“If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us”

[Sandokan]

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Cuban Regime Slammed for Preventing Pastors From Attending State Dep’t Religious Freedom Event
Cuban Regime Slammed for Preventing Pastors From Attending State Dep’t Religious Freedom Event

By Patrick Goodenough | July 17, 2019 | 4:21 AM EDT

(CNSNews.com) – Cuba’s communist government has put to rest any doubts about its violations of religious freedom by preventing four Christian leaders from attending this week’s religious freedom ministerial at the State Department, a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said on Tuesday.

Cuban authorities reportedly barred four Protestant leaders from traveling to Washington for the event – billed by the State Department as the biggest event of its kind ever – either turning them back at the airport at the weekend or refusing them permission earlier to leave.

“If the denial of religious freedom in Cuba was ever in question, the Cuban government laid to rest all doubt this weekend by blatantly prohibiting four pastors, leaders of the country’s major religious organizations, from leaving the country to attend the State Department’s Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom,” USCIRF commissioner Kristina Arriaga said.
Click link above for full article.

The Castroit regime has put to rest any doubts about its violations of religious freedom by preventing four Christian leaders from attending this week’s religious freedom ministerial at the State Department.

The regime has been persecuting Christians and other religious groups since coming to power in 1959. It has zero tolerance for any religious expression that does not make the socialist state the supreme god.

 

[Sandokan]

Re: “If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us�

The Castroit regime has put to rest any doubts about its violations of religious freedom by preventing four Christian leaders from attending this week’s religious freedom ministerial at the State Department.

The regime has been persecuting Christians and other religious groups since coming to power in 1959. It has zero tolerance for any religious expression that does not make the socialist state the supreme god.

The Rev. Alain Toledano Valiente, showing his U.S. visa, says he was barred from taking his flight to the U.S. (Photo: Facebook)

 

[Sandokan]

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More dangerous to be a pastor than a criminal says Cuban church leader
More dangerous to be a pastor than a criminal says Cuban church leader

Fri 27 Sep 2019
By Cara Bentley

A church leader has been summoned to a police station in Cuba for the seventeenth time.

Alain Toledano Valiente is a leader in the Apostolic Movement, an unregistered Protestant denomination in Cuba.

Toledano Valiente, who leads Emanuel Church in Santiago de Cuba, was summoned to appear at the La Motorizada Unit #3 Police Station at 9am on Wednesday, accused of the crime of 'disobedience' because of a women's event his church celebrated in August, for which he received warnings at the time.

He wrote on Instagram and Facebook: "I entrust my life to the faithful Creator, who will fight all my battles and conquer them. Everything that happens with my life starting tomorrow, I hold the government of Cuba and its representatives responsible. They want to create a crime to lock me up, create terror in me and my family, which they will never achieve. Let this be known to the whole church, to Human Rights Bodies, OAS, UN, and as many governments as you can, peace."
Click link above for full article.

Under the rule of the Castroit regime it is more dangerous to be a pastor than a criminal. It makes the live of church leaders unbelievable harsh. But despite of that the church in Cuba has not only survived, it has grown due to church leader’s persistence and missionary hard work. They will overcome.

 

[Sandokan]

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Cuban pastor accused of disobedience
Cuban pastor accused of disobedience - CSW
CSW -27 Sep 2019

Photo: Facebook/Apostol Alain Toledano

Apostle Alain Toledano Valiente, a prominent leader in the Apostolic Movement in Cuba, was summoned to appear at the La Motorizada Unit #3 Police Station at 9am on Wednesday 25 September. Toledano Valiente, who leads Emanuel Church in Santiago de Cuba, has received at least 17 police summons since 1 August.

The commander of La Motorizada Unit #3, who identified himself as ‘Lorenzo’, informed Toledano Valiente that he is accused of the crime of ‘disobedience’ because of a women’s event his church celebrated in August. During a previous appearance at the police station on 7 August, Commander Lorenzo told Toledano Valiente that he would be charged with disobedience and risk imprisonment if his church went ahead with the planned ‘Deborah Conference’ the following day. Despite the threat, Emanuel Church went ahead with the event.
Click link above for full article.

The pastor is accused of ‘disobedience’, an Orwellian doublespeak of the Castroit regime political language. According to the regime his disobedience is that he cannot meet with other pastors in the island, and cannot carry out any religious activity. In other words, the regime want him to stop being a pastor. He is banned for leaving Cuba and restricted to move freely within the country. On top of that the Castroit regime is a member of the UN Human Right Council. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Cannot get more Orwellian than that.

 

[Sandokan]

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Calls for religious freedom in Cuba after church leaders stopped from leaving the country
Calls for religious freedom in Cuba after church leaders stopped from leaving the country | Christian News on Christian Today

Staff writer Wed 13 Nov 2019 3:51 GMT

The World Evangelical Alliance is calling on the Cuban government to uphold religious freedom after several pastors were prevented from leaving the country last week in order to attend the organisation's General Assembly in Indonesia.

Seven church leaders connected to the Alianza de Iglesias Evangélicas de Cuba (Alliance of Evangelical Churches in Cuba, AIEC) were hit by a last minute travel ban imposed by the government.

Only one of the invited Cuban leaders was able to attend the General Assembly because he was outside the country at the time.

The pastor, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, said that the Cuban government had been putting pressure on the AIEC since its formation last year and is refusing to recognize it as a representative body.
Click link above for full article.

According to the Castroit regime double speak they were regulated, a practice that limits the freedom of movement and which has been applied for decades not only to pastors, but to activists, intellectuals, journalists and many others that the Castroit regime identifies as enemies of the system. The regime Orwellian destruction of a free society by draconian control of every aspect of it.

 

[Sandokan]

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Fidel Castro, educated in the private Jesuit Belem Highs School, from the moment he took control of Cuba, his regime launched a war on religion. The regime launched a propaganda campaign against Christians, referring to Catholic as “social scum”, persecuting and marginalizing them. In May 1961, he nationalized all Christian schools, confiscating their educational centers, including all the assets such as facilities, buildings, bank accounts, etc., without any compensation, expelled many priests, churches were shut down and declared the island an atheist state. In 1969 Christmas holiday was abolished. But despite of all of that religion in Cuba have not only survived, it has grown. In the end he lost the war against religion.

 

[Rumpel]

Re: “If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us”

In 1969 Christmas holiday was abolished.

Reminds me of Russia.
And of the Scottish reformer John Knox, who wanted to abolish Christmas.

But Christmas has made a come back in both countries.

Btw: I like both Russia and Scotland.

 

[Sandokan]

Re: “If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us�

Reminds me of Russia.
And of the Scottish reformer John Knox, who wanted to abolish Christmas.

But Christmas has made a come back in both countries.

Btw: I like both Russia and Scotland.

Also in Cuba and I like it too.

Cuba stepped up its persecution of people of faith. Will it get worse in 2020?
Access Denied

In Cuba last month, a gang of students severely beat a 12-year-old Jewish schoolboy. The school guard had prohibited the boy and his younger brother from entering the building. The two boys later were told that they would be allowed to attend class, but they were forbidden from wearing the kippah, their traditional Jewish head covering.

When the boys’ parents sought justice, they were threatened.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has documented many cases where children of different faiths in Cuba were singled out or denied an education in 2019. Their parents often were branded “counterrevolutionaries.” Pastor Ramon Rigal and his wife, Ayda Expósito, currently are imprisoned in eastern Cuba because they turned to homeschooling when their children were targeted for bullying and assault at a government-run school.
Click link above for full article.

Cubans have suffered tremendously for their faith. They have endure harassment, threats, attacks, trials, imprisonment, torture and death. During 2019 the regime continues to systematically make it difficult for churches to operate without interference. Since coming to power in 1959 the regime has been persecuting religious groups of all faith. It has zero tolerance for any religious expression that does not align with its policies.

 

[Rumpel]

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Terrible! :shock:

In Cuba last month, a gang of students severely beat a 12-year-old Jewish schoolboy.

Link see above

 

[Sandokan]

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CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN CUBA
Voice of the Martyrs – Praying for Persecuted Christians in Cuba

OVERVIEW:

Last year marked the first time in 59 years that a Castro was not leading Cuba. Despite the change in leadership, churches in Cuba face unrelenting pressure from the government, which remains committed to communism’s atheistic beliefs and sees them as a threat to the revolution. When church leaders resist state teachings that are contrary to God’s Word and disobey government restrictions on Christian witness, they are called in for interrogation. Since gathering in unregistered churches and constructing new church buildings continue to be banned, many churches continue to illegally build places of worship. In the past few years, the waning “spirit of the revolution” has been revived. Many have again become committed to the nationalistic, communist ideology championed by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in the 1950s. Cubans remain poor, with the government seeking to control every aspect of life.
Click link above for full article.

Still the prevailing religion in Cuba is Christianity, the majority of it Catholic. The Santeria religion combine the Yoruba religion whit Catholicism. The Catholic Church membership is estimate about 60% of the population. The Protestant churches membership is estimated at 5%, other Christian denominations at 2%, and Santeria at 10%. About 18% of Cubans are agnostic and 5% atheists.

 

[Sandokan]

Re: “If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us�

Terrible! :shock:



Link see above

Indeed it is terrible. The boys were forbidden from wearing the kippah, their traditional Jewish head covering. Not even the children are free of harassment and attacks because of their faith under the Castroit tyrannical regime.
See post #182, page 19, “Cuba stepped up its persecution of people of faith. Will it get worse in 2020?”

 

[Sandokan]

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The Reason for Your Trip Doesn’t Matter, the Problem is Who You Are
The Reason for Your Trip Doesn’t Matter, the Problem is Who You Are – Translating Cuba

“We will not allow any counterrevolutionary to go to Santiago de Cuba,” they told the reporter and religious activist. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Ricardo Fernández, Camagüey, February 21, 2020 — You pack your bags, full of plans and dreams, but you discover with anger that freedom of movement in Cuba is conditioned on the way in which you think and speak. It doesn’t matter how many times it happens or where you were going, it is always frustrating when the authorities arbitrarily tell you that you cannot travel.

On February 17, a captain of the Department of State Security (DSE) informed me that, again, I couldn’t travel. This time I wasn’t at José Martí International Airport, nor was I heading abroad. I had been invited to the church of Pastor Alaín Toledano Valiente, in Santiago de Cuba. It was a purely religious event, but the reason of your trip doesn’t matter, the problem is who you are, or that’s what the DSE official whose pseudonym I can’t even remember said.

“We will not allow any counterrevolutionary to go to Santiago de Cuba,” he said emphatically before ordering two police agents to put me in patrol car number 424 which brought me to the Third Police Unit of Montecarlo in Camaguey. There they searched my belongings for filming equipment that could have betrayed that the purpose of my visit was journalistic. They found nothing, but the sentence against me didn’t change.
Click link above for full article.

The Castroit regime, not only restrict Cubans activists to travel abroad, but even in some cases it restrict their freedom of travel on their own country. In this case Ricardo was informed that the regime State Security that he couldn’t travel from Camagüey to a religious event to take place at the church of pastor Alaín Toledano Valiente, in Santiago de Cuba. State Security told him “We will not allow any counterrevolutionary to go to Santiago de Cuba.” He was giving a warning that says “If he is detected in the Eastern provinces he will have committed a crime of disobedience”, adding “That is three years in prison.” This is insane, restricting to travel in your own country and if you do not comply, the regime send you to prison.

 

[Sandokan]

Re: “If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us”

Alain Toledano Valiente is a leader in the Apostolic Movement who leads Emanuel Church in Santiago de Cuba. He is officially banned from leaving Cuba and his right to move freely within the country is also restricted. He is being targeted by the regime because of his involvement in peaceful religious events. The regime is criminalizing ordinary pastoral and religious activity. Under the Castroit regime it is more dangerous to be a pastor than a criminal.

 

[Sandokan]

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Cuba increases religious oppression with changing constitution: USCIRF report
Cuba squashes religious freedom with constitution changes, USCIRF report shows - Washington Times

Raul Castro, First Secretary of the Communist Party and former president raises the hand of Cuba’s president Miguel Diaz-Canel, right, during the closing session at the National Assembly of Popular Power in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019. (AP Photo)

By Madison Hirneisen - The Washington Times - Tuesday, March 10, 2020

The Cuban government’s heavy-handed attempts to quash religious freedom, notably in a 2019 change to the Cuban constitution, have led to a series of abuses against the island nation’s religious adherents, according to a new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. 1984 is a reality in Castrolandia.

The USCIRF survey tied Cuba’s escalating religious repression to the selection of Miguel Diaz-Canel as president by the ruling Communist Party in April 2018. Soon after taking office, Mr. Diaz-Canel began lobbying for changes to the constitution that activists feared could weaken religious protections.

“Alongside the constitution, the government uses a restrictive system of laws and policies, surveillance, and harassment to control religious groups and suppress the freedom of religion or belief,” USCIRF said in the updated analysis Tuesday.
Click link aqbove for full article.

The Castroit regime through its Office of Religious Affairs, the main perpetrator of religious repression, treats religious leaders like common criminals. It prevent church leader to attend international conferences, they are called in for interrogation, gathering in unregistered churches and constructing new church buildings are banned. Catholic lay leaders were prohibited from attending Cardinal Ortega funeral services, and Protestant denominations are banned from receiving foreign visitors. 1984 is a reality in Castrolandia.

 

[Sandokan]

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VIDEO: Religious Freedom in Cuba: The lived reality
VIDEO: Religious Freedom in Cuba: The lived reality – FoRB in Full

Posted on 30/03/2020

Marilín Alayo Correa is a Cuban pastor and a leader within the Apostolic Movement. Marilín is also married to Apostle Alain Toledano Valiente, who is one of the key leaders in the Apostolic Movement. As a result of their work, both Marilín and her husband have been extensively targeted by the Cuban authorities for over two decades.

Most recently, Marilín shared a video testimony with CSW reflecting on her family’s story and the situation for religious groups in Cuba nearly 15 years after CSW began documenting the family’s case. In the past year, her husband Alain has also been placed on a travel restriction list and is regularly summoned to appear at their local police station.

Watch Marilín tell her story below:


Click link above for full article.

The Castroit regime continuous its methodical violation of religion and belief. The regime new constitution had weakened the protections for those freedoms and the associated right of freedom of conscience. Reports of harassment of religious leaders have increased. Many religious leaders have been banned from leaving the country. Reports of threats and cases of arbitrary detention of religious leaders keep increasing. Now the regime is targeting the children of those leaders too.

 

[Sandokan]

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Cuba threatens Christian journalist with fines and a prison sentence
Cuba threatens Christian journalist with fines and a prison sentence, Evangelical Focus

It is the second time in less than a month that Cuban State Security operatives 'visit' Evangelical Focus contributor Yoé Suárez. Christian Solidarity Worldwide denounces the harassment of the journalist and his family.

SOURCES Christian Solidarity Worldwide La HABANA 27 APRIL 2020

[ig]http://evangelicalfocus.com/upload/imagenes/5ea6ec1489936_yoesuarez630.jpg[/img]
Yoé Suárez. / Photo: Ángel del Castillo, via CSW

Cuban independent journalist Yoe Suárez was ‘visited’ in his home by two State Security agents on 22 April who proceeded to question and threaten him.

According to Suárez’s Twitter page, the two officials came to his house and asked to talk with him for a few minutes. Suárez was then taken outside the office building near his home belonging to Cuban state enterprise Transtur. There he was shown printed documents relating to Cuban Decree 370, an order which regulates use of the internet, and sections of the Cuban Penal Code relating to ‘enemy propaganda.’ According to Suárez, he was threatened with fines and the seizure of his work under Decree 370, and a long prison sentence under the Penal Code.

This is the second ‘visit’ Suárez has received from Cuban State Security operatives in less than a month. On 27 March he was summoned to Siboney Police Station in Havana where he was interrogated by police and threatened with imprisonment and unspecified “repercussions” for his family.
Click link abovefor full article.

The Castroit tyrannical regime is taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to silence independent journalists that are reporting about the response of the regime to the pandemic. Yoe Suárez, Evangelical Focus contributor, has been writing about human rights and freedom of religion since 2014. The regime State Security has threatened him with the application of Decree 370 and prison sentence under the Penal Code by posting contents on his social network that the regime consider contra revolutionary. State Security pressured his mother in order that she would pressure him to stop his journalism.

 

[Sandokan]

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VIDEO: Religious Freedom in Cuba: The lived reality
VIDEO: Religious Freedom in Cuba: The lived reality – FoRB in Full

Posted on 30/03/2020by cswpress in Cuba, FoRB on the Frontlines, Latin America

Marilín Alayo Correa is a Cuban pastor and a leader within the Apostolic Movement. Marilín is also married to Apostle Alain Toledano Valiente, who is one of the key leaders in the Apostolic Movement. As a result of their work, both Marilín and her husband have been extensively targeted by the Cuban authorities for over two decades.

Most recently, Marilín shared a video testimony with CSW reflecting on her family’s story and the situation for religious groups in Cuba nearly 15 years after CSW began documenting the family’s case. In the past year, her husband Alain has also been placed on a travel restriction list and is regularly summoned to appear at their local police station.

Watch Marilín tell her story below:


Click link above for full arfticle.

In the video, Pastor Marilín, which is married to Pastor Alain Toledano, shares her experiences about the religious groups in Cuba. The situation of religious groups in Cuba are terrible. The repression in 2020 has increased. Christian leaders are often called into meetings with government officials or imprisoned for up to 48 hours to pressure them. Church buildings are seized, demolished, and no new church buildings construction have been allowed since 1959. Access to Bibles remained restricted and many believers have never owned a Bible.

 

[TypicalRussian]

Re: “If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us�

In the video, Pastor Marilín, which is married to Pastor Alain Toledano, shares her experiences about the religious groups in Cuba. The situation of religious groups in Cuba are terrible. The repression in 2020 has increased. Christian leaders are often called into meetings with government officials or imprisoned for up to 48 hours to pressure them. Church buildings are seized, demolished, and no new church buildings construction have been allowed since 1959. Access to Bibles remained restricted and many believers have never owned a Bible.

yet nobody talks about it-The war on Christians here in America is truly a shame

 

[Sandokan]

Re: “If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us”

Christian persecution spikes in Cuba
Christian persecution spikes in Cuba

A Christian religious freedom charity has expressed concern over an increase of persecution in Cuba.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has revealed it received 260 documented violations of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in 2019, compared to 151 in 2018.

A new report by CSW detailed deteriorating religious freedom protections due to Cuba's new constitution.

Recorded violations include harassment of religious leaders, arbitrary detention, confiscation of religious property, the forced closure of churches, and restrictions on travel, movement and the distribution of religious materials.

Phoebe, CSW's Cuba advocacy officer, told Premier News Hour: "The primary leaders of the Cuban Evangelical Alliance have received travel bans and have not been allowed to leave the country since forming this alliance in June 2019.

"There are also outspoken advocates for religious freedom and documenters, who when they're documenting violations due to their role as ardent defenders of religious freedom, are often stopped, arrested, arbitrarily detained, due to their work in this field."
Click link above for full article.

The situation for religious groups in Cuba remains terrible. The Castroit regime Office of Religious Affairs is the main executioner of freedom of religion violations. These violations include harassment of religious leaders, arbitrary detention, confiscation of religious property, the forced closure of churches, and restrictions on travel, movement and the distribution of religious materials.

 

[yankintx]

[FONT=&]In 2016 Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) recorded 2,380 separate violations of freedom of religion or belief under the Castroit regime. Of those, over 2,000 included the whole church congregations. About 200 involved arrest of women groups to prevent them from attending Mass. The brutal and public strategies used by the Castroit regime has continued throughout 2017. These include [/FONT] [FONT=&]arbitrary arrests, beatings, demolishing places of worship and confiscation of charge property. [/FONT]

It's not much better in Saudi Arabia. Did you see Trump do the sand dance with the Saudi King, bend over and pucker up eh?

 

[Sandokan]

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Cuban pastor arbitrarily arrested by Castro State Security
Cuban pastor arbitrarily arrested by Castro State Security | Babalu Blog
June 22, 2020 by Alberto de la Cruz

Religious persecution and repression continues to flourish under socialism in Cuba.
Via Martí Noticias (my translation):

Arbitrary arrest and accusations against evangelical pastor in Cabaiguan denounced

Evangelical pastor Yasser Caraballo remained in custody on Saturday at the Cabaiguan police station in Sancti Spiritus. This comes after his home was searched on Friday night and the feed he had for the pigs he raises for personal consumption and sale was confiscated.

All of the pastor’s livestock was also confiscated and police at the station where he’ll be under investigation until Monday accused him of “trafficking in stolen property,” Ricardo Fernandez Izaguirre, a journalist and religious freedom activist in Cuba, told Radio Television Martí.

According to Cuban Penal Code, Law-Decree 62, Article 338.1, anyone can be guilty of a crime if “without participating in the criminal activity, conceals information out of personal interest, exchanges or acquires goods by others or the occasion or circumstances of the theft, shows evidence of or gives reasonable reason to believe they have knowledge of a crime.”
Click link above for full article.

Pastor Yasser Caraballo was sent to prison June 19 accused of “trafficking in stolen property.” In reality the pigs belong to him and the corn comes from his aunt farm. The regime created a crime to lock the pastor up, manufactured it, to terrorize him and his family for their Christian believes. Under the Castroit regime it is more dangerous to be a pastor than a criminal.

 

[Sandokan]

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Journalist Threatened with Imprisonment
https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.clov...A_Journalist_Threatened_with_Imprisonment.pdf

4.2.2020

Yoe Suárez, a Cuban independent journalist, was summoned to Siboney Police Station in Havana on March 27, where he was interrogated by police and threatened with imprisonment and unspecified “repercussions” for his family.

Suárez, 29, has worked with non-state media outlets in Cuba since 2014 and has written extensively about human rights and freedom of religion or belief issues, including the arrest, trial and imprisonment of Cuban pastors Ramón Rigal and Adya Expósito, who were imprisoned in April for refusing to send their children to government-run schools. He has written for a range of news outlets including Diario de Cuba, Newsweek, and Univisión.

As a result of his work, Suárez has been regularly targeted by the authorities. In 2016, he was expelled from the Latin American Press Agency, Cuba’s official state news agency. Between the end of 2018 and 2019, Yoe was detained and interrogated by State Security officials on three separate occasions at José Martí International Airport in Havana for his journalism activities. He was also arrested in August 2019 in Guantánamo where he was accused of “counterrevolutionary activities.” His phone was confiscated, and he was threatened with imprisonment if he were to return to the city again.

More recently, in February 2020, Suárez was summoned again to Siboney Police Station in Havana where he was interrogated for three hours by a state security agent who threatened reprisals against his family because of his work. Yoe was also informed that he has been subjected to an indefinite travel ban, “by order of the Leadership [of the Cuban Department of State Security].”

CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said, “CSW condemns the Cuban authorities’ continued targeting of Yoe Suárez for his peaceful work covering human rights and religious affairs in Cuba. It is deeply concerning that on at least two occasions officials have also threatened repercussions against his family. The fact that Mr. Suárez has also been placed under a travel ban is unacceptable. We call on the Cuban government to cease all harassment of Yoe Suárez and his family, and to allow journalists, activists and human rights defenders on the island to carry out their work without risk of imprisonment or intimidation.”

Yoe Suárez, and independent journalist, is an Evangelical Focus contributor. Because of that the Castroit regime State Security has targeted and menacing him with the application of Decree 370 and prison sentence under the Penal Code by posting contents on his social network that the regime consider contra revolutionary.

One of the reasons was his writing about the arrest and trial last April of Pastor Ramón Rigal and his wife, which were sentenced to two years in prison for homeschooling their children. The regime does not care about the welfare of the parents or children. It only care about total control and remain in power. Anything that threatened its power is obliterated.

 

[Sandokan]

Re: “If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us”

The Castroit regime projects a facade of justice and religious freedom while at the same time use tactics and employs pressure to discourage, frighten, intimidate and punish people of faith. But even in the face of these pressures, many Cubans fight on.

Cubans routinely are denied basic freedoms like openly sharing faith with others, giving children a formal and religious education, ministering in prisons and hospitals, accessing radio, TV and the internet. Routinely pastors are arrested, laptops and literature confiscated, churches shut down and demolished. Many religious leaders are harassed and prevented from leaving the "island of Dr. Castro."

 

[Sandokan]

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“You Have Sacrificed Enough”
Persecution "You Have Sacrificed Enough" | Persecution

02/12/2020 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – The secret police closed down Pastor Argelio’s* church in Cuba for the second time. Despondent, he met with the president of his denomination, who told him, “Argelio, you have sacrificed enough. Don’t sacrifice any¬more. I will give you another church.”

Although the leader’s words were meant to comfort him, they didn’t. He felt that God had clearly called him to his church. He could only trust that this crossroad was a part of the plan.

But that didn’t make his path any more straight¬forward. The last time his church had been shut down, his flock of 60 scattered. Two weeks later, there were only eight people left – including him and his wife.

He rejected the offer to go to another church, regardless of the cost. He decided to press on with the work God had given him.
Click link above for full article.

24 years ago Argelio felt God’s call to start a church in the town of his boy¬hood church. Eventually he was able to start the church began with five people in attendance, one of them a spy for the communist party. The Castroit regime made life very difficult for the small church that has an attendance of 60 people, and closed it. All their belongings were ransack.

Someone offered Argelio and his wife room to stay in. With his unwavering faith in God and determination, he opened a house church in the same area and it began to grow again. After 16 years the church had 700 members. During that time the secret police keep the church under constant harassment, closing it down again. Aurelio has decided not to accept the offer to go to another church, instead he decided “to press on with the work God had given him.” He wouldn’t give up. His parishioners shall be very proud of him. What a remarkable pastor he is.

 

[Mashmont]

[FONT=&]In 2016 Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) recorded 2,380 separate violations of freedom of religion or belief under the Castroit regime. Of those, over 2,000 included the whole church congregations. About 200 involved arrest of women groups to prevent them from attending Mass. The brutal and public strategies used by the Castroit regime has continued throughout 2017. These include [/FONT] [FONT=&]arbitrary arrests, beatings, demolishing places of worship and confiscation of charge property. [/FONT]

No surprise there. This is what leftists do. It's what they'll do here if given the chance. It's already starting in the leftwing cities where churches are vandalized and violence by the left is ignored.