12th August, 2014
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Cover of CSW’s new report Cuba: Religious Freedom |
Violations of religious freedom in Cuba have risen significantly during the first half of 2014, according to a new report from UK-based persecuted church advocacy organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
The report, released earlier this month, recorded 170 separate violations of religious freedoms from the start of the year to mid-July, a figure which is on track to see the annual total amount come in at double that of the 2013 total of 180. The 2013 figure itself was up significantly on the 2012 total of 120 and the 2011 total of just 40 religious freedom violations.
The report, Cuba: Religious Freedom, said that during the past 19 months, government agents "continued to employ more brutal and public tactics" in the past few years than was witnessed in the first decade of the new millennium.
"CSW continued to receive regular reports of severe and sustained harassment and sporadic reports of violent beatings of Protestant pastors and lay workers in different parts of the country," wrote the report’s authors. They say "scores of women" have been "physically and violently" dragged away from Sunday morning services and detained until their conclusion. On one recent Sunday, more than 100 women were reportedly arbitrarily detained to prevent them attending mass.
The report also stated that there have been an increase in threats regarding the forced closure, confiscation or demolition of church buildings with some of the threats carried out – this included the destruction of a church and pastoral home in Santiago de Cuba on 2nd July. The threats are made at times in relation to demands that churches shun or expel particular individuals.
It highlights the case of the Trinidad First Baptist Church in Santa Clara. Leader Rev Homero Carbonell resigned in 2010 after publishing a letter denouncing a sustained campaign of harassment and hoping access to the church’s bank account, which had been frozen, would be permitted. The report states that access to the bank account remains blocked while Rev Carbonell and his family have "continued to be targets of government harassment even after his retirement, pushing his finally to accept asylum in the US and go into exile" earlier this year.
Mervyn Thomas, chief executive of CSW, said the increase in reports of religious freedom violations was "distressing", adding that it was "disturbing" to see some groups outside of Cuba interpreting concessions granted to a few religious groups as equating to an overall improvement in religious freedom.
"As long as the Cuban government refuses to allow all religious organisations to function legally, to register all places of worship, including house churches, and to remove authority over all religious activity from the central committee of the Cuban Communist Party, whose decisions are issued arbitrarily and cannot be appealed, there can be no religious freedom in Cuba."
Mr Thomas called on the US government, European Union and other members of the international community to hold the Cuban government to account and set measurable benchmarks so religious freedom on Cuba can be judged more accurately.
To see a full copy of the report, follow this link.
– DAVID ADAMS
