On June 27, 2024, the U.S. State Department released its lengthy 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom. Surprisingly it did not contain an overall summary of this freedom in the world for 2023. [1]
Instead it opened with a short Overview and Acknowledgements followed by the texts of the following sources of the law on international religious freedom:
- Appendix A: Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Appendix B: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- Appendix C: Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief
- Appendix D: Religious Freedom Provisions, Commitments, and Obligations From Regional Bodies and Instruments
- Appendix E: Department of State Training Related to the International Religious Freedom Act-2003
- Appendix F: Department of Homeland Security and the International Religious Freedom Act
- Appendix G: Overview of U.S. Refugee Policy-2023
The State Department report then contained separate summaries of religious freedom in all the world’s countries, starting with Afghanistan and ending with Zimbabwe.
Report on Cuba
The report on Cuban religious freedom had the following sections: Executive Summary, Religious Demography, Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom, Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom and U.S. Government Policy and Engagement.
Here is that Executive Summary:
“The constitution contains written provisions for religious freedom and prohibitions against discrimination based on religious grounds; however, provisions in the penal and administrative codes contravene these protections. The constitution declares the country a secular state and provides for the separation of religious institutions and the state, but the Cuban Communist Party (CCP), through its Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), regulates religious practice. The law requires all religious groups to apply to the MOJ for official registration. By law, membership in or association with an unregistered group is a crime. The penal code stipulates a minimum sentence of six months’ incarceration, a fine, or both for individuals who attempt to conscientiously object to military service or prevent minors from attending public school, including those whose objections are based on their religious beliefs. It also imposes sentences of up to 10 years’ imprisonment on persons receiving funding from foreign organizations or for financing activities considered to be directed against the state or its constitutional order. The family code states parents have the responsibility to instill in children love for the homeland, respect for its symbols, and respect for government authorities.”
“In its annual Watch List, the Christian nongovernmental organization (NGO) Open Doors reported an increase in government persecution of Christians from 2019 to 2023, including use of repressive tactics against religious leaders and activists opposing CCP ideology through arrests, exile, arbitrary fines, surveillance, denials of licenses, religious visas, freedom of movement, and physical and mental abuse. According to CSW’s (formerly known as Christian Solidarity Worldwide) annual report released in February and covering 2022, there were 657 violations of freedom of religion or belief compared with 272 reported violations in 2021. Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, sentenced in 2022 to seven years in prison on charges of disrespect, assault, criminal incitement, and public disorder, remained in prison at year’s end. Free Yorubas of Cuba (Free Yorubas) leaders and married couple Donaida Perez Paseiro and Loreto Hernandez Garcia also remained in prison through year’s end. Independent media sources reported authorities routinely denied Hernandez Garcia’s family’s request for medical attention for him. Three “Ladies in White” – Sayli Navarro Alvarez, Tania Echevarria Mendez, and Sissi Abascal Zamora – remained in prison for their participation in the 2021 public protests against the government. In March, Abascal’s mother told Radio Television Marti that prison authorities had reduced the three women’s food rations by 50 percent. The government continued to pressure regime critics – including religious leaders – to self-exile. In November, a multidenominational group of church leaders, the Alliance of Christians of Cuba (ACC), issued a public declaration calling for political and religious reform, including for the protection of freedom of religion or belief. Religious groups said the ORA and the MOJ continued to deny official registration to certain religious groups and failed to respond to long-pending applications, such as those for Jehovah’s Witnesses and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church of Jesus Christ).”
“During the year, there were reports of incidents of theft and vandalism of churches, which one cleric described as part of the “growing wave of social indiscipline and societal violence against religious institutions.” In October, representatives of Afro-Cuban, Muslim, Jewish religious communities and Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and evangelical Protestant Christian groups participated in two religious freedom roundtables. State security detained a few participants when traveling to the event, including Pastor Alejandro Hernandez Cepero. Some religious groups and organizations, such as the Catholic charity Caritas, continued to gather and distribute relief items, providing humanitarian assistance to individuals regardless of religious belief.”
“In public statements and on social media, U.S. government officials, including the Secretary of State, continued to call upon the government to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its citizens, including the freedom of religion or belief. In January and July, Department of State and embassy officials raised Pastor Rosales Fajardo’s case with officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On October 27, in commemoration of International Religious Freedom Day, the Assistant Secretary for Western Hemispheric Affairs tweeted a call for the Cuban government to release Pastor Rosales Fajardo, who was involved in the 2021 protests and is the pastor of the unregistered nondenominational Monte de Scion Church. Embassy officials met regularly with a range of religious groups concerning the state of religious freedom and political activities related to the religious groups’ beliefs.”
“On December 29, 2023, in accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as amended, the Secretary of State designated Cuba a “Country of Particular Concern” for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom. For Cuba, existing ongoing restrictions are 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.”[2]
Cuban Reactions
As reported by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, “during 2023 at least 936 actions against the exercise of religious freedom took place on the island according to facts documented by that NGO based in Madrid . . . just when the regime had prohibited the holding of Holy Week processions in some locations in the country, such as El Vedado (Havana City) or Bayamo, where one of the most notorious protests occurred on March 17.”
“According to data collected by the OCDH, the violations have targeted ‘publicly identified religious persons’ as well as others who ‘regularly or sporadically attend religious services as an expression of faith or civic commitment.’”
“For example, the NGO documented four summons and interrogations in official offices against members of the Centro de Estudios Convivencia , such as Yoandy Izquierdo Toledo and Dagoberto Valdés Hernández, director of the Christian-inspired institution ‘that promotes thought and proposals for the future of Cuba in different sectors and topics,’ the report indicated.”
“In 2023, numerous relatives of political prisoners denounced the denial of religious assistance in prisons, as in the cases of Roberto Pérez Fonseca and the brothers Nadir and Jorge Martín Perdomo, imprisoned for demonstrating on 11J.”
“The report also included “the cruelty against the Yoruba priest Loreto Hernández García , political prisoner of 11J, who [did] not receive adequate medical care or food in prison in accordance with his sufferings. On June 12, 2023, the religious man was admitted to the Hospital Provincial Clinical Surgical University Arnaldo Milián Castro, of Santa Clara, due to his delicate state of health.”
“The OCDH stated that, as is standard practice of the Cuban regime’s police apparatus, ‘the most frequent repressive actions in this area were arbitrary arrests and the sieging of family homes to prevent attendance at Sunday masses; especially against members of the Ladies in White, who were victims of several hundred anti-religious actions, usually against freedom of worship.’”
“Likewise, in January 2023, the State Security of San José de Las Lajas , in Mayabeque, ‘forbade mothers of imprisoned 9/11 protesters from attending church to pray for the freedom of their loved ones. Layda Jacinto Abad, mother of Aníbal Palau Jacinto; Marta Perdomo, mother of the brothers Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo, and Liset Fonseca, mother of Roberto Pérez Fonseca, had announced that they intended to take a weekly Sunday walk to the local Catholic church to demand freedom. of their children.’”
“The OCDH recalled that in its Second Study on Religious Freedom on the Island it determined that 68% of the Cubans consulted knew someone who professes a religion and has been harassed, repressed, threatened or hindered in their daily life for reasons related to that faith.”
“The predominant opinion is that among the main reasons why a believer may suffer harassment, threats or discrimination are ‘having a political position based on their faith’ (59%) and ‘speaking publicly about their faith’ (45%),” the report recalled.”
“The investigation also determined that 68% of believers believe that the Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party of Cuba, the department that controls and directs the repression against religious organizations on the island, violates or represses their rights.”
“’From the study it emerged that the Cuban regime continues to use its surveillance and control systems to limit or persecute any public expression , especially political, of those who assume a civic commitment in accordance with the values of their faith. Likewise, it limits social action and influence. of religious entities or congregations, above all those that demand a greater presence in public spaces and in communities,’ he concluded.”
This Blogger’s Reactions
This blogger is not Cuban, but he is a member of Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church, which has had a partnership with a Presbyterian church in Matanzas, Cuba for over 20 years, and he visited that church three times in the early 2000s and has heard reports from other Westminster members who have been there more recently. In addition, Cuban pastors from that Cuban church have visited and preached at our Minneapolis church.[3]
Based on that personal experience, I can testify that there are Cubans who have a strong Christian faith, who participate in the lives of their church and their fellow members and neighbors and who have developed strong connections with Westminster members. I have not heard of any efforts by the Cuban government to restrict their religious faith and practices.
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[1] U.S. State Dep’t, 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom (June 27, 2024).; The lack of religious freedom persists in Cuba: the US presents its 2023 world report, Diario de Cuba IJune 27, 2024); There were more than 900 violations against the religious freedom of Cubans in 2023, Diario de Cuba (June 27, 2024).
[2] See U.S. Designates Cuba as a “Country of Particular Concern” Regarding Religious Freedom, dwkcommentaries.com (Jan. 8, 2024).
[3] See, e.g., the following ports to dwkcommentaries.com: The Cuban Revolution and Religion, (12/30/11); Praise God for Leading U.S. and Cuba to Reconciliation (12/26/14): Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church Celebrates U.S.-Cuba Reconciliation (1/04/15); Presbyterian Church’s Connections with Cuba (01/13/15); Religious Leaders Support U.S.-Cuba Reconciliation (05/04/15); A Protestant Christian’s Reactions to Pope Francis’ Mission to the Cuban and American People (10/26/15).