“Country of Particular Concern”

U.S. Critical of Cuban Religious Freedom

On May 1 the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom published its annual report for 2023.[1]

This report included its List of Countries of Special Concern. In addition to Cuba the other countries on this list were Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Report’s Key Findings on Cuba[2]

“In 2023, religious freedom conditions in Cuba remained extremely poor. The government maintained an oppressive legal framework that severely restricted peaceful religious activity, regularly harassed religious leaders and worshipers, and continued to wrongfully imprison individuals for their peaceful religious activity.”

“In May 2023, the Cuban government approved the Social Communication Law, which codifies broad prohibitions on peaceful expression, including religious expression that is critical of the government. The legislation expands the government’s already extensive authority to target individuals freely expressing their religious convictions. For example, the amended Cuban Penal Code criminalizes “contempt,” “public disorder,” and “resistance,” each of which may be used to punish the activities of religious leaders and worshipers perceived to be critical of the government. In addition, Decree Law 370 threatens independent journalists reporting on religious freedom with criminal charges and fines.”

“Throughout 2023, the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) continued to regulate and control religious institutions. The Law of Associations requires religious organizations to apply to the Ministry of Justice, where the ORA is housed, for registration. Membership or association with an unregistered religious group is a crime and, despite existing criteria, registration decisions are often arbitrary and discriminatory. The ORA also exercises arbitrary control over the affairs of registered religious organizations and requires permission for virtually any activity other than regular worship services. Religious leaders and groups that are unregistered or conduct unsanctioned religious activity are subject to interrogation, detention, threats of prison sentences on false charges, and confiscation of property.”

“The government draws on its vast domestic security and surveillance apparatus to harass and intimidate religious leaders and worshipers, including through the Department of State Security, the National Revolutionary Police, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. For example, Cuban authorities regularly and arbitrarily prevented individuals from peacefully gathering at religious sites and events. In January 2023, the government prohibited mothers of political prisoners from attending church to pray for their release. In March, police beat and detained a couple on their way to church after alleging that the couple was going to “take communion against communism.” In June, police prevented a journalist from attending the funeral mass of a priest whose remains had been transferred to the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. In October, Cuban authorities detained two pastors who were scheduled to attend an event on the right to freedom of religion or belief. Additionally, authorities pressured individuals whose religious expressions ran afoul of government orthodoxy. In May, a professor threatened a university student with expulsion after the student refused to sign a document committing himself to Cuba’s governing ideology for reasons of religious conscience. And in September, police interrogated a young man who disseminated religiously inspired videos online and pressured him to refrain from speaking critically about the government.”

“Religious prisoners of conscience remain arbitrarily imprisoned for peacefully following their religious convictions. For example, Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, the pastor and leader of the Monte de Sion Independent Church, has been in prison since 2021 for his peaceful participation in the protests on July 11, 2021. Twins Lisdani Rodríguez Isaac and Lisdiani Rodríguez Isaac, members of the Free Yorubas, an independent religious group, also remain imprisoned for their peaceful participation in the July 11 protests. The authorities denied the twins’ application for transfer to a lower-security prison.”

Report’s Recommendations to U.S. Government[3]

“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);”

“Urge Cuban authorities to extend an official invitation for unrestricted visits to 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 the ORA, the Department of State Security, the National Revolutionary Police, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution—by freezing those individuals’ assets and/or barring their entry to the United States under human rights-related financial and visa authorities.”

Report’s Recommendations to U.S. Congress[4]

“The U.S. Congress should: ”Highlight religious freedom concerns in Cuba through hearings and letters and by advocating for the release of religious prisoners of conscience such as Lisdiani Rodríguez Isaac, Lisdani Rodríguez Isaac, Donaida Pérez Paseiro, Loreto Hernández García, and Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo.”

======================

[1] U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2024 Annual Report (May 2024).The US maintains the Cuban regime on its blacklist of countries that violate religious freedom, Diario de Cuba (May 2, 2024)

[2] Report at 26.

[3] Ibid. The State Department on December 29, 2023, redesignated Cuba as a Country of Particular Concern. (U.S. Designates Cuba as a “Country of Particular Concern” Regarding Religious Freedom, dwkcommentaries.com (Jan. 6. 2024).

[4] Report at 26.

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.

===============================

[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).

How Does Jesus See Love?

This was the question addressed in Rev. Tim Hart-Andersen’s November 10, 2019, sermon at Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church and in his reflections on his gathering four days earlier with 15 other U.S. and Cuban clergy and lay leaders on a rooftop in Havana.[1]

As previously noted in this blog, Westminster has had partnerships with the Presbyterian-Reformed Church of Cuba for nearly 19 years,[2] and the purpose of the recent gathering in Havana was to meet with the leaders of the Seminario de Evangelico de Teologia (SET) and learn about their vision for establishing a facility in Havana to supplement the offerings at its main facilities in the city of Matanzas on the north coast of the island east of Havana.[3]

According to Rev. Hart-Andersen, “It’s an exciting time for the church in Cuba, full of possibility. There’s a great awakening of spiritual hunger on the island as it emerges from decades of atheism and isolation. With its unique circumstances, Cuba offers the Church a living laboratory for spreading the faith.”

“Younger Cubans have virtually no experience of Christianity. They were raised in a system that rejected religion. As a result, for our Presbyterian sisters and brothers and other Christians on the island, it’s if they were starting the church all over.”

“Differing versions of the faith are rushing in to try to fill the void. Some cling to a traditional, conservative Roman Catholicism. Others mix African-traditions with Christianity. Some proclaim an imported, privatized, prosperity gospel designed to meet individual need. And others – including our Seminary partners – pursue a gospel that seeks justice and works to transform individuals and systems.”

“We have our own competing versions of Christianity . . . [in the U.S.] There’s little consensus among us in our land about what it means to be faithful. In our country today, religion is as divided as politics – and sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between the two.”

“Whether in Cuba or . . . [the U.S.], those seeking to live as God’s people are struggling with how to do that in our time. The old ways are not working; we need a refresher course in following Jesus. What do we do?”

The response to this question for us [in the U.S.] and for the church in Cuba comes from Jesus when He answered the question, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus’ answer: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”[4]

“How does Jesus see love? It has more than one dimension, and it moves in multiple directions. It starts with each individual human being, created in the image of God, each one of us a living expression of the love of God – and then moves outward, in visible ways to those near us and into our communities, and in invisible ways, to God who joins us in loving the world. It’s a trinity of love: God, neighbor, self. In choosing to follow Jesus, you and I wrestle with finding the right balance among the three – and oftentimes we find ourselves tilting in the direction of self. And we get into trouble when we do that.”

These thoughts occurred to Rev. Hart-Andersen as he and the others on a Havana rooftop sang this hymn:

“Open our eyes, Lord. Help us to see your face.

Open our eyes, Lord. Help us to see.

Open our ears, Lord. Help us to hear your voice.

Open our ears, Lord. Help us to hear.”

Said Rev. Hart-Andersen, “We looked out at the city [of Havana] and saw its many-hued people, beginning to meet the challenges of another day in a difficult time and place. Help us to see.” We heard “the sounds of children and babies crying and car horns honking, laughter and shouts rose from the streets below to accompany our song. Help us to hear.”

“Our rooftop singing [of this song] placed the worship of God right where worship should be: in the midst of the world. We were no longer hidden and quiet behind walls. It was love of God meets love of neighbor.”

“The practice of Christianity requires a context as close to the real world as possible, and that was the real world. Love needs someone to love. A “neighbor” is not theoretical. We can’t love by staying inside these walls [of our church in Minneapolis or Havana]. . . . Loving our neighbor requires that we encounter our neighbor.”

From the Havana rooftop, “we looked into a city teeming with life, yet impoverished materially and spiritually. And as we looked, we caught a glimpse of the makings of the Beloved Community—people working together, hoping for a better future, refusing to be overwhelmed by their circumstance, wanting to be loved by one another.”

“That’s how Jesus sees love—as a community of people reconciled to God and reconciled to one another, eager to worship and ready to serve.” (Emphasis in original.)

State Department’s Contrary Opinion of Cuban Religious Freedom[5]

This sermon also implicitly contradicts the U.S. State Department’s December 20^th addition of Cuba to the Department’s Special Watch List of countries engaging in or tolerating “severe violations of religious freedom” while not meeting all of the criteria for the worse status of Countries of Particular Concern.

The Department did not provide any purported factual basis for this action regarding Cuba even though only six months earlier, on June 21, 2019, the Department’s latest annual report on this subject for every country in the world had harsh, and unjustified, criticism of Cuba, but did not designate the island as a member of the “Special Watch List” or as a “Country of Particular Concern.’ [6]

Conclusion

Jesus’ reminder that we all are commanded to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and our neighbor as ourself should remind us that each of us and everyone else (and every country) often fail to meet these obligations and, therefore, need forgiveness. We need to be humble.

=================================

[1] Westminster Presbyterian Church, Rev. Tim Hart-Andersen, Sermon: How Does Jesus See Love? (Nov. 10, 2019).

[2] As its website says, SET is an ecumenical seminary that “was founded on October 1, 1946,” and that now “is governed by a Board of Directors, with representative, legislative, consultative and executive functions; composed of ten members of the Cuban founding Churches: Episcopal Church of Cuba (4), Presbyterian-Reformed in Cuba (4); and by a representative of the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba (1) and of the Los Amigos Church “Quakers” (1).” SET works “in the academic, ecumenical, ethical, moral and spiritual formation of those who feel called by God to exercise the ordained ministry, and other ministries in the Church, as well as in the training of the faithful who wish to serve in the work of the Lord through the broadest universal ministry of International believers, through regular and special courses, in permanent residence or through meetings, among others. We are also engaged in the development of an ethical, theological and biblical culture and, for this purpose, we are open to people who do not intend to enter the Christian ministry in any of its forms.”

[3] Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church’s Connections with Cuba, dwkcommentareis.com (Jan.13, 2015); Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church Celebrates U.S.-Cuba Reconciliation, (Jan. 4, 2015) dwkcommentaries. com (Jan. 4, 2015).

[4] Matthew 22: 34-40; Mark 12: 28-31; Luke 10: 25-28. This answer from Jesus quoted from the Hebrew Bible that would have been well known to the individuals asking this question: Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.

[5] State Dep’t, Press Statement: United States Takes Action Against Violators of Religious Freedom (Dec. 20, 2019).

[6] See State Dep’t, 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom (June 21, 2019); U.S. State Department Unfairly Criticizes Cuban Religious Freedom, dwkcommentaries.com (July 18, 2019); U.S. State Department’s Positive Assessment of Cuban Religious Freedom, dwkcommentaries.com (Aug. 19, 2017).