Cuba: Situation created at Havana church as dangerous as Waco

The church has been surrounded by a tight cordon of police forces.

A top Cuban church official told CBS News the situation created by a Pentecostal pastor who has barricaded himself along with an unspecified number of followers in his former Havana church is "as dangerous as Waco," the 1993 FBI siege and assault on the "Branch Davidian" sect in Texas.

The Cuban government on Sunday issued a statement on what it called "the unusual situation" in the Pentecostal Church in Centro Habana. The statement said more than 60 people, including 19 children and four pregnant women, were voluntarily locked in the building on a "spiritual retreat."

Authorities were able to convince those inside to allow doctors in to check on the pregnant women, the statement said, but expressed concern over their condition should they remain in the church for a prolonged period. The statement also expressed concern for the children who are missing classes.

The statement was the second news item on state-run television's evening newscast Sunday. It said the Pentecostal Church that had relieved the church's pastor, Braulio Herrera Tito, of his duties.

The Rev. Marcial Hernandez, President of Cuba's Council of Churches and himself a pastor of an Evangelical Pentecostal Church, says he doesn't know the exact number of people inside with Pastor Braulio, but other sources put the number at 62.

The building, which houses the Assembly of God Pentecostal Evangelical Church of Cuba, has been surrounded by a tight cordon of police forces since Friday evening. All traffic and including bus routes have been diverted and only those people who can show proof that they live in that area are allowed through police lines.

Residents of the heavily populated and rundown neighborhood of Centro Habana where the church stands say the pastor told his followers the end of the world is coming and only by locking themselves into the church with him could they be saved.

The leader of another cult, who did not want to be identified, said that he and his congregation had been allowed to share the space of this church for their activities until two weeks ago when the pastor threw them out. Neighbors reported that large quantities of food and water were taken into the church before the doors were locked from the inside.

Hernandez says Braulio "regrettably" wandered from the canons set by his church and for the past year disobeyed orders from the National Assembly of Pentecostal Churches to return to doctrine leading to his dismissal.

Braulio has refused to leave the building, which belongs to the Pentecostal Church from which he was expelled. The National Assembly of Pentecostal Churches took the case to the Cuban courts which ruled in their favor.

Hernandez took Braulio to task for "not wanting to respect either the laws of his Church or of Cuba." He suggested the man was arbitrarily acting on impulse and because the Pentecostal churches are organized by congregations, Braulio has his followers who he convinced to lock themselves in with him.

The Council of Churches, Hernandez says, has not had any contact with Braulio, respecting the jurisdiction of the National Assembly of Pentecostal Churches to handle the situation. However, he said the Council would step in if that body asked for help, which it hasn't yet done. He voiced the opinion that Braulio needed psychiatric help.

All denominations of churches in Cuba have swelled since the economic crisis of the 1990s. The number of evangelicals in Cuba has grown from roughly 70,000 to more than 800,000 today, out of a population of 11 million, according to church sources.

Analysts say that modern evangelical Christianity with its boisterous music and passionate sermons is more appealing to Cubans, particularly poorer ones, than the more conservative practices of the Catholic Church and traditional Protestant denominations. Santeria and other Afro-Cuban religions also retain a strong hold over the population.
 
By Portia Siegelbaum

Source: CBS

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Oh, Che Can You See?

Recently I finished a book, Son of Hamas, written by Mosab Yousef.  Yousef was a Muslim who became a revolutionary for the cause of Christ.  His hatred for Israelis, which was fostered by his religious culture in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank in Israel, consumed him.  This prince of Hamas, however, encountered the Prince of Peace in Old Jerusalem.  A Christian invited Yousef to attend a Bible study.  From that invitation, Yousef's path led to a belief in Jesus Christ as the only source of true peace.

At the end of the book Yousef lamented that Christians are not more involved in confronting the Islamic culture.  As he is risking his life to expose the dark workings of Islam, Yousef challenged Christians to do more to share the truth.  Simply praying about the situation can often be a cop-out.  Thinking about that challenge a moment I questioned: "What exactly does he want me to do?"  Then it occurred to me.  Although Yousef's context is confronting Islam, where I can passionately demonstrate truth was something I had to figure out for myself.  How can I effectively put my faith into action in America?

Yousef's challenge to Christians came to mind as I was at the gym on the running track.  On the track I noticed someone (whom we'll call "Joe") wearing a T-shirt with Ernesto "Che" Guevara's image on it.  This cult of personality saddens and sickens me.  Guevara was a thug and a brutal murderer, and yet he is revered as if he were a war hero by many on the political left.  As I try to live by my motto scripture -- "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but, rather, expose them (Ephesians 5:11)" -- I knew I needed to say something to him.  I approached Joe as he was stretching on a mat.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I noticed you are wearing a T-shirt with Che Guevara on it."  Right then, I could tell by the look on Joe's face that others must have shared with him their opinions of Che.  He immediately put up the defenses.

I tried to be as respectful as I could, yet remembering that "speaking the truth in love" still requires "speaking the truth."

"Do you know who Che Guevara was?" I inquired.

"I know he was a revolutionary," he offered, and then added "and I don't appreciate my free speech being questioned."

"No, I'm not saying you shouldn't wear the shirt; I'm just trying to see if you know who he truly was.  Do you know any specifics of what he did?"

"No, I don't know any specifics, but I know he was controversial," Joe admitted.

"Well, Che was a very wicked man..."

Joe interrupted.  "That's a matter of opinion."

I continued.  "His revolutionary principles are completely antithetical to our American ideals.  He is not a man to be celebrated." 

Joe again interrupted.  "That's a matter of opinion, and, if you please, I need to get back to my workout" -- a 15-minute workout that so far consisted of stretching, a few laps walking on the indoor track, and stretching again.

I respectfully concluded, "I appreciate your taking the time to hear me, and maybe next time you will do more research."

Here was a grown man, wearing the image of a mass murderer on his T-shirt.  All he cared to know about his idol, his hero, was that Guevara was "a revolutionary" and "controversial."  When confronted with my conclusion that Guevara was a wicked man that should not be celebrated, Joe only offered the relativistic refrain "It's just a matter of opinion."  He was not open to knowing the specifics.

Relativism sounds wonderful and accepting.  "You can have your opinion and I can have mine."  But what is relativism, really?  Generally speaking, relativism is a philosophy that asserts all points of view are equally valid.  A relativist will likely aver that there is no absolute truth or that absolute truth is unknowable.  Both of those statements are self-refuting.  How can one absolutely believe there is no absolute truth?  How can one know the truth about truth being unknowable?

The problem with relativists is they don't accept the consequences of their philosophy.  If truth really is relative, then why should a relativist get angry when I punch him in the nose?  His objection to my punching him is simply a matter of opinion, right?  I can have "my truth" and he can have his.

Sure, everyone is able to have an opinion.  They may even be entitled to that opinion.  But, not all opinions are created equal.  The problem with opinions is that "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."  The truth of John Adams' words resonates in our world that rejects absolute truth.

Let us look at the facts that should have informed Joe the "Che-ophile's" opinion of Ernesto Guevara:

• One murder is captured in Guevara's own diary in January 1957.  Guevara admitted that he shot Eutimio Guerra on suspicion of passing on information: "I ended the problem with a .32 caliber pistol, in the right side of his brain. ... His belongings were now mine."  Does "social justice" include execution without a trial and then theft of the estate?
• Guevara murdered Aristidio, a peasant, simply because Guevara suspected him of treason to the revolution.  The killing of the poor, dumb cart horse named Boxer in Animal Farm comes to mind.
• Guevara ordered the executions of hundreds of people without trial as the head of the La Cabaña prison.  Many were executed simply because they were Christians.  Refusing to serve two masters, many Christians died on Guevara's orders as they shouted "¡Viva Cristo Rey!"
• Guevara ordered the murder of 15-year old Carlos Machado, his twin brother, and their father simply for resisting the revolution's confiscation of their family farm.
• Guevara embraced hatred as a tactic necessary in his revolutionary struggle.

For which one of these points was Joe displaying his pride in Guevara?  Relativism and blissful ignorance go hand-in-hand.  Hard-to-accept truth has simply become "a matter of opinion."  To the left, Guevara is a hero of the oppressed, a symbol to rally around for "social justice."  Many youth and other leftists celebrate Guevara's "revolutionary" and "controversial" nature without even the slightest curiosity of the truth of his ignominious life.

The great danger with blissfully ignorant relativism is that if a majority of society falls for specially marketed, iconic, charismatic "revolutionaries," the entire nation suffers the purges and atrocities for the blessed revolution.  The Che T-shirt wearers in Cuba made it easier for the revolutionaries to execute the country's Machados and steal their farms. 

Relativism crumbles as the light of truth exposes its deceptions.  Finding truth takes work.  Intellectual laziness is why there are so many liars and so many deceived.  In reality, relativism isn't about the existence of truth.  Truth isn't relative.  A person's will is relative.  Relativism really is a belief only in the truth one chooses to believe in.  All unpleasant, inconvenient truth is disregarded.  The philosophy of relativism is only created to excuse people's choices.  In Joe's case, relativism simply masks his intellectual ignorance.

So, today, I took up Yousef's challenge and performed my Christian duty to expose the darkness of relativism.  I wasn't about to let Joe carry his blissful ignorance on his T-shirt unchallenged.  I don't know if Joe is blissfully ignorant or deliberately so.  I just know that I was called to bear witness to the Truth.  I hope I shined the light on Joe's darkness and that he embraces the light by researching and he sees who Che truly was...and then burns his Che T-shirt.

By Christopher S. Brownwell 

Source: American Thinker

You Don't Know Che by Steve Pichan

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Cuba Detains Over 20 Christians In New Crackdown, Activists Say

Baptist Pastor Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso and his wife, Yoaxis, were part of the 23 Christians detained by Cuban police in Santa Clara, said Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a major religious rights group.

They were picked up by police Sunday morning, June 26, and released five hours later, after the service had ended, CSW told Worthy News. The worship service at the Santa Clara Methodist Church was held in support of Pastor Toranzo, who was reportedly removed from his position by the Methodist Bishop Ricardo Pereira Dias, because of his refusal to deny pastoral support to human rights activists and members of the political opposition.

Pastor Toranzo is the second high-profile pastor in Santa Clara to step down or be removed this year because of government pressure in the Communist-run island, according to church observers.

GOVERNMENT PRESSURE

Baptist Pastor Homero Carbonell issued a statement at the start of 2011 saying that he and his church had come under “severe government pressure” because of his refusal to expel families of political prisoners from the church, CSW said.

Pastors Carbonell and Toranzo were reportedly also involved in a cross-denominational citywide march on Easter Sunday in 2010 which drew thousands and angered the authorities. “We strongly condemn the official pressure on church leaders in Cuba to deny pastoral support to certain members of their congregations because of their political affiliations,” added CSW’s Advocacy Director Andrew Johnston.

“We call on the Cuban government to cease their interference in the internal affairs of religious organizations and in particular to uphold the right of religious leaders to minister to all regardless of their political beliefs,” he said.

The Santa Clara Methodist Church has publicly urged the bishop to reverse his decision and church leaders of all denominations in Santa Clara have reportedly appealed to the Methodist hierarchy in support of Pastor Toranzo. There is general agreement among church leaders in Santa Clara that the Bishop’s decision was made because of intense government pressure, CSW said.

The group claimed that it has received reports from sources in Cuba confirming similar pressure on leaders in other denominations. “There have also been reports that the authorities are making increased use of short-term detentions as opposed to long spells in prison, a tactic which CSW believes is being deployed to deflect international attention from the ongoing harassment of pastors.”

NO COMMENT

Cuban officials have not yet commented on the latest developments. This year Cuba released the last of 75 dissidents, including Christians, who were detained in the 2003 crackdown.

The move following a ground-breaking deal brokered by the Roman Catholic Church in which Cuba’s President Raul Castro agreed to free the remaining 52 inmates.

The Cuban government denies however that it as ever hold political prisoners and considers dissidents as “mercenaries financed by the U.S.”to destabilize the government.

Source: Worthy News

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Churches Help Cubans through Economic Transition

Evangelical church in Havana, Cuba.

The aging revolutionaries who have controlled Cuba for the past 50 years, haven't trained younger leaders to take their place.

That became evident at the long-awaited Communist Party Congress in April, when 79-year old Raul Castro was named the party's first secretary, and the number two spot went to an 80-year-old.

A feeble Fidel Castro, 84, made a surprise appearance. This was the first time in the Congress' history that he wasn't included on the powerful central committee.

That post went to his brother Raul, who admitted that Cuba has a succession problem. Raul Castro made a surprise recommendation of term limits for politicians -- including himself.

"We have reached the conclusion that it is recommendable to limit to a maximum of two five-year consecutive terms all the state's fundamental political positions," he said.

But that's not the only problem that keeps Cuba among the poorest nations in the Americas.

The government employs eight out of every 10 Cuban workers, a dead weight the economy can't sustain.

Raul Castro knows the country has to shed its Communist baggage, but as the new party leader he made a pledge to the faithful.

"To defend, preserve, and continue to perfect socialism and never allow the return of the capitalist regime," he said.

"Cuba right now is in a state of great confusion between shifting from purely a Socialist Communist system to a quasi market system," said Teo Babun, leader of the Miami-based charity Echo Cuba.

"Not quite at the acceleration of China or Vietnam, and not knowing where they're going," Babun said. "But being very cautious not to let this whole thing get out of hand for them."

Last year, Raul promised to reduce the bloated government payroll by laying off half a million workers.

While the the massive government layoffs haven't happened, the uncertainty has left many Cubans on edge. Now, many evangelical churches are helping their members create their own jobs.

"What the more aggressive churches have been doing is allowing the individual members of the churches to partner with organizations outside of Cuba that will help them start small businesses and therefore become tithers, for example, to the churches and supporters of the social programs that the churches are running," Babun explained.

With the help of Echo Cuba, Cuban evangelicals have started more than 1,200 small businesses.

"We select Cubans within the churches that are entrepreneurial. We help them write a business plan, guide them in the process of how to start their business, and then bring them a 'business in a box,'" Babun said.

"Everything that they need to start a business is basically purchased outside of Cuba and brought to Cuba so that they can get things going," he said.

But the budding entrepreneurs first have to forget what the Communist government has taught them for the past 50 years.

"The Socialist model of Cuba, starting in 1959, [has] one head, everything coming down," Babun continued.

"They really don't understand how to meet together, how to create collaboration with each other, how to make decisions in a meeting format," he said. "All those things that we take for granted, they don't understand it."

If churches are to help members survive Cuba's economic crisis, they must learn the basics of a free market economy.

Once Christians start their own businesses, Babun said other freedoms may follow.

"The freedom to be able to operate not only in the marketplace, but also in their place of worship," he said. "Freely, without any kind of restriction from any form of government."

Stan Jeter

Source: CBN News

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Cuban Communist Party Official Admits Persecution Of Protestant Group

Caridad Diego Bello

UK-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has released a video in which a Cuban Communist Party official openly confirms a government strategy to target churches affiliated with the fast growing Apostolic Movement, a protestant network.

The short film, recorded clandestinely early in 2010 and smuggled out of the country, shows Caridad Diego Bello, the head of the Religious Affairs Office of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, explaining the government’s strategy to crackdown on the Apostolic Movement.

“For years, church leaders of all denominations have complained of difficulties with Diego, particularly in receiving permission to repair old church buildings or build new facilities,” said a spokesperson for CSW. “This is the first time, however, that video evidence has been published, showing Diego publicly admitting that the government is working to eradicate the Apostolic Movement.”

In the video, Diego states “…we are taking measures and will continue to take measures, the hands of our authorities will not waver, and I don’t do this in a manner of warning but rather to inform, so that the illegalities that groups like these are committing can be countered in every province and in every territory… there are some would-be leaders of these type of organizations that have had been relocated from their homes, that have lost their temple. There are people that visit us that will no longer be able to enter the country again, there are people that have been fined for facilitating the violation of immigration status by foreigners in Cuba, we have confiscated literature because it has not entered the country via the appropriate channels, but rather under the table.”

Churches affiliated with the Apostolic Movement have documented consistent religious liberty violations over the past few years, including numerous cases of arbitrary detention of church leaders and the destruction of church buildings. CSW has also released a second video showing the site of the demolition of one of the largest churches linked to the Apostolic Movement in Santiago de Cuba.

CSW’s Director of Advocacy, Andrew Johnston said, “Religious leaders of all denominations told CSW earlier this year that the Apostolic Movement has been singled out for intense persecution. This video is confirmation, from the very mouth of the top official in charge of religious affairs in the country that the government is working to stamp out the group. Just a few months ago, leaders of the Apostolic Movement publicly asked that the government enact legislation on religious activity. We join with them in calling on the government to cease immediately its harassment of these churches and to establish a clear legal framework for all religious groups to operate in the country.”

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Kiri Kankhwende, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045 / +44 (0) 78 2332 9663, email kiri@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk

CSW is the UK’s leading human rights advocacy organization specializing in religious freedom, working on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promoting religious liberty for all. 

Notes to Editors

1. Transcripts of the videos are available from the CSW Press Office. Both videos can be viewed on the CSW You Tube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChristianSolidarity

2. Religious groups and associations in Cuba are not regulated by any government body, but instead come under the authority of the Office of Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, headed by Caridad Diego Bello.

3. The Apostolic Coalition represents religious groups associated with the Apostolic Movement. The movement is a non-denominational, Charismatic, Protestant network of church groups which are outside of the traditionally recognized Christian denominations in Cuba. CSW has documented intense government persecution of church leaders linked to the network over the past three years. More information is available in our annual report on religious freedom in Cuba, available in Spanish and in English at http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=reportid=128

Pastor Omar Gude Perez with his wife before his arrest

4. Pastor Omar Gude Perez, one of the main leaders of the movement, is currently serving a six-year and seven-month sentence on what CSW believes to be false charges. Pastor Bernardo de Quesada, another key leader in the group, was a victim of arbitrary detention on numerous occasions over the past year. Pastor Alain Toledano, the leader of the destroyed church in Santiago de Cuba, reported that in March, members of the Communist Party and agents of the National Police surrounded his family home threatening to evict them and to confiscate all their goods.

5. Bibles and Christian literature are legally only allowed to be imported via the Cuban Council of Churches, an umbrella group which represents a relatively small minority of Protestant churches. Leaders of all denominations have complained to CSW that this results in severe shortages of religious materials and that they often have no option but to bring them in through other, unofficial channels.

By Dan Wooding

From: Continental News

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Cuba's Catholic Media Multiply, But Change Is Slow

Alternatives to Castro's "personal" diary "Granma" are growing quickly on the island

HAVANA, Oct 17, 2010 (IPS) - In the context of ongoing conciliation between the Cuban government and the Roman Catholic Church, the communications media of the latter are growing quickly on this Caribbean island where the press remains under strict state control.

All told, there are dozens of small publications -- some with regular editions, others sporadic -- coming from parishes and different groups. Forty-six bulletins and magazines, 12 websites and seven e-mail newsletters currently reach more than a quarter million people, directly or indirectly, according to estimates by Catholic Church sources.

"In this context, Havana is notable for its two magazines with highest circulation: Palabra Nueva (New Word), the official magazine of the Havana archdiocese, and Espacio Laical (Secular Space), of the Lay Council," said Gustavo Andújar, vice-president of Signis, the World Catholic Association for Communication.

Andújar spoke with IPS about the role of the religious media in Cuba.

Q: The progress that the Catholic media have made in the communications media -- is it a result of improved relations between the Catholic Church and the government, or is it just pushing ahead, breaking a new path?

A: In my understanding, it has gone ahead on its own. The magazines began to multiply in the hardest years of the Special Period, in the 1990s. [The economic crisis that began in 1991 following the fall of the Soviet Union, which had been Cuba's main source of aid and leading trade partner.] I think it was also a reaction of the Catholic Church to the disconcerting and desperate situation the population was experiencing.

The publications brought a word of hope, of support, because the Church that had been so absent from the public spaces had plenty to say. And not necessarily a word of protest, opposition or alternative views, but rather a different word that was at the same time one of consensus and coming together.

Q: What role has the Catholic layperson played in the growth of this space for communications?

A: In fact it has been a fundamentally secular effort. With strong support from the hierarchy, priests, bishops, but the ones who have carried it forward are laypeople -- many without professional training in communications. That gap is being filled by classes and seminars. Furthermore, most are volunteers.

Q: What are the biggest challenges laypeople like yourself face in this field?

A: The first challenge is professionalism, to do things increasingly better. But the biggest is to maintain this genuine dialogue that can only be achieved from the religious identity itself, expressed clearly and calmly. There has been growing understanding that our publications do not represent a problem, that they are not competition for or threatening anyone.

But we have a limited reach, and we would like to extend to the whole world, for the Cuban media to disseminate in a normal way the religious events that are news. Events of the Church that are widely broadcast internationally are usually ignored by the press in our country.

Q: What is it that makes the experience of the Cuban Catholic laypersons different in this sphere?

A: The Church in Cuba was very small for a long time, with very few resources and very limited possibilities. Those difficult years created a path of very intense commitment to the Church. In the 1960s, our country was left with just 200 priests and 300 nuns for seven or eight million inhabitants.

In that reality, the laypeople have served a very important function, accepted to a great degree by the Church hierarchy. That has left a mark on us in comparison to other Latin American churches. Ours is very participative, very united. In addition, we have learned to expand the spaces over objective obstacles.

Q: Do many of those obstacles still exist?

A: Often there are more self-imposed obstacles than those that really exist, and part of our responsibility is to push back that wall a little. But we also have to keep in mind that 40 years of structural atheism are not erased with one stroke of the pen. Changing some articles in the Constitution does not change the mentality of hundreds of officials who were trained and developed all their work with the idea that the Church was something alien and dangerous, something related with the enemy. [The 1992 constitutional reform established, among other things, that Cuba is a secular state.]

It would be ingenuous to think that, just because the highest levels of government have expressed an effort and willingness to dialogue, things will automatically change. There are many mid-level officials who impose a thousand problems, they are afraid to talk to anyone who represents the Church.

But my experience in the field of culture, with which I have had ties all these years through my responsibilities at the Archbishopric, is often one of opening doors and collaboration. Dialogue is possible -- still difficult in some sectors, but the barriers are beginning to crumble under their own weight.

Q: Are you as optimistic about the dialogue begun in May 2010 by President Raúl Castro and the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega?

A: Good things always come out of dialogues of this nature. In this case there has already been a humanitarian outcome, which was the release of prisoners. Openness and exchange have to do with a climate in which there is no room for suspicion, fear or doubt. As we get to know each other better, the prejudices fall away.

Q: Nevertheless, some critical stances on certain issues that appear in Catholic publications tend to be confused with expressions of political opposition.

A: The Church is not a political alternative or an opposition party. Its very nature prevents it from entering the partisan fray. The Church is the mother of all, and has no political color or programme. But it does have a gaze, a critical view about reality from the ethical perspective, which is an inalienable part of its mission.

It defends the person and criticizes anything that restricts a person's full dignity. It does so with due prudence, which does not mean inhibiting itself from doing what should be done at a given moment. When the Church criticizes something, it does not do so in a tendentious way from the political point of view.

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Cuba Video: The “Ladies in White” Steadfast Until Every Political Prisoner is Free

NEW YORK (September 1, 2010) – In order to provide an accurate backdrop with regard to the announcement of the Cuban government’s release and forced exile of 52 political prisoners, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) releases an exclusive video documentary short of the “Ladies in White,” a civil society group inside Cuba that organizes peaceful Sunday marches for freedom and human rights.

The world-renowned group is formed by the wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, and supporters of political prisoners who were arrested during the “Black Spring” government crackdown on Cuban dissidents. During the four-day period that occurred in March 2003, 75 independent journalists, librarians, and democracy and human rights advocates were arrested and ultimately convicted with sentences ranging from 6 to 28 years.

Currently, 26 of the prisoners have been released and exiled to Spain, while another prisoner was released to the United States for medical treatment. At least five of the prisoners have refused to accept exile, meaning they choose to remain in prison unless they are granted unconditional release and allowed to stay in Cuba.

"The release of these innocent individuals is a welcome development and cause for celebration, but we must remember that the mechanism of repression remains firmly entrenched in Cuba. None of these arrests should ever have been made in the first place,” said Thor Halvorssen, president of HRF. “It should be made clear that their release does not indicate a reversal of conviction or pardon. These men are still considered treacherous criminals by the Cuban government. If they are allowed to stay in Cuba it shall be with the specter of certain and continuous political persecution and harassment,” he continued.

The Ladies in White have declared that they will continue protesting every Sunday until all of the Black Spring prisoners have been released. In the video, Laura Pollan, spokeswoman for the Ladies in White, relates the history of how the group formed following the Black Spring and discusses recent events that have brought international attention to Cuba’s political prisoners.

"The government states that there's a lot of freedom in Cuba, that it's a paradise,” said Pollan. “I'd invite those people who believe that Cuba is free to come and live here; to come and live here like a regular citizen, without bringing dollars; to come to work, and make what a regular worker makes; to come and live in a humble house, buy their food with a ration book, and express themselves here as much as they do in their own countries against their governments and other individuals, so that they see what the outcome is in Cuba,” she continued.

The Cuban government has been under pressure to release its political prisoners following the February death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a political prisoner who went on a hunger strike to protest Cuba’s treatment of its prisoners. The death of Zapata prompted another dissident, Guillermo Fariñas, to launch his own hunger strike.

"The whole world is awakening and removing its blindfold with regards to Cuba,” said Pollan.

"The prisoners should be allowed to choose for themselves whether to remain in Cuba or leave the country. Those prisoners who have refused a forced exile are courageously willing to sacrifice their own freedom and stand up for freedom of expression for all,” said Halvorssen. “This is a powerful threat to a regime that has held power for 51 years and ruthlessly persecutes its opponents.”

With the release of the 52 political prisoners, Cuba’s criminal code—which allows the “pre-emptive” arrest of an individual before committing any crime—remains unchanged, as do laws allowing for the arrest of anyone writing anything critical of the Cuban government.

"The cyclical release of political prisoners in Cuba is usually followed by the arrest of more dissidents who have committed some kind of ‘thoughtcrime’ or who have done nothing but exercise their right to free speech. Further, there are still an untold number of political prisoners in Cuba’s jails, and Raúl Castro could simply replace these 52 prisoners with another crackdown on Cuba’s opposition voices tomorrow,” said Halvorssen. “Any significant reform involves more than window dressing to obtain European credits or editorial kudos from the foreign media. Why not a full transition to democracy and the respect of basic civil rights and civil liberties?” he added.

In May 2010, HRF also released videos of former prisoner of conscience Armando Valladares and world-renowned blogger Yoani Sánchez in honor of Global Cuba Solidarity Day. The videos were filmed exclusively for the 2010 Oslo Freedom Forum and are now available on YouTube.

Contact: Thor Halvorssen, Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246.8486 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (212) 246.8486      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, info@thehrf.org

From: HRF

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Cuban church leader arrested on questionable charges

A respected church leader in Cuba was unexpectedly arrested on Monday and taken to a town in Central Cuba where he is expected to stand trial. CSW believes the charges of “offensive behaviour” and “threats” against Reverend Roberto Rodriguez to be false.

Those close to Reverend Rodriguez, who is in his late 60s and in poor health, say he became a government target after the organization he led publicly withdrew from a government sanctioned religious umbrella group in the second half of 2008, and that the criminal charges against him are an attempt to discredit and silence him. His arrest was so sudden that Reverend Rodriguez was unable to take important medication with him. It is feared that without it, his health will continue to deteriorate.

Reverend Roberto Rodriguez

According to his family, state security officials arrived at the home without warning on 30 August and forced Reverend Rodriguez to go with them. The family understands that he will be taken to the town of Placetas where he will be put on trial sometime over the next few days. Prosecutors are asking that he be given a one-year prison sentence.

Charges were first brought against Reverend Rodriguez in late 2008 and he was given three trial dates over the course of 2009 but no trial ever took place. He and his family were forced to move after being subjected to constant verbal and physical abuse from their neighbours, apparently acting with the support of the government. He has spent the last 21 months under house arrest.

CSW is calling on the Cuban authorities to release Reverend Rodriguez immediately and drop all charges against him.

CSW’s National Director Stuart Windsor said, “The treatment of Reverend Rodriguez and his family over the past 21 months has been disgraceful. The European Union will be looking at the human rights situation and reviewing its Common Position on Cuba this month. While some heralded the release of some Cuban prisoners of conscience this summer as an improvement in the human rights situation, the arrest of Reverend Rodriguez this week demonstrates that the Cuban government is not interested in real human rights reform. We call on the EU to make urgent representations on behalf of Reverend Rodriguez to the Cuban government.”

From: Christian Today

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