-awaited meeting with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch, Kirill.

One church leader explained how the experience of the regime had affected the Church in Cuba. He said: “We learned to patiently put up with life’s afflictions. We learned to forgive. We learned to love our enemies. We learned to live through our faith. We learned to live without human defence. We learned to know the power of God in supplying what we need, health for our bodies, providing this sense of fulfilment, peace in the eye of the storm. We learned the most important lesson of a believer about the earth, which is knowing that God is the only being that we need.”

But Groen said local church leaders are concerned about what might eventually replace the communist regime, which for decades has been isolated by the US trade embargo. He said they are concerned that materialism and other Western values might flood the island if it opens up to more international trade.

Learn more: Christianity once considered a ‘disease’, but now ‘tolerated’ in Cuba

Learn more: Why the Cuban Church is still under pressure

Why the Cuban Church is still under pressure

Cuba is one of the few remaining communist governments in the world. Ten years ago, the country’s ageing leader, Fidel Castro, was replaced by his brother, Raúl, but the government stayed essentially the same and desired changes did not take place, although there have been relaxed controls over some areas of life.

Cuba continues to isolate itself from the rest of the world and to function under totalitarian control. The “engines” of persecution of the Christian Church are communist and post-communist oppression. In recent years, a set of internal and external factors – whose scope and impact are not yet visible – bear the potential of bringing about a certain degree of political change.

Cuba, a communist state since the 1959 revolution, has seen very little change in its political system for decades. Ever since Fidel Castro took power, the country has been ruled by a typical communist regime – “an authoritarian brand of socialism”, as the Bertelsmann Transformation Index of 2012 describes it – where political rights and civil liberties are to a large extent restricted.

Accordingly, Cuba ranks as “Not Free” on the US’s Freedom House Index, indicating the undemocratic nature of the regime, with no separation of powers or guarantee for the rule of law. Also, issues such as press freedom and the basic human rights situation are below internationally accepted standards.

The succession of Fidel Castro by his brother in 2006 raised hopes that the country might move towards the implementation of some democratic reforms. But ten years later, this expectation has not been satisfied. Although Raúl has implemented certain cautious transitional reforms, the political system remains virtually unchanged and too much optimism is out of place.

“New Castro, Same Cuba”, wrote Human Rights Watch in a 2009 report, which has continued to report human rights violations in subsequent reports. Whether the coming years will bring more reforms in the political space will have to be seen, although US-based global intelligence company Stratfor in 2012 noted that “key reforms, such as making credit and private property available to individuals, are under way, and similar reforms, including attempts to loosen travel restrictions, can be expected in the next year”.

Indeed in September 2010, major economic reforms were launched, based on the Chinese model, implementing very limited liberalization. These reforms included more self-employment – with some possibilities to develop small businesses, leasing of state land to private farmers and in general reducing the state’s economic role.

According to Bertelsmann, the growing influence of China in the country was one of the reasons behind these reforms.

The persecution of Christians, more severe decades ago, is slowly changing. While in the past it included beatings, imprisonment and sometimes murder, now it is generally more subtle. It continues in the form of harassment, strict surveillance and discrimination, including occasional imprisonment of leaders.

All Christians are monitored and all church services are infiltrated by spies. Christians are threatened and suffer discrimination in school and at work. The totalitarian regime allows no competitors of any kind. Pastors and Christians are sometimes pressured to stop evangelising and to limit their activities to their own church premises. Permission to print Christian literature locally is hard to obtain. Bibles, Bible study materials and Sunday school materials are in extremely short supply.

Everything is restricted. Existing seminaries and church buildings may be used, but new churches and seminaries cannot be built. Legal procedures are possible, but are excessively slow. Foreigners who enter the country can bring Bibles with them, but only a maximum of three Bibles. Mail can be sent, but only a maximum of two kilograms, and all mail is checked and censored. Christianity can be preached, and foreigners can even request a ‘religious visa’, but it is not possible to mention the human rights situation and politics. It is possible for Cubans to leave the country, but administrative processes are intentionally slow.

In Cuba, religious organizations are the only authorized assemblies. Interest groups, as such, do not exist, and are not allowed to exist. The only exception is the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference and, to a lesser extent, the Cuban Council of Churches. The Catholic Church is assuming a growing political role, and has large internal autonomy. Religious manifestations initiated by these organizations are being increasingly tolerated, opening a window of opportunity for social change through the activities of the Catholic Church. As there is no democratic pluralism, political change can only come from the Church. Raúl Castro’s effort to seek increased contact with the Catholic Church has strengthened its public role.

*Paul Groen is an analyst for Open Doors, a charity that supports Christians under pressure for their faith.

RELIGIOUS REPRESSION IN CUBA:
Its Evolution and Present Status
Juan Clark, Ph.D.
Miami-Dade Community College

Although it is a well known fact that religion has been seriously curtailed in Cuba since the early 1960's, little is known about its modus operandi, judging from the dearth of assessments in the academic literature and the media on this matter.

More than persecution in the traditional sense, tinted with violence, religion has been seriously repressed through various direct and indirect means. All religious groups have been seriously affected. The Catholics, as the largest religious group in Cuba, have been the most severely impacted, while the Jehovah's Witnesses have been the most directly repressed, with all their temples shut down.

In 1960, after initially supporting the revolution, the Catholic Church valiantly confronted the Castro regime. Indicators of at least a new dictatorial trend were visible, shrouded though by populist policies. Among these signs were the arbitrary executions and trials that started early in 1959; the government's shrewd takeover of student, labor and professional organizations, along with the increased placement of communists or unconditional pro Castro sympathizers in key government and military positions; the progressive and arbitrary confiscation of private property and, finally, the complete elimination of the free press. The Church alerted the people about the evils that would result from the trend towards Communism. The strong pastoral letter of August 1960, alerting on this matter, only increased the regime's antireligious actions.

Many lay believers, following Church teachings, decided to confront the regime. They fought with good reason and bravely, trying to implement the ideals of democracy promised by Castro in the Sierra Maestra. Many paid with their lives or long years in prison for this "crime."

Anticipating the confrontation with the Church, by early 1959 Castro secretly attempted to create a national Church. It failed due to lack of support from the clergy. Later in 1960 he launched a public campaign against the Catholic bishops. By late 1960, mobs organized by the government began to harass church services and other religious meetings. The botched April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion led to a more open and direct repression, with mass arrests of clergy, some bishops, and the desecration of churches. In May, 1961, the government confiscated the vast private school system and many seminaries, in an attempt to deeply hurt religion. In September of that year, the traditional procession in Havana honoring Cuba's patroness, the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, in the church of the same name, was violently repressed, resulting in the death of one of the Catholics. Incredibly, the government portrayed the victim as a martyr of the revolution... That incident prompted the immediate forcible expulsion of 131 clergy on board the Spanish ship Covadonga, including an outstanding young bishop, Boza Masvidal, and Father Goberna, a renown hurricane expert.

Direct repression reached its climax at this time. Many religious personnel were forced into exile through coercion, intimidation or the inability to practice their teaching trade. Four priests were sentenced to prison for serving as chaplains to the opposition's guerrillas. To further hurt the Church, in 1966 a dynamic young Cuban Franciscan priest, Miguel Loredo, was, falsely accused and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, --the same amount of time Castro received in 1953 after leading the assault on the Moncada barracks-- for allegedly harboring a suspect in a failed skyjacking attempt. He served ten of those fifteen years, a unique case in this hemisphere. This opportunity further served to confiscate the Church's only printing shop as well as the San Francisco convent. Many Evangelical ministers were also imprisoned during this time, some for long periods. It must be pointed out that these actions were always undertaken using a nonreligious pretext, as in the Loredo case.

In this context, late in 1965, many ministers and seminarians, Catholic and Evangelicals were sent to the newly created UMAP (Military Units to Aid Production) labor concentration camps. Among those confined were the present cardinal Jaime Ortega and the current bishop Alfredo Petit, along with many lay people. Among the UMAP inmates were homosexuals and others the regime considered "social scum." The Jehovah's Witnesses were especially mistreated at the UMAP's, which closed in 1968 due to international pressure. The purpose was to terrorize the religious community.

Indirect repression also started in the early 1960's along with the totalitarian transformation of the country. This was based on the educational takeover, as well as on the substantial control of the economic structure, which reached its peak in 1968 with the confiscation of the remaining small businesses

Indirect repression followed Castro's anti religious orientation of "making apostates not martyrs," and thus began the slow process of gradually attempting to choke off the religious community. This less visible but very effective form of repression used education and the work place as its main vehicles. It begun as early as grammar school with simple questions posed to schoolchildren practicing their faith, in an attempt to ridicule them in front of their classmates. Students have a Cumulative Academic Record that supervises their "ideological integration" and their religious involvement as well as that of their parents. This involvement would constitute a "demerit" on their record, and would be used to deny access to the university or to careers with social impact, to those who had that "blotch" in their record.

Indirect repression has also impacted the individual through the work place. The government's economic monopoly, whereby the state owns all means of production, implanted discrimination against those who practiced their faith. "Being religious" has constituted a stain on the worker's Labor Record preventing occupational advancement, and affecting the person's standard of living, since the government used to distribute important consumer goods through the work place where "ideological integration" played a role. As with education, the "religious" have been forced to give up opportunities for promotion, becoming second class citizens. This became, in practice, an ideological apartheid.

Religious ministers have also suffered strong repression. Defamatory letters, instigation of rumors, constant spying through infiltrators in the communities have been routinely employed. Harassing phone calls and blackmail, mostly through sexual entrapments, have been used to psychologically destabilize them, aimed at promoting their departure from Cuba. Foreign clergy have also been repressed. Some have been openly expelled from Cuba, while others have had their visa renewal rejected as was the recent 1996 case involving Sister Ligia Palacio, a Colombian nun who dared to write on human rights in Cuba in Vitral, the modest (only over 1000 copies are made by photocopy procedure) but outstanding publication of the Pinar del Rio diocese. Other foreigners have suffered an equal fate. After the Pope's visit, Father Patrick Sullivan had to leave following the same procedure, as well as two Italian Third Order Franciscans.

After his release from prison in 1976, Fr. Loredo continued to be a persona non grata. He, along with many of his parishioners were constantly harassed. This culminated in a mysterious, near fatal car accident in 1982 in which he was a pedestrian. The Church finally promoted his "voluntary" exit from the island in 1984. A rather similar case occurred in 1995, when small-town priest from Eastern Cuba, Fr. Jose Conrado Rodriguez, wrote a letter which courageously but respectfully criticized Castro and his regime. This increasingly popular priest had to leave the country in 1996 "to conduct studies abroad."

The government has also used its complete control over the entry of foreign religious personnel, as well as its control over the purchase of equipment and materials for religious activities, as another form of indirect repression. The clergy has also been victims to repeated attacks through Cuban television and movies, and still are through the former. Catechism classes have also been the target of harassment in many ways, particularly through the so called "street plans" (planes de la calle) designed to interrupt the attendance of children. Meanwhile their parents have been intimidated in other forms. This type of street activity against catechism has subsided, but it is still reported to have been used to harass religious celebrations in some places.

Another repressive method has been the sabotage of religious holidays like Holy Week. The government has forced to coincide the celebration of the Giron Beach Victory in April, with this holiday (accompanied with mobilizations of workers), to prevent attendance of those religious services and national holidays. Furthermore, Christmas as a holiday, was taken away from the Cuban people when Castro ordered its cancellation in 1969 to prevent work shortages in an attempt to reach the failed 10 million ton sugar harvest of 1970. This is unprecedented in the Western world, where even former communist Eastern Europe observed this Christian tradition. It appears that it was restored as a holiday only for 1997 as a conciliatory gesture towards the pope after the discovery of an electronic bug in a room His Holiness would use in his visit.

Evangelicals have been especially repressed, since the government considers them officially associations and not religious denominations, and thus are subjected to great scrutiny not used with the Catholic Church.

Religious organizations have been denied access to the mass media since 1960. But it is noteworthy that the government has been, in a subtle way, constantly promoting Santeria, the sincretism between the Afro and Catholic beliefs, which lacks a strong moral code, and is more pliable to the government control effort. Santeria has been portrayed in the media, fully in governmental hands, as Cuba's majority religion, in an effort to undermine the traditional Christian denominations. Some religious broadcasting have been permitted recently to some evangelical denominations that have shown a more pliable "good" behavior, affiliated to the National Council of Churches.

By the end of the 1980's, and after the publication of the book Fidel Castro and Religion (Fidel Castro y la Religion), with Frei Beto, where Castro projected a rather sympathetic view of religion, there was a certain degree of relaxation of repression for reasons of tactical convenience. People began to attend religious services in greater numbers. Educational as well as labor discrimination for reasons of religious practice have diminished. However, the Cumulative Academic and Labor Records still exist as a "Damocles Sword," and totalitarian power can demolish any religious effort or individual considered potentially "dangerous." The 1989 demise of the USSR contributed to the promotion of a certain convenient opening towards religion and to further growth in religious participation, especially among the youth. Castro agreed in 1992 to let believers participate in Cuba's Communist Party. Paradoxically, the opposite has happened. Many young people are looking to fill their spiritual void and live another reality of true human solidarity within the religious lay communities. In these groups, a true sense of fraternity and desire to serve others is apparent. In general, the traditional fear to openly participate in religious activities seem to be disappearing.

Also noteworthy is the work displayed by Caritas, the Catholic charities organization, which has tried to mitigate the growing material needs endured by the people, using the international help in kind and the much desired dollars. Caritas has donated large amounts of medicine to government centers (about 80% of what they receive) while they are allowed to distribute the rest directly. One type of help has been buying powdered milk and other food products purchased at wholesale prices at the dollar stores (the "Shopping" as they are popularly called by the people) that now sell to anyone having dollars or its equivalent in covertible pesos. Caritas distributes freely what they buy, mostly among the elderly. This sector of society is the most affected by the huge inflation generated by the governmental policy of selling vital goods in the "shopping" stores (a bottle of cooking oil, practically available here only, costs about half the average monthly salary in pesos). It appears that upon realizing the positive effect of Caritas on the population, the government has tried to undermined their effort by demanding that Caritas had to buy at retail prices, thus making those purchases prohibitive.

Some religious centers that become particularly popular have been harassed, and if possibly, eliminated. Such was the case of the Pentecostal Bible Institute at Cifuentes, in central Cuba, that was attracting many young people to special retreats. This institute was closed in 1995 through a legalistic subterfuge. Something rather similar appears to be happening with the Civic-Religious Center of Pinar del Rio. Outstanding lay leaders are also harassed. This has been the case of Catholic agricultural engineer Dagoberto Valdes director of that Pinar del Rio Center, who was professionally demoted to "tecnico de yaguas" (palm tree technician) and his family life seriously disturbed. Another, Osvaldo Payá, has had his family harassed and his house defaced to the point of being forced to evacuate it.

The religious rebirth in Cuba has had to face a great obstacle: the lack of churches. No new churches have been built since 1959 due to governmental restrictions. Yet, many churches in Havana and important cities in the interior have been repaired, paying in dollars by the Church and as a tourist convenience. But many, particularly in the interior have had their roofs fallen due to disrepair resulting from the absolute control of materials exercised by the government. On the other hand, the number of priests is about the same as in 1961, after the expulsions. The dearth of churches has led the people to conduct religious services in private houses, mostly in the interior. The regime has been curtailing this practice. Many have been closed. A very popular Pentecostal minister, Orson Vila, went to prison in connection with this ministry. Indeed the distinction between freedom of worship (not entirely the case here) and freedom of religion (seriously curtailed due to the multiple controls) is a very valid one in Cuba today.

Although the Castro government, out of tactical convenience, has made some concessions to religion in the recent past, and has relaxed some of its most overt repressive policies, the essence of its antireligious policy appears to remain unchanged. The recent Pope's visit was plagued with conflict ranging from the extent of the media coverage, the transportation means, to planting a spying device in the Pontif's room. That visit indeed served to strengthen the faith of the believers in general, who are increasingly losing the fear instilled over the years, but has achieved little else, besides the usual token gesture by Castro to important visitors, such as freeing some political prisoners who were pressed to leave the country, something not wanted by the Pope. The world has been opening to Cuba as the Pope suggested, but Castro's Cuba has done little to open to the world and much less to Cubans themselves.

On the fundamentals of religious freedom there is no indication that the churches are regaining the right to have their own educational system, nor the possibility of using freely the media, or being able to buy without restriction the necessary equipment (duplicating and transportation) to perform their work. There is no indication either about allowing the free entrance of religious personnel. Thus, we have to conclude that religious repression remains, not with the harshness and directness of the early 1960's, but its intention and mostly indirect actions are very much present. As a religious authority from Cuba put it to us, religious repression still is like "an iron fist in velvet gloves."

*******************

Dr. Juan Clark is a sociology professor at Miami-Dade Community College. He has researched the issue of Cuban living conditions for over 25 years and has published extensively on this subject.

http://amigospais-guaracabuya.org

Cuban Catholic Bishops Speak Out Against Repression

October 30, 2009 05:35 AM

Catholic bishops in Cuba are criticizing the Cuban government for human rights violations and calling for compassion to be shown to dissidents jailed earlier this year in a political crackdown. It is the first time in more than a decade that Cuba's Catholic bishops have spoken out strongly against repression in Cuba.

Cuba's 13 Catholic bishops have issued an 11-page document criticizing the Cuban government's recent crackdown on dissidents and asking for more freedom for Church activities.

At the heart of the document is a plea by Church officials to Cuban authorities to show clemency to those imprisoned earlier this year in a crackdown against dissidents. Seventy five dissidents, independent journalists and democracy activists were sentenced to prison terms ranging for six to 28 years on charges of working to undermine the Cuban state. Governments around the world, including the Vatican, condemned the crackdown. Cuban officials called it necessary, saying those jailed were a threat to national security.

Many of those jailed were involved in the Varela Project, a Church-approved initiative to foster dialogue and greater freedom in Cuba. Hans De Salas Del Valle, a researcher at the University of Miami's Cuban Studies Institute, says Cuba's Catholic hierarchy has felt threatened ever since the crackdown.

"In recent years, particularly in recent months since the political crackdown against dissidents by Fidel Castro's government, the Church, and this is said in so many words in the statement, feels that whatever tolerance or apparent tolerance, had appeared is no longer there," he said. "The regime is increasingly encroaching on free space that was given to the Church as an institution to operate."

The Church document issued this week also restates the long-held Church position that it serves as a neutral political force in Cuba and is not aligned with either dissidents or the government. It repeats earlier demands by Church officials for more freedom for the Catholic Church to carry out its mission to operate schools, build churches, gain access to Cuba's state run media and allow foreign priests to work in Cuba.

Following a historic visit to Cuba by Pope John Paul in 1998, Cuba's government relaxed some restrictions against church activities, and allowed more dissident activity on the communist-run island.

This week's statement by the Catholic Church comes on the 10th anniversary of a previous statement issued by Church officials that called on Cubas government to open a dialogue with its own citizens.

https://www.voanews.com

Miami archbishop recalls Catholic persecution in Cuba, prays for peace

By Catholic News Service

MIAMI -- On the day the news of Fidel Castro's death spread, Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami was one of the first Catholic Church officials to respond early Nov. 26.

"Fidel Castro is dead," he wrote in a statement. "The death of this figure should lead us to invoke the patroness of Cuba, the Virgin of Charity, calling for peace for Cuba and its people."

Later that day at Ermita de la Caridad, a Miami shrine that honors Cuba's patron Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre and one built, he said in his homily, "with the sacrifices of the (Cuban) exiles," he focused on the suffering of Catholic Cuba and the news of Castro's death. The 90-year-old former leader of Cuba reportedly died late at night Nov. 25.

"The Cuban people are a noble people, but also a people who suffer," Archbishop Wenski said. "And now, on the eve of this first Sunday of Advent, to emphasize the words of Christ 'at the hour you least expect, the Son of Man will come,' we have learned that Fidel Castro has died."

He continued: "Each human being, each of us, will die. We will all be judged one day. Today, it is his (Fidel Castro's) turn. God's judgment is merciful, but it doesn't cease to be just."

Archbishop Wenski asked those gathered to invoke Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre and ask for her intercession.

"She has accompanied the Cuban people for more than 400 years," he said, including during the country's battle for independence and she "suffered with the church when the Marxist obscurantism wounded and decimated (the church)."

She has been there in good times and in times of turmoil, in the Cuban prisons and in the agricultural "forced labor camps" the Cuban government operated, he said.

Referencing recent moments in the history of the island when Catholics hid their faith fearing persecution by a government and a society that looked down on religion, he said the Virgin was present in the prayer cards people hid in their dressers, as church members were "forced to survive by publicly denying their devotion."

And Mary is there with those who, despite all the challenges they have faced, continue to pass on the gift of faith to their children and grandchildren on the island.

She remains on the island today, he said, and continues to lavish her motherly love "in prisons that still are not empty and in the midst of women who walk demanding freedom."

Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre is present, Archbishop Wenski said, with those inside and outside Cuba, who "fight for respect for human dignity and to establish a future of freedom, justice and peace."

https://trentonmonitor.com

Esteban Rodriguez: "They want to use religion to shut me up"

After starting in the Osha Rule, the activist and reporter is bypassing a new "trap" of the regime.

CLAUDIA MONTERO

TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021 | 9:07 A.M.

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LA HABANA, Cuba. – This Monday, after several days of harassment by political police, activist and DNA reporter Cuba Esteban Rodríguez López was summoned to the Zanja police unit in the municipality of Centro Habana due to an alleged crime of "theft".

According to Rodriguez to CubaNet, the alleged infringement would have occurred in 2019. "In previous days the head of Sector told me that I was circulated for the crime of 'theft' of a phone; I didn't listen because they're always making things up, but today I went to do a paperwork and on the computer it came out that it was circulated by the Zanja Unit."

After reporting to the police unit, a lieutenant explained to the activist that, in 2019, they had stolen three chocolate knobs and two soda cans from a store; and that when he ran out of the place of events, the robber dropped his phone with the respective mobile line.

"Then they circulate it (the phone line), but I bought it in 2020, I don't remember very well exactly when. In that year they mentioned I had a phone line in my name, the one I currently have is not so as a precaution, so that they do not take away my internet service," explains Rodríguez, one of the activists who went on hunger strike in San Isidro.

The DNA collaborator Cuba was fined 500 pesos in national currency "so as not to have to be in the brig, because supposedly that leads an investigation, but with me locked up," he explained to CubaNet. "My family paid that money and I took the receipt back, so they could drop this accusation."

500 peso fine imposed on Rodriguez (Photo: Courtesy)

"I have a feeling that since they know I am from Iyawó (initiated in the Rule of Osha or Santeria) and I should not be held in a dungeon then I am harassed with this matter (...). I think they're trying to break me because I'm in religion now."

The harassment of the activist was in crescendo after joining the hunger strike and protest of the San Isidro Movement, in November 2020, for the release of rapper Denis Solís. On several occasions political police have prevented him from leaving his home, forcing him into "home arrest" and has been arrested and violent.

Last Saturday he was arbitrarily detained while transmitting one of his direct regulars, and taken to Zanja's police unit. There an officer tried to rip off his religious necklaces, a grievance for those who practice santeria.

"To top it all off when I was released, I came through this same dam and said to me cynically and in the form of mockery, 'Ashé and blessings!'"

According to Rodriguez himself, death threats from a so-called babalawo (initiated priest) appeared on the Cuba DNA page "saying that I was going to beat up and stab, that I am denigrating the Yoruba religion."

"And this latest accusation of 'theft' is nothing more than a manoeuvre by them to catch fear, so that Cuba may stop reporting from DNA what is going on in my community, in my ward; and they seem to want to use religion to shut me up."

Screenshot of threats received by Rodriguez (Image: Courtesy)

The activist has spent more than four years in opposition and, in his own words, already knows all the dungeons. "I've never gotten that accusation before, now it comes casually. If this happened to me before I would have gone to the cells gladly and stood me up, but in the condition that I find myself in now I am vulnerable."

"If my wife, Zuleidis Gómez Cepero, hadn't paid the fine I wouldn't be on the street; However, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and I were talking that a mistake may have been made in paying it, because tomorrow if the regime wins it it revokes the fine and changes the measure."

"In this country we are practically borrowed because they (the cops) do whatever they want with one. Now, what they're never going to do with me is to break down my soul, my feelings, my way of thinking and my desire to fight for Cuba's freedom," he says.

Hackean Facebook account of journalist Camila Acosta

They also "cut mobile data services, tap phones; my phone line, for example, about six months ago has cut off internet access"

CLAUDIA MONTERO

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2021 | 8:53 A.M.

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HAVANA, Cuba. – The Facebook account of CubaNet journalist Camila Acosta Rodríguez,where the young reporter accumulated 5000 followers, was hacked again on Friday, February 26.

"I walked into the app and asked for a password, put it on and it told me it was wrong; I pointed out then that I had forgotten it, they sent me a message to my phone number and I changed it, but Facebook asked me to confirm my identity as it notified me that someone named Javier Acosta, with my same phone number, had tried to access my account," the reporter said.

According to Acosta Rodríguez, the administrators of the social network then asked him to send a photo of his ID.

"On one occasion, I asked a friend to come into my profile and that's when we realized they had changed personal information, this time my email," he adds.

(Screenshot / Courtesy of Camila Acosta)

The young reporter contacted Redes Ayuda, a "Venezuelan non-governmental organization charged with defending human rights through digital and analogue social networks" that put her in touch with Access Now, another "international organization dedicated among other things to activism for the defense of the open and free internet".

"Access Now was able to temporarily block my account to prevent me from getting robbed or changed more information, because since I became involved in the campaign against Decree-Law 370 I have been done this."

The pinera journalist has had her Facebook account hacked about five times in recent months, times when personal information has also been stolen.

"They (the authorities) know that networks are our battlefield, if they take us out of there we are detract from the regime, work, followers... In addition, we are robbed of personal data through Messenger," says Acosta Rodríguez, who has already seen his private conversations published once on an alleged State Security blog.

The fact came after the impact of his interview with Alberto Navarro, ambassador of the European Union to Cuba,recently published on CubaNet.

Hours after this note was posted, Camila was able to recover her account and announced it:

The Cuban Constitution makes no mention on any of its pages of the breach of personal data in the digital spectrum; it refers only to "cable, telegraph and telephone" communications, when it mentions in Article 57 the inviolability of correspondence.

"I also make directs from my Facebook account and am viewed by thousands of people," recalls Acosta Rodríguez. Now I can't do them, maybe with a temporary profile, but it's not the same; in the hacked account had more than 5000 followers already."

In Cuba, regularly independent journalists, activists, human rights defenders are disrupted by their internet service, one of the most common strategies of State Security to silence critical voices.

"They cut mobile data services, tap phones; my phone line, for example, about six months ago has cut off internet access. It is a common practice that has been repeated in recent times and has become relevant on social media," laments the young cubaNet journalist.

Acosta Rodríguez is one of the most recently experienced independent reporters of the regime' harassment and repression, as well as all kinds of attacks by State Security.

In less than eight months, political police evicted the young woman five times from the homes where it was rented. She has also been fined by Decree-Law 370, arbitrarily detained, interrogated, threatened and stripped to regime agents during one of her arrests.

Catholic priest in Cuba blasts away at government, urges it to change its ways

March 1, 2021 by Carlos Eire

From our Bureau of Gallant Quixotic Gestures

Loosely translated from Diario de Cuba:

Catholic priest Alberto Reyes Pías asked the Cuban Government this Sunday to hear the clamor of the people for a change and open the way to a spring on the island.
“To you who hold the reins of the political power of this Island, don’t you see this people cry out for a change? Aren’t you going to have the courage and intelligence to initiate those changes, so that a peaceful and Can we all, in the end, reach an agreement from peace? “Reyes said on Facebook.
“To you, who respond to the organs of power and, in fact, support them: army, officials, ministers … To you who cannot not see reality, to you who have ears to listen to your families, your friends, to your neighbors, to you who also have a conscience and a responsibility. Is it that you do not see? Is it that you do not listen? Is it that you do not understand that we cannot continue like this and that in a country adrift no one is safe, Neither you nor your children? Do you not see that no one trusts that we are on the ‘right path’, or that we will be able to build a happy and prosperous society? Do you believe it? “he questioned.
Reyes affirmed that the Cuban people are “tired of this sterile ‘spirit of Revolution’, of an absurd ‘to resist and win’, of ‘doing more with less’, of ‘battles of ideas’, of ‘no one surrenders here’ , of “socialism or death” and even of “homeland or death.” Years and years between war slogans, while we long for times of peace. I do not see a people willing to give their lives to build a Revolution, but a desperate people because the so-called ‘Revolution’ gives him breathing space to build his life “.

“Reality is imposed and this people has been showing signs for a long time that they do not want continuity, even if they insist on it again and again. This revolution was a beautiful dream for many, and I understand that one clings to beautiful dreams, But the dream brought us neither bread nor dignity, and it is wisdom to change when reality asks for other answers. And the best, the most sensible, as well as the most elegant, would be a proposal from the power structures. rivers overflow, leaving only destruction and death in their wake, “he said.
The priest pointed out that “Cubans are not a spiteful people, and they have shown it. The tone of the claims of this people is still that of dialogue and inclusion. We do not want violence, we do not want shouting, we do not want disqualifications, no we want acts of repudiation. But neither do we want to submit more, nor do we want to turn our life into a lie, nor do we want our intelligence to continue insulting. “
“I recognize that I may be the one who is wrong, but I want to be faithful to my conscience, to what I see, to what is imposed on my senses. And when I look at my land in these moments I cannot help but think of some verses by Pablo Neruda: “They will be able to cut all the flowers, but they will not be able to stop spring.” I deeply believe that the spring of a new Cuba is coming, and that it is unstoppable, and I pray with all my might that all that it means spring: harmony, color, light, joy, peace … find hearts that open to it, receive it and say: ‘count on me’ “, he concluded.

https://babalublog.com

Cuban activist Carolina Barrero, questioned and accused of trying to protest Karla Pérez's case

State Security tells the young woman 'that they will not allow any form of demonstration, nor of protest for rights, are or are not included in the Constitution'.

La historiadora del arte Carolina Barrero. — Art historian Carolina Barrero. CAROLINA BARRERO/FACEBOOK

Art historian Carolina Barrero was arrested Friday in Havana and subjected to another interrogation by the regime's political police. She was charged with an attempted protest in the case of freelance journalist Karla Pérez,who was barred from entering Cuba by the authorities.

"This time it wasn't the police. They were all dressed as a civilian in a private vehicle; were of counterintelligence. They took me to the Unit of the Lisa, always far away, almost to the outskirts of the city," Barrero said, already subjected to a judicial process for printing an image of José Martí.

"Lieutenant Colonel Kenya Morales performed again there. I was lifted by an Arrest Act and a Warning Act, accused me of intending to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today to protest the case of Karla Pérez,"she said in a post on her Facebook profile.

Barrero reported early Friday that she was being monitored and that an Intelligence agent approached her to tell her that he had instructions not to let her out. The member of the 27N movement said she refused to consent to the violation of her rights and announced that she was leaving.

The interrogation after Barrero's arrest, Lieutenant Colonel Morales told him"that they will not allow any form of demonstration, nor protest for our rights, are or are not included in the Constitution."

"I thought it was a very serious assertion by a lieutenant colonel of State Security. I let him know. There she accused me of having received preparation, of being sent: to me she has only sent me my conscience and the preparation that I have was given to me by my grandparents, my parents, my curiosity and the Cuban school," she said.

According to the activist, "the lieutenant colonel fills papers and papers with false accusations, fills her mouth with lies she repeats without modesty."

"When we were leaving I asked her a second time for the number of the complaint for the crime of Clandestineity of Prints that she made me on February 3rd, and for the iPad they removed me and have not returned me. I have told me to come to Infanta and Manglar station on Wednesday, March 24 at 9:00AM, where he will tell me the decision of the Prosecutor's Office," he concluded.

E week, State Security told the art historian that the legal process against her under the alleged crime of "clandestineness of forms" has already been initiated. She was arrested last Friday and transferred to an interrogation where she was further questioned for her social media posts and her defense of the right to demonstration and protest.

Carolina Barrero has been harassed and threatened by Cuban political police in recent months also for having requested the leave of the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso. Recently Cuban and foreign intellectuals joined in a letter in which they supported the art historian and condemned harassment against her.

Castrism banishes Cubans, but welcomes terrorists

While journalist Karla Pérez and thousands of other Cubans are banned from entering the island, the castristic regime offers shelter to connotate criminals from various corners of the world

LUIS CINO

TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2021 | 10:30 A.M.

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On the left, Karla Pérez, a young Cuban banished in Costa Rica; on the right, Joanne Chesimard, a refugee for American justice in Cuba (Photo: DNA Cuba/File)

HAVANA, Cuba. Karla Pérez's case,like that of thousands of other Cubans who are prevented from entering their homeland because of their political positions, has once again revealed the contempt for the rights of their compatriots of the castrist bosses, who believe themselves the owners of the country.

The young woman, just 22 years old, had to finish her journalism career in Costa Rica. The castrist authorities, simply because she joined the dissident group Somos +, expelled her four years ago – when she was still underage – from the Central University of Las Villas. Now, they prevent him from returning to his homeland with his family because, as claimed by a spokesotor from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) – which rather seemed to belong to the MININT – the girl would come to join the opposition. He also noted that, because of his alleged "links to miami's violent groups," he would jeopardize national security.

With the same crude and ridiculous arguments condemning the banishment of Karla Pérez, he spoke no less than René González, one of the five spies of the Wasp Network.

Castrist bosses– whatever Cuba were a farm they own – arrome the power to prevent a young woman from entering the island – whose sole fault is to aspire to freedom and democracy – because they consider it to be "a danger to national security". For decades, however, ignoring international laws and jeop for diplomatic relations with other governments, they have sheltered hundreds of members of terrorist organizations and all sorts of sinister characters linked to far-left extremist groups around the world. They have even given refuge to common criminals, such as Robert Vesco,accused in the United States of tax fraud, and who, after being a business guest of the castrist regime, made the mistake of defrauding his hosts. That's why he went to jail, where he died.

The regime's record of supporting terrorist groups is long. Havana, in 1966, hosted the Tricontinental Conference, a conclave that advocated armed struggle and the creation in the Third World of the "two, three, many Vietnamese" that Che Guevara spoke of before dying in his failed Bolivian guerrilla adventure.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Latin American guerrilla groups followed instructions from Havana, specifically from the Americas Department, a Cuban intelligence agency run by Commander Manuel Piñeiro (Barbaroja), in charge of subversion on the continent.

It is no secret that tupamaros, montoneros, sandinistas, members of the Farabundo Martí Front, the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN) and other guerrilla groups came to Cuba to discuss strategies, receive military training and medical care.

In 1979, in Nicaragua, Cuban military personnel, in addition to Argentine and Chilean guerrillas who were trained in Cuba, participated, alongside the Sandinista Front, in the offensive that overthrew the Somoza dictatorship.

Cuban support for violent subversion in Latin America remained well into the 1980s. Then, from the creation of the Sao Paulo Forum and Hugo Chavez's coming to power in Venezuela, the new strategy was to take power through the electoral route and then undermine democratic institutions and establish so-called "21st-century socialism."

Right now, the Cuban regime considers the U.S. government's decision to re-enlist Cuba in the list of terrorist-sponsoring countries, while refusing to hand over to the Colombian authorities the leaders of the National Liberation Army (ELN) who, while negotiating peace in Havana, launched a terrorist attack in their country in which 22 young cadets were killed.

The castrist regime also gave refuge in Cuba to members of the Black Panthers accused of hijacking planes and killing policemen in the United States, including Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur), who still lives in Cuba, and for whose capture the US authorities offer a substantial reward.

Cuban support for violent groups was not limited to the American continent alone. It also spread to Asia, Africa and even European countries.

In Cuba they warmly welcomed members of the Vietnamese National Liberation Front, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the South African NAC, the PAIGC of Guinea and Cape Verde, the Namibian South West Africa's People Organization (SWAPO), the Frelimo, the Front Polisario, the ZANU of Zimbabwe, etc.

And several dozen members of the Basque separatist organization ETA were also welcomed, who in their terrorist war against the Spanish state committed heinous attacks in which many civilians were killed or injured.

These days there are allegations of the castrista association, including of diplomats of the Cuban embassy, with Basque separatists and the virulent Defence Committees of the Catalan Republic. That, despite the good relations between Cuba and Spain.

Cuban rulers, characterized by choosing the worst friendships, have always maintained ties with regimes sponsoring international terrorism, such as Muammar Gaddafi Libya, North Korea of the Kim dynasty, and Ayatollah Iran.

And so, with that record, they have the hard face of accusing Cubans of terrorists who by peaceful methods claim their rights and democracy.

Luis Cino

Luis Cino Alvarez (Havana, 1956).
He worked as an English teacher, in construction and agriculture.
It began in the independent press in 1998. Between 2002 and the spring of 2003 he was on the editorial board of De Cuba magazine. He was deputy director of Primavera Digital. Regular contributor to CubaNet since 2003. He resides in Arroyo Naranjo. He dreams of being able to devote himself entirely and freely to writing narrative. He is passionate about good books, the sea, jazz and blues.

IACHR issues precautionary measures on behalf of Maria Matienzo and Kirenia Yalit

The organization, pursuant to Article 25 of its Regulations, called on the Island regime to take the necessary measures to protect the life rights and personal integrity of activists

CUBANET

MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2021 | 5:07 P.M.

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MIAMI, USA. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary measures on behalf of writer and journalist María Matienzo Puerto and activist Kirenia Yalit Núñez, according to the body responsible for promoting the enforcement and defence of human rights in the region.

"After analysing the claims of fact and law provided by the applicants, the Commission considers that the information submitted demonstrates prima facie that María de los Angeles Matienzo Puerto and Kirenia Yalit Núñez Pérez are in a situation of gravity and urgency, since their rights to life and personal integrity are at risk of irreparable harm," the IACHR said in its Resolution 26/2021.

Both Matienzo Puerto, journalist of CubaNet,and Núñez Pérez, coordinator of the organization Mesa de Diálogo de la Juventud Cubana, have been victims of the harassment of the regime of the island both for their activism for human rights and for their work generating an account of Cuban reality.

The organization, pursuant to Article 25 of its Regulations, called on the Island regime to take the necessary measures to protect the rights to life and personal integrity of activists so that both can carry out their activities.

The IACHR also indicated that the State must "ensure that its agents respect the life and personal integrity of beneficiaries" of the measures. It also called for the protection of its rights in relation to acts of risk that are attributable to third parties, in accordance with the standards established by international human rights law.

Precautionary measures on behalf of María Matienzo Puerto and Kirenia Yalit Núñez were requested from the IACHR by the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, an international non-governmental defense and protection organization working with local counterparts and activists in Latin America.

"I've been stateless for days, in that sad place I've been forerated"

Cuban journalist Karla Pérez González, whom the island regime banned from entering the country on March 18, thanked social media for the numerous show of support received in recent days

CUBANET

MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2021 | 3:30 P.M.

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Karla Pérez González, Cuba — Karla Pérez González (Photo: 14ymedio)

MIAMI, USA. Cuban journalist Karla Pérez González, whom the island regime banned from entering the country on March 18, thanked social media for the numerous shows of support received in recent days by compatriots from all over.

"I have been stateless for days, in that sad place I have been forging. But I'm not alone," she said in her first post after the events in which she was involved.

The journalist, who works for the digital portal ADN Cuba,recognized the authorities of Costa Rica for offering him refuge in that country, where he has resided for the last four years. He also thanked the Cubans for the messages of support and encouragement.

"I want to thank you for your messages, your complaints, your accompaniment. I really feel like I can get into your Cuba, even though I couldn't get on that plane for more screaming than I gave. Explain that I read all the love they've sent me and I'm very excited. I have tried to respond to everyone, but I continue with very little energy, my eyes constantly burn and now I focus on forcing myself to sleep and eat."

After spending almost four years completing his studies in Journalism in the Central American country, Karla Pérez González was unable to return to Cuba on the express order of the authorities of the island. This was recognized by officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) at a press conference held on Friday, March 18.

"They now intend to reinstall it in the country based on subversive purposes. His stay in Costa Rica was not coincidental, where there are elements and groups, including an MP, who maintains a strong relationship with violent groups in Miami," said Yadira Jiménez Roig, director of communication for that body.

They throw stones at a church in Las Tunas during a vigil over cuba's situation

After the events, the church leader told CUBA DAILY that 'the communist system sends wrongdoers to throw stones'.

Iglesia Misionera en Cuba. — Missionary Church in Cuba. MISSIONARY CHURCH IN CUBA/FACEBOOK

Numerous stones struck on Friday night against the roof of the pastoral house and the Missionary Church in Cuba,headed by Yoel Demetrio, a well-known detractor of the Cuban socialist regime of the city of Las Tunas.

After the events, the religious leader told CUBA DAILY that "the communist system sends wrongdoers to throw stones."

In October 2020, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio tweeted about bullying against his temple: "Freedom of worship is a right that must be respected. Worrying the account of the parishioners of the Missionary Church of Cuba, who are stoned after leaving the church."

"Ya hace unos meses no ocurría, después de tantas denuncias y la visibilización que dio a estas agresiones el senador republicano Rubio, pero sobre las 9:30PM volvió a ocurrir el mismo episodio", denunció Demetrio.

"The stones are thrown from neighboring courtyards against the church," explained the religious leader belonging to the Apostolic Movement, a network of evangelical churches that the state refuses to legalize.

The Apostolic Movement has reported the arrest of its pastors, demolitions of temples, confiscations of property and threats to its parishioners to prevent worship.

Demetrio recounted in a post, after the attacks, that in the small temple were gathered several faithful to begin the last hours of the vigil that throughout the month of March he summoned about 100 thousand Christians to pray for the political, economic and social situation in which socialism has plunged the island.

"We ask God that those who order these stone attacks against the church repent and know that God will always bless their children," man posted.

The police don't do their job.

Journalist Yaiset Rodriguez said on her Facebook profile: "Normallythe police would do their job. But the leader of the Missionary Church in Cuba also distrusts those who should go against crime and in favor of social order."

"Demetrius openly expresses what he thinks about the Cuban regime and this puts him, de facto, in the sights of the political police, who control everything and is against all who disagree," he continued.

A case similar to Demetrius occurred in the city of Florida, Camaguey, in October 2020. At that time, the Church of the Complete Gospel Eternal Rock told CUBA DAILY that stone attacks on the ceiling were sustained and "for several months".

Pastor Daniel Gonzalez explained that "unknown people" attacked the temple during service hours, rehearsals, or prayer times, and had damaged the light deck with several holes.

In a note to the LuzVision organization, Gonzalez warned that aggressors do not seem to care about the possible consequences of their actions, "for many times they are inside the church elderly, children".

Disnel Segura, another of the leaders of the congregation, commented for his part that the situation had been reported to both the chief of the police sector and the local government.

"Although they have come to see the gaps in the ceiling, their actions have been limited to that," Segura said.

A church in Las Tunas spends Resurrection Sunday in a rain of stones

This is not the first time that strangers have attacked the pastoral house and the Missionary Church in Cuba, headed by Pastor Yoel Demetrio. Religious attribute these assaults to suspected State Security envoys.

Cult at the Missionary Church of Cuba.

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PRINT-SHOP LIGHTHOUSE PUBLISHER PRESS

ISSUE 12 - MARCH 2021 - COPIES

2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Cuba

Executive Summary

Section I. Religious Demography

Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom

Legal Framework

Government Practices

Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom

Section IV. U.S. Government Policy and Engagement

X. LIMITS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Religious Leaders In Cuba Outspoken And Critical Of Proposed Constitution

Cuba ramps up religious persecution after election

Regimes target the faithful in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela

‘Castro’s death won’t end repression of Cuban Church’

Why the Cuban Church is still under pressure

RELIGIOUS REPRESSION IN CUBA:
Its Evolution and Present Status
Juan Clark, Ph.D.
Miami-Dade Community College

Cuban Catholic Bishops Speak Out Against Repression

https://www.voanews.com

Miami archbishop recalls Catholic persecution in Cuba, prays for peace

https://trentonmonitor.com

Esteban Rodriguez: "They want to use religion to shut me up"

Hackean Facebook account of journalist Camila Acosta

Cuban activist Carolina Barrero, questioned and accused of trying to protest Karla Pérez's case

State Security tells the young woman 'that they will not allow any form of demonstration, nor of protest for rights, are or are not included in the Constitution'.

Castrism banishes Cubans, but welcomes terrorists

IACHR issues precautionary measures on behalf of Maria Matienzo and Kirenia Yalit

"I've been stateless for days, in that sad place I've been forerated"

They throw stones at a church in Las Tunas during a vigil over cuba's situation

After the events, the church leader told CUBA DAILY that 'the communist system sends wrongdoers to throw stones'.

A church in Las Tunas spends Resurrection Sunday in a rain of stones

This is not the first time that strangers have attacked the pastoral house and the Missionary Church in Cuba, headed by Pastor Yoel Demetrio. Religious attribute these assaults to suspected State Security envoys.

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ISSUE 22 - NOVEMBER 2020 - COPIES

SPECIAL ISSUE - VOL.6 - MAY 2020 -COPIES

More about the author

ISSUE 12 - MARCH 2021 - COPIES

2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Cuba

Executive Summary

Section I. Religious Demography

Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom

Legal Framework

Government Practices

Section III. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom

Section IV. U.S. Government Policy and Engagement

X. LIMITS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Religious Leaders In Cuba Outspoken And Critical Of Proposed Constitution

Cuba ramps up religious persecution after election

Regimes target the faithful in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela

‘Castro’s death won’t end repression of Cuban Church’

Why the Cuban Church is still under pressure

RELIGIOUS REPRESSION IN CUBA: Its Evolution and Present Status Juan Clark, Ph.D. Miami-Dade Community College

Cuban Catholic Bishops Speak Out Against Repression

https://www.voanews.com

Miami archbishop recalls Catholic persecution in Cuba, prays for peace

https://trentonmonitor.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

ISSUE 22 - NOVEMBER 2020 - COPIES

SPECIAL ISSUE - VOL.6 - MAY 2020 -COPIES

RELIGIOUS REPRESSION IN CUBA:
Its Evolution and Present Status
Juan Clark, Ph.D.
Miami-Dade Community College