The regime in Havana responded on Friday to the recent inclusion of Cuba on the US blacklist for violations of religious freedom in the world, reiterating that the island is in this and other aspects considered negative in reports from the US. behave in an exemplary manner.
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla criticized the U.S. government's “repeated inclusion of Cuba in one-sided reports on terrorism, human rights and religious freedom,” saying it was “not related to the exemplary performance” of his administration.
According to a post by the Cuban Foreign Minister on the social network [el] Cuban people.”
Also read US concerns about religious freedom violations in Cuba
The United States has again placed Cuba on the list of countries of very high concern “for engaging in or tolerating particularly serious violations of religious freedom,” published last Thursday.
Governments “must end abuses such as attacks on members of minority religious communities and their places of worship, communal violence and prolonged detentions for peaceful expression, cross-border repression and calls for violence against religious communities,” he said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented the report.
In a May 2023 report from the U.S. State Department, Blinken noted that while the Cuban constitution contains written provisions on religious freedom and prohibitions on discrimination on religious grounds, “criminal and administrative laws conflict with these protections.” He added that under the island's current penal code, membership or association with an unregistered group is a crime.
Independent media on Cuba and posts on social networks have recorded numerous complaints from religious victims of repression by state authorities and even the imprisonment of some for publicly defending the precepts of their faith.
Human rights organizations, including World Christian Solidarity and Amnesty International, have called for the regime in Havana to respect freedom of belief and release detainees.
Read also They call on the secretary of the World Council of Churches to address “the dark reality that believers in Cuba live.”
Repressive practices against religious people of various denominations reportedly include harassment, threats, physical attacks, arrests and detentions, confiscation of property, police summonses, defamation and allegations of illegal or immoral behavior, denial of employment or educational rights, and fabrication of allegations Crime. among others.
Last December, Dr. Teo Babun, President and CEO of Aid Outreach to the Americas (OAA), after a visit to the island, expressed his “deep concern” about the situation in a letter to the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Reverend Jerry Pillay experienced in Cuba.
Dr. Babun said his visit was “carefully coordinated by the Cuban government” and prevented him from obtaining “accurate knowledge of the situation of the fundamental right to freedom of religion and belief in Cuba.” He added that the island's regime used the visit “to reinforce its absurd claim that Cubans actually enjoy this basic freedom.”