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RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION AROUND THE WORLD

Cuba

 

Cuban Communists Destroy Crucifix and Beat Devout Catholic

March 17, 2001

   Members of the Department of Religious Matters of the Communist Party in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba, violently invaded the house of Elena Macías, a devout Catholic, physically assaulting her, destroying an image of Jesus Christ and throwing the pieces of the destroyed image at her face. "This is one of the most savage anti-Catholic acts that has taken place in the recent history of Cuba" said reporters from the "Agencia Católica de Informaciones (ACI)" (Catholic Information Agency). Another devout Catholic, Maritza Lugo Fernández, in a message she managed to leak out from the women's prison "Manto Negro" (Black Cloak), accuses "the imposed dictatorial government in Cuba and its repressive branch, the State Security, for the injustices and abuses they commit against the Cuban people, against the penal population and very specifically against the political prisoners and prisoners of conscience." "I accuse the cowards and miserables who, through the use of force, commit all kinds of human rights violations, while nothing stops them as they attempt to defend a false revolution built and maintained on a foundation of lies and infamy", added Mrs. Lugo, deemed a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
    Radio Vaticano denounced the continuing denial of spiritual guidance to political prisoners in Cuban jails, citing the case of Arturo Suárez Ramos, a Catholic, who was held in jail in Havana's "Combinado del Este". During Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba in January of 1998, the pontiff unsuccessfully interceded before the communist regime seeking his freedom. Upon his return from Cuba, Monsignor Flavio Roberto Carraro, Bishop of Verona and President of the Commission for the Evangelization of Towns, of the Italian Episcopal Conference, declared to the newpaper "Avennire" that "the situation of the Church in Cuba is of suffering", referring to a confidential document from the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Havana wherein instructions are given to destroy latent religious sentiment in many Cubans and, expressions such as "despapar" (taking the Pope out of) Cuba are used in the text.

--Used by permission of Destaque Internacional (DI),


 

Cuba Seizes Pastor's Home

Tuesday, October 17, 2000

    Cuban authorities stole a pastor's home. Jorge Ferrer and his wife, Ailin, co-pastor the 1,000-member Evangelical League church in eastern Cuba. The couple returned home from an out-of-town trip to find that state security agents had seized the home they purchased legally from the government just three months earlier, according to Compass Direct News service.
  Agents entered the home Sept. 26 and evicted the couple's children and their ailing grandfather, literally tossed the family's furniture and possessions into the street and stationed a guard outside the home to deny the family access, Compass reported. They claimed they didn't know the two were pastors when they sold them the house. "[The agents] knew they had done wrong," a relative in Miami told Compass. "They did it on purpose to take their money." Church members have been holding a prayer vigil for the house's return and although the couple is appealing, there is little hope of getting either the house or their money back, according to Compass.

--Used by permission of Religion Today

 

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