ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, says there is no sign of a let-up in a government crackdown on religious leaders and religious freedom advocates in Cuba…
“All I am doing is my pastoral work, and my work is a commandment from the Lord. I will continue to do this work, even if it means I have to go to prison.” – a Cuban Protestant pastor.
CSW recorded 622 cases involving violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in Cuba in 2023, with no sign of a let up in a government crackdown that has been ongoing ever since unprecedented protests swept the island in July 2021.
Cubans praying in the streets. PICTURE: Courtesy of CSW
The intention – summarised in CSW’s brand new report on the country – is clear: to bring the population back under as much government control as possible.
Some of its strategies are familiar; the relentless harassment of religious leaders and FoRB defenders, the restriction of travel into, out of and within Cuba, and the routine arbitrary detention of religious adherents to prevent them from attending religious services are all highly common violations that CSW has documented in reports on the country for many years now.
“The report finds that in addition to its preferred means of repression of recent years, the government has returned to the hardline tactics it employed in the 1980s and 1990s.”
But there has been a shift.
The report finds that in addition to its preferred means of repression of recent years, the government has returned to the hardline tactics it employed in the 1980s and 1990s.
In schools for example, children are expected to participate in daily political activities, including singing pro-government songs and reciting chants declaring their allegiance to socialism, communism, Che Guevara and Fidel and Raúl Castro. Those that object for reasons of conscience face verbal and physical abuse from teachers and classmates alike, with parents summoned and told that they should force their children to participate regardless of any conflict with their religion or belief.
The pressure to comply with such demands is heightened considerably when taken in conjunction with the entry into force of a revised family code that grants the government the right to remove children from their homes if their parents fail to instil in them a ‘love for the Homeland, respect of its symbols, and respect for the authorities’.
Many religious leaders reported being threatened with the enforcement of such provisions in 2023, as well as those of a similarly repressive new criminal code that increases minimum prison sentences for numerous offences such leading an unauthorised association or participating in an unauthorised meeting.
Naturally the government’s mistreatment of perceived critics and dissidents does not stop once it has imprisoned them. Political prisoners arrested during or following the July 2021 protests are routinely denied their rights under the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners – known as the Nelson Mandela Rules – including the right to receive visits from priests or other religious leaders, and to keep religious materials such as a Bible.
Walnier Luis Aguilar, 23, has been held in Combinado del Este since July 2021. He has mild intellectual and developmental challenges and a learning and behavioural disorder due to a head injury he received as a child. Last year his father Wilber Aguilar Bravo visited Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan de la Caridad Garcia Rodriguez and requested his intervention in order that Walnier might receive visits from a religious leader in prison. As in several other cases, the cardinal stated that although he was willing to do so, the government had made it clear that such visits would not be permitted.
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Shortly after this visit, Mr Aguilar Bravo received a police summons and was subsequently interrogated by State Security (DSE) and National Revolutionary Police (PNR) who threatened to strip his son of any remaining prison ‘benefits’ unless they stopped requesting religious visits. He told CSW: ‘Apparently, for DSE and PNR officers, it is illegal for a desperate father to request religious and spiritual support for his unjustly imprisoned son.’
This is just one of the many lengths the Cuban Government has gone to in an effort not only to punish those who speak out against its repression, but also to deter others from doing the same.
But it is not working.
As the quote at the start of this article indicates, many Cubans continue to resist the government’s heavy hand, and have not refrained from criticising policies or actions with which they disagree.
These people need our prayers and support; that Cuba has returned to more severe tactics of previous decades, with the backing of similarly repressive governments in China and Russia, makes it all the more essential that the international community stands with all those who continue to peacefully advocate for fundamental human rights and democracy. These are the people in whom the future of the island rests, and their voices must be amplified and echoed around the world.
Ellis Heasley is public affairs officer at UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW.
