Report: Sharp Rise in Religious Liberty Violations in Cuba

Report: Sharp Rise in Religious Liberty Violations in Cuba
By K.J. Pascual
CP Latin America Correspondent
Fri, Sep. 18 2009 10:29 AM EDT

Pressure on religious leaders in Cuba has increased significantly over
the past year, according to a new report by Christian Solidarity
Worldwide (CSW).

Comprehensive evidence within the document details a sharp rise in
religious liberty violations in the country, especially against the
independent churches, noted the human rights watchdog.

Independent church leaders from the fast growing Apostolic Movement have
been particularly targeted for harassment, detentions and court summons
by the government, according to the report.

Last week Pastor Mario Alvarez, the Havana-based leader of a church
affiliated with Apostolic Movement, was informed by government officials
that he would be evicted from his home.

Two other leaders from the Apostolic Movement are currently in prison.
Alexi Perez, who oversees a group of around 100 church members at the
Apostolic Evangelical Church in San Jose de las Lajas, has now been in
prison for almost two months, while Pastor Omar Gude Perez was sentenced
to six years in prison in July.

According to CSW, this follows the detention of at least 60 pastors and
leaders linked to the Apostolic Movement in May and June.

CSW, a human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom
around the world, has strongly condemned the treatment of independent
church leaders.

"It is clear that the eviction of Pastor Alvarez is the latest in a long
line of repressive actions taken by the Cuban Government against
Christian leaders associated with the Apostolic Movement," said CSW's
Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert.

"We strongly encourage the international community, in particular the
European Union, to push the Cuban government to ratify the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which it signed in 2008 and to
make it clear to Cuban officials that religious freedom must be
protected for Cubans of all faiths."

The communist state of Cuba is officially an atheist state and is
notorious for suppressing the work of Christian missionaries. It has
many political and religious prisoners. Last year, USCIRF called on the
U.S. government to specifically press Cuba "through all available
diplomatic channels" to release all political prisoners, and lift
repressive laws and restrictions on freedom of thought, conscience, and
religion or belief.

The fast-growing evangelical Christians account for about 5 percent of
the estimated 11 million people in Cuba. There were only 1,100 churches
and house churches in 1991 – the year when the Congressional Communist
Party voted to change Cuba's constitutional status from atheist to
secular state, according to WorldServe. Now, there are more than 16,000
house churches, said the ministry which has worked in Cuba for over a
decade.

Cuba showed some signs of easing its policy toward religion when
authorities from the Cuban Communist Party agreed to allow organized
worship services inside prisons for Catholic or Protestant inmates,
according to Jose Aurelio Paz, spokesman for the Protestant Cuban Church
Council. Inmates were previously allowed to only worship individually.

Nevertheless, Cuba is ranked No. 33 in Open Doors' World Watch List,
which annually names 50 of the worst persecutors of Christians.

Report: Sharp Rise in Religious Liberty Violations in Cuba |
Christianpost.com (18 September 2009)
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090918/report-reveals-sharp-rise-in-religious-liberty-violations-in-cuba/index.html