U.S. Designates Cuba as a “Country of Particular Concern” Regarding Religious Freedom  

On January 4, 2024, the U.S. Department of State issued a press statement by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, entitled “Religious Freedom Designations.” According to that statement, he had designated Cuba and 11 other countries as “Countries of Particular Concern” which by statute are those “countries that commit systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”[1]

This press statement, however, did not have any citations of legal authorities or reports by federal agencies that went into greater depth on this issue. Apparently, without explanation, the Secretary’s designation of the 12 countries was based on the April 2023 Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom which was issued in January 2024 and which designated 17 (not 12) countries, including Cuba, as having the status of “Countries of Particular Concern.” However, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom only is authorized to make “recommendations to the U.S. Government.” [2]

With respect to Cuba that Commission Annual Report stated the following:

• The Commission designated Cuba as one of 17 countries as being “Of Particular Concern for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”
• “In 2022, religious freedom conditions in Cuba worsened. Throughout the year, the Cuban government tightly controlled religious activity through surveillance, harassment of religious leaders and laypeople, forced exile, fines, and ill treatment of religious prisoners of conscience. Religious leaders and groups that are unregistered or conducted unsanctioned religious activity—as well as journalistic reporting on religious freedom conditions—faced relentless oppression from the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) and state security forces.”
• “ The Cuban government regularly targeted members of religious communities who refused to abide by strict regulations set out by the ORA. Authorities subjected pastors to detention, interrogation, threats of prison sentences on false charges, and confiscation of property.”
• “In February, authorities detained Reverend Yordanys Díaz Arteaga, the president of the Christian Reformed Church of Cuba, after an extensive search of his home and the confiscation of technology belonging to his church. He was later interrogated and threatened with criminal charges at an unknown location and held incommunicado under effective house arrest. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported that Reverend Díaz became a target of the government after his denomination withdrew from the regime-aligned Cuban Council of Churches. He reportedly arrived in the United States in August.”
• “In April, evangelical couple Pastors Mario Jorge Travieso and Velmis Adriana Medina Mariño planned an April 29–30 prayer event called ‘Breaking the Chains’ to focus on the wives and mothers of political prisoners. The regime made repeated threats to Pastors Travieso and Medina and several members of their church who planned to participate. Authorities arbitrarily detained the pastors, interrogated them for six hours, and threatened them with imprisonment. The organizers canceled the event due to the regime’s various threats.”
• “USCIRF received reports indicating that Cuban authorities detained and interrogated citizens who traveled or planned to travel to the United States in 2022, including Catholic layman Dagoberto Valdés and his son Javier Valdés Delgado as well as Mildrey Betancourt Rodríguez, a member of the Alliance of Non-Registered Churches. Similarly, in October the Office of the Directorate of Identification, Immigration, and Foreigners of Cuba arbitrarily barred Imam Abu Duyanah, imam of the Cuban Association for the Dissemination of Islam, from traveling to Mecca for “reasons of public interest” without any specifications.”
• “Additionally, threats and persecution by the government caused several religious leaders to leave Cuba in 2022. In March, Pastor Enrique de Jesús Fundora Pérez of the Apostolic Movement fled the country to seek asylum in Switzerland after state security officials threatened him with up to 30 years in prison for “sedition” and “incitement to commit a crime.” He drew the ire of authorities when he gave monetary and spiritual aid to families of political prisoners from the July 11, 2021 (J11) protests. Pastor Alain Toledano, a prominent Cuban religious leader of the unregistered Emmanuel Church of the Apostolic Ministry, has experienced severe harassment from the Cuban government for over 20 years. In June, Cuban state security presented Toledano with an ultimatum: leave the country within 30 days or face imprisonment. The United States granted him and his family emergency parole in July. In September, Father David Pantaleon, head of Cuba’s Jesuit Order and president of the Conference of Religious Men and Women in Cuba, had to leave the country after the government refused to renew his residence permit. During an interview in his native Dominican Republic, Father Pantaleon reported that the ORA cited his support for political prisoners and the Jesuits’ critical position toward the regime as the main reasons for his expulsion. The Cuban government continued to target independent journalists who report on religious freedom by threatening criminal charges and fines, often under Decree Law 370, and imposing travel restrictions. Cuban authorities twice interrogated and fined young Catholic layman and journalist Adrián Martínez Cádiz this year.”
• “RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ■ Redesignate Cuba as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA); ■ Encourage Cuban authorities to extend an official invitation for unrestricted visits by USCIRF, the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, and the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; and ■ Impose targeted sanctions on Cuban government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom—including Caridad Diego, head of the ORA—by freezing those individuals’ assets and/or barring their entry into the United States under human rights related financial and visa authorities, citing specific religious freedom violations. The U.S. Congress should: ■ Raise human rights and democracy concerns in Cuba and highlight the situation facing religious leaders and organizations persecuted by the Cuban government, among others.
• “Key U.S. Policy The U.S. government continued to place robust sanctions on Cuban officials. In January, the U.S. Department of State imposed visa restrictions on eight officials “implicated in attempts to silence the voices of the Cuban people through repression, unjust detentions, and harsh prison sentences” of J11 protesters. Further rounds of visa restrictions came in June and July when the State Department imposed restrictions on an additional 33 individuals for “unfair trials and unjust sentencing and imprisonment” of J11 protesters, plus media and communications officials who “formulate and implement policies that restrict Cubans’ ability to freely access and share information and who engage in the spread of disinformation.”
• “In September, the U.S. Embassy in Havana announced the resumption of immigrant visa processing and consular services for the first time since 2017.”
• “On November 30, the State Department for the first time designated Cuba as a CPC under IRFA and imposed as the relevant president action the existing ongoing restrictions referenced in 31 CFR 515.201 and the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (Helms-Burton Act), pursuant to section 402(c) (5) of the Act. Cuba previously had been on the State Department’s Special Watch List since 2019.”[3]

The Commission ambiguously and erroneously stated that the State Department on November 30 [2002 or 2003?] for the first time had elevated Cuba to CPC status.

Cuba’s Rejection of Its Designation as a CPC[4]

The Cuban Foreign Minister on January 5, 2024, in a text on [the  Internet’s “X”] stated that the “repeated inclusion of Cuba in unilateral reports on terrorism, human rights and religious freedom of the US Government is not linked to the exemplary performance of our country.”

A more official Cuban rejection of this designation was published as an international editorial in Granma, the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party. It noted that the U.S. had “unilaterally” included Cuba on a list, “of countries that, in the opinion of the US Government, have ‘participated in or tolerated particularly serious violations of religious freedom.’” However, “The repeated inclusion of Cuba in the United States Government’s unilateral reports on terrorism, human rights and religious freedom is not linked to the exemplary performance of our country.”

Conclusion

Anyone with knowledge of what prompted the content and timing of the Secretary of State’s announcement is invited to share that knowledge in a comment to this post.

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[1] U. S. State Dep’t, Secretary of State Press Statement, Religious Freedom (Jan. 4, 2024);The US keeps the Cuban regime on the blacklist on religious freedom, Diario de Cuba (Jan. 5, 2024)

[2] Annual Report, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (April 2023, issued in January 2024). Before the January 2024 Secretary of State’s press statement the last State Department report on international religious freedom (the 2022 report) was issued on May 15, 2023 and said nothing about Cuba being a “Country of Particular Concern.”

[3] This blogger has not found the source for the Commission’s statements that the State Department on November 30, 2023, had designated Cuba as a CPC and that the Department  should “redesignate” Cuba as a CPC.

[4] Havana has an ‘exemplary performance’ in respect for religious freedom, defends Bruno Rodriguez, Diario de Cuba (Jan. 5, 2024); Cuba’s exemplary performance does not fit on any list, Granma (Jan. 5, 2024).