Cuba--Christian Persecution in Cuba

Latin America: Cuba Country Report Last Updated: January 2003 Code: A-2, 3 (Click here for a code description.)
	(Click here for a list of ICC articles on Cuba.) List of Articles Last Updated: February 26, 2003

Religious Atmosphere: 41.1% of this country’s people are Catholic, though only 2% attend mass. 30.9% are non-religious and 25% practice some kind of spiritism. Only 2.82% of the country is Protestant but they are growing at an annual rate of 6.1%.

Extremist Groups:

• No extremist groups have been cited for incidences of persecution in this country.

Government:

• This government maintains an active opposition to house churches, which have grown dramatically since petroleum for driving to traditional churches is no longer available.
     
• Christian workers entering the country often have items or materials confiscated by customs officials and are rarely allowed to enter if the true reasons for their coming is known.
     
• Recent actions by Fidel Castro and his government expressing acceptance of first the Catholic Church and then Protestants give reason for guarded optimism concerning the future of religious liberty in Cuba.

Recent Actions:

• December 6, 2002 - A house church in Ciego de Avila province was boarded up and sealed while the Pastor and his wife were gone. They have been forbidden to enter the house church or risk arrest. They have also been denied the opportunity to retrieve personal possessions inside the house. Authorities claim the paperwork for the purchase of the house is not in order.
     
• October 24, 2002 - Provincial authorities in Santi Spiritus confiscated the home of a Cuban house church pastor, claiming it had been purchased illegally. Despite a large, clamorous crowd of church members and neighbors protesting the confiscation, police forced the pastor, his wife and two children out of the home and all of their possessions were hauled away. The pastor was then taken to Ciego de Avila Province while his wife and children were able to stay with friends and relatives in Santi Spiritus.
     
• September 2002 - Juan Carols Gonzalez-Leiva (see March 5, 2002 below) remains imprisoned under charges of "acts of disrespect toward Fidel Castro" and "public disorder." Mr. Gonzalez has been transferred to the State Security Facility in Holguin, which makes it difficult for his family to visit. He also reports psychological torture and the withholding of medical treatment. Gonzalez could be sentenced to 6 years in prison. (ANS/CWS)
     
• March 5, 2002 - Baptist Christian Juan Carlos Gonzalez-Leiva was arrested in Ciego de Avila for protesting the treatment of a journalist who was hospitalized after being attacked by police. A blind human rights leader, Gonzalez, also directed an independent Christian library, which was raided by police on March 10. (CSW)
     
• December 25, 2001 - A mob attacked the inaugural ceremony of the Emmanuel Library in Florida, Camaguey province. People attending the opening of the library were assaulted, including Pastor Lazaro Iglesias, whose home served as a venue for the library. All of the books were confiscated.
     
• September 26, 2000 – While a Christian pastor and his wife were travelling, Cuban authorities entered their house and threw all of the family’s belongings into the street. Jorge Ferrer’s father and 2 children were also evicted from the house. The family was not allowed to re-enter their home, which was evidently taken from them because it had been used for Christian meetings. Members of the Ferrer's church held a prayer vigil outside of the house, but it has not been restored to the family as of yet.
     
• July 3-8, 2000 – The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) conducted its first ever meeting in Cuba. Fidel Castro, himself, was a guest speaker at the meeting, which united Cuba’s approximately 35,000 Baptists with their counterparts from other countries.
     
• October 8, 1999 – Osmany Dominguez Borjas, pastor of the United Pentecostal Church in Havana, was arrested for holding an evangelical celebration.
     
• June 1999 — Tens of thousands of Protestant Christians came to Revolutionary Square in Havana for an historic open-air rally. The event was both televised nationwide and attended by Fidel Castro and some of his top officials. This marked what many deem to be overtures from the Castro regime of more tolerance towards Protestants specifically and Christians overall.
      
• February, 1999 — Thousands of Bibles, printed in the US, were seized by security forces and burned near the military unit Arroyo Naranjo near Managua as they were considered "subversive."
          
• December, 1998 — Christmas, illegalized in 1969, became an official holiday again in 1997. This year for the first time, the display public decorations are being allowed.
            
• October 9, 1998 - Ester Nieto Collazo was strangled in her home. She had apparently been raped and had suffered physical abuse. Ester was the executive secretary at the Evangelical League of Cuba, where her husband and brother also worked. Ester's brother, Alejandro Nieto, pastors the church and he had faced frequent harassment from the government for his evangelistic activities and his unwillingness to abide by the restrictive religious laws.
                 
• January 20, 1998 - Several hours before the visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba, an unidentified number of house churches were ordered to be closed. The Evangelical League of Cuba also reported that they were pressured by the Cuban secret police to refrain from any evangelistic activity during the Pope's visit.
       
• January, 1999 — Pope John Paul II made an historical visit to Cuba including the saying of a Mass in Revolutionary Square. Some 500,000 Catholic Cubans as well as Fidel Castro and some of his top officials were in attendance. This has been said by many as an important turning point in the Castro Regime’s attitude towards religious tolerance.
               
• 1996 - The residents of private houses used for worship were harassed by government officials. This harassment included evictions from and bulldozing of private residences used for church meetings. There also was a prohibition on the construction, expansion, or remodeling of churches in many provinces. One house church in the province of Las Tunas was given no reprieve from a neighbor who made many, at times violent, attempts to disrupt services. Religious leaders in Havana were warned that fines equaling $500 to $2,500 could be imposed upon them if they continued the house church meetings. They were also threatened with imprisonment and a withdrawal of their denomination’s official government recognition.
             

• While many other incidents of religious persecution have occurred, the lack of information coming out of Cuba makes them difficult to document.

Prisoners: While there are reports of prisoners being held for their religious belief, details of this information is unavailable at this time.

Suggested Actions You Might Take:

• Pray for the Christians of Cuba that they may be protected from harm, that religious liberty would continue to increase, and that the Christian message may be heard and received by all. Pray that the Cuban government would be more and more open to the spirit and truth of true Christianity.
             
• Write a respectful letter to one or more of the government officials listed below. Congratulate them on the recent allowances of religious expression in Cuba. Express your continuing concern for the safety and well being of the Christian community there.
               
• Please keep us informed of any replies or results you may receive! Contact ICC by email at icc@persecution.org.

Official Contacts: There are currently no official diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba.

POSTED: January 22, 2003

ICC Articles on Cuba:

• February 26, 2003 - CONCERN - Posted February edition of the CONCERN Newsletter.  Includes the following articles: Pakistan - Three Girls Killed in Deadly Christmas Attack, Indonesia - Indonesian Christians Seek to Return to their Villages, Cuba - Cuban House Churches Confiscated by Authorities
• December 2002 - Prayer - Belarus, China, Cuba, Sri Lanka, Vietnam