HAVANA, Cuba (BP) – Pray for Cuba, a Baptist pastor there implored on social media. Afterwards, police interrogated him for claiming the Church can solve Cuba’s problems, while they believe “only the Revolution and its political systems can solve people’s problems.”
Such harassment is indicative of Cuba’s persecution of Protestants, Catholics and other religious groups that continued through 2024, religious advocacy group CSW said in its annual report, “No Respite: The Systematic Suppression of Freedom of Religion or Belief in Cuba.”
Arbitrary detentions, intrusive surveillance, interrogations, threats and harassment of leaders, as well as physical and verbal abuse of school children because of their religious belief are documented in the report released May 29, based on 624 separate cases of religious persecution involving 1,894 specific violations of freedom of religion or belief.
Orlando de la Fuente Lovaina, pastor of Nuevo Pacto First Baptist Church, was harassed March 23 after he promoted prayer for Cuba on social media. Two unidentified government agents took him to a police station where he was accused of “using the pulpit to claim that there were problems in Cuba that the Church can solve, when only the Revolution and its political systems can solve people’s problems,” CSW said.
When Lovaina shared his belief “that God through the Church can help to bring solutions for the difficulties the country is facing, he was told ‘religious people’ are strictly prohibited from using national symbols, which can only be used by revolutionaries, and that the pastor’s position sends a message to the people that the Revolution cannot solve the people’s problems.” The government threatened criminal charges and consequences for Lovaina’s family if his preaching encouraged “ideological divisionism” and issued Lovaina an “Acta de Advertencia” – or warning – which he refused to sign.
Nuevo Pacto First Baptist Church is a registered church and member of the legally recognized Baptist Convention of Eastern Cuba in Ciego de Ávila City.
Harassment of religious leaders was most common, CSW found, a trend that has continued from previous years, including anonymous phone calls, interrogations, fines and repeated summonses to appear before national police officers or at state security stations. When paramilitary groups or “supposed civilians,” CSW said, carried out violent attacks on religious leaders, the “government took no action to investigate or stop” the crimes.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, Afro-Cuban groups and registered and unregistered associations were also impacted by Cuba’s crackdown on religious persecution that intensified in 2021, CSW said in the report resourced in part by firsthand documentation of Cuban residents. Violations of the Nelson Mandela Rules regarding political prisoners also continued, CSW said, with the government consistently refusing to allow religious visits and the receipt of religious materials.
“CSW remains immensely inspired by those in Cuba who continue to stand up and speak out for freedom of religion or belief and other fundamental human rights, often at great risk to their own freedom and wellbeing,” CSW Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said in releasing the report. “We stand in solidarity with these individuals, and all those who have been forced into exile on account of their religion or belief, or their peaceful defense of human rights, and call on the international community to do more to hold the Cuban government to account for its severe and ongoing repression of the Cuban people.”
The international community’s support is crucial at this time, CSW said.
“It is now even more vital that governments around the world, and especially Cuba’s friends and neighbors in Latin America, emphatically voice concerns about Cuba’s consistent violations of human rights, including (freedom of religion or belief), and seek ways to support independent civil society in Cuba, including religious groups,” CSW said in its report. “Ultimately, the future of Cuba lies with its people; those around the world who believe in the principles of democracy and fundamental human rights must stand with them in their peaceful pursuit of political and social change.”
The report is accessible here.
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