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“If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us”

Re: “If We Stay Quiet They Crush Us�

Voices from Cuba: Ricardo Fernández Izaguirre
Voices from Cuba: Ricardo Fernandez Izaguirre – FoRB in Full

Posted on 24/08/2020by cswpress in Cuba, Latin America

Ricardo Fernández Izaguirre is a journalist, documenter and religious freedom defender in Cuba. Mr Fernández Izaguirre is married with an infant daughter and another child on the way. He was a member of the Apostolic Movement, an independent network of charismatic protestant churches which the government has refused to register. He currently attends an independent Methodist church.

In July 2019 he was detained and held without charge for ten days, the first four of which he was completely incommunicado. He was detained once again for over 24 hours in November 2019, and has faced regular harassment and intimidation at the hands of the Cuban authorities since then.

Mr Fernández Izaguirre has expressed fears to CSW that the Cuban government will attempt to fabricate a criminal case against him as an act of reprisal for his work defending religious freedom.

Watch Mr Fernández Izaguirre tell his story in his own words:

In July 2019 Ricardo was detained by the regime by state security agents after leaving the headquarters of the Ladies in White in Havana where he had been documenting violations of freedom of religion. He spent four days on hunger strike in protest of his arbitrary detention. This is nothing new, a crackdown on dissident voices by the Castroit regime has been taking place for decades.
 
Since 1959 when Fidel Castro took control of the government of Cuba, the religious persecution has not stopped. Under the Castroit communist regime the persecution of people of all faiths has been extremely severe. The regime launched a systematic war on religion, and it described religious people as “social scum. ” By the end of 1960s, the celebration of Christmas was banned, churches, priests and religious leaders were under tight surveillance and sometimes arrested. In May 1961, the regime 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 and other places of worship were shut down and declared the island an atheist state.
 
The communist regime, through its Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) and the government’s Ministry of Justice (MOJ), continued to control most aspects of religious life. It use threats, international and domestic travel restrictions, detentions, and violence against religious leaders and their followers. The MOJ regulates the registration of “house churches”, and if authorization is granted, it will supervise the operation of meetings and required detail information about the number of worshippers, dates and times of services, and the names and ages of all inhabitants of the house in which services are held. Any violation will result in fines and closure of the house church. The bottom line is that there is not freedom of religion in Cuba under the Castroit communist regime.
 
Cuban officials force the closure of an evangelical church
https://evangelicalfocus.com/cities/8081/cuban-officials-force-the-closure-of-an-evangelical-church

“They did not give us any option or alternative to negotiate. Rather, it was a resounding, arbitrary closure, and without any solution”, the pastors point out

Evangélico Digital · HOLGUÍN · 21 SEPTEMBER 2020 · 11:00 CET

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Members of Jehovah Shalom Church gathered in a park after their church was closed. / Jehová Shalom church Facebook.

Officials from the Ministry of Justice, Physical Planning, the provincial Communist Party and agents of the State Security in Cuba have been harassing an evangelical church in Holguín for three months, according to the journalist of the newspaper Diario de Cuba, Yaiset Rodríguez .

Between June and July 2020, pastors Uberney Aguilar and Yalina Proenza received visits and official summons on at least six occasions, with the aim of threatening them and forcing them to permanently suspend their religious services.
Click link above for full article.
The attack, closure and destruction of churches of all denominations continuous unabated. Cubans have suffered tremendously for their faith. They have endure harassment, threats, attacks, trials, imprisonment, torture and death. During 2020 the regime continues to systematically make it difficult for churches to operate without interference, persecuting religious groups of all faith. It has zero tolerance for any religious expression that does not align with its policies.
 
Cuban Churchgoers Pelted with Stones; Office of Religious Affairs Likely Responsible

https://www.globallibertyalliance.o...ffice-of-religious-affairs-likely-responsible

10/23/2020

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For months, members of the Missionary Church of Cuba (“Iglesia Misionera de Cuba”) in Victoria, Las Tunas, have been pelted with stones on their way to worship. Originally occurring once a week, now the attacks have escalated to twice a week. According to church head Pastor Yoel Demetrio, the move is designed to scare off his congregation, as well as to pressure the pastor to weaken his message. Churchgoers cannot see who is throwing stones at them, but they all suspect state officials have instigated the attacks. Complaints to Cuban police have brought no results.

"The stoning of religious persons in Cuba is yet another one of the many coordinated acts against people of faith by the Communist Party's Office of Religious Affairs. We urge the United States to send a clear message, starting with economic sanctions on the Office of Religious Affairs," said Jason Poblete, President of Global Liberty Alliance (GLA).
Click link above for full article.
 
Sure it is. Most of the founding fathers were ministers of the Gospel. There were no atheists in America during the lifetime of Ben Franklin and most of the European settlers were Christians. In fact, the first book that entered into America was the Geneva Bible. America was founded on Christian principles. You atheists just don't understand much about Christian principles enough to see them in the language of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. You seem to think that atheists wrote all that when Franklin is very clear that not one atheist was known to live in America during his lifetime.
Christian family values is the strength of the nation in which atheists attack. Atheists want the country to cater to their beliefs and yet evolution teaches moral relativism which means there are no family values which results in the erosion of the family and the death of a nation. Our founders knew this and were not dumb to this. Atheists like to claim victim status and say they are being forced to be Christians just because the laws of the land were founded on Christian principles. But nobody is forcing atheists to believe anything. We Christians don't want to force you to believe. If you are gonna believe than that is a conscience decision on your own part and Christian seek genuine conversions and not forced submission. But a nation must be founded on principles and the morality of Jesus superseded the morals and values of other religious figures which is why this foundation of this country was founded on Christianity. This system was working very well until humanists began to attack Christianity and demand they be worshiped over God. But we Christians don't worship mere mortal men and have a problem bowing down to a god-king. Humanism seeks to deify government which is exactly what our founders did not want. They wanted reduced government and not the big government humanists demand. The founders didn't ever see themselves as gods, nor was President George Washington considered a god-king by any of the citizens. But humanism wants humanity to be worshiped and this means deifying government officials to the status of the gods. We don't need any of that tyranny here in America as it failed in every nation that ever had a god-king. We fought a revolution to escape a king who did not consider himself a god. Just think how much more violent the revolution would have been if Americans were fighting a god-king. Yet both nations at war were two Christian nations and Americans no longer wanted to deal with the king so they ousted him from the country completely. But humanists want to establish a government religions with several god-kings who dictate our every move; from what we eat and drink, to what we will believe. This sounds like something our founding fathers did not want for our nation. They never demanded worship and knew that God was not the government. Humanists cannot acknowledge that and demand they be worshiped as the gods.

Sorry but I already worship the true God. I have no time or desire to worship wicked men who have a god-complex.

So the ownership of other people as property and the treatment of women as de facto property are Christian principles?
 
We were not founded on racism and certainly not sexism. Slavery come here from Europe and our founders knew it was wrong but it had been a way of life and not easy to break away from. So when the revolution broke out, the last thing our founders wanted to do is to fight two wars at the same time. So they focused first on defeating Britain which required Americans to be united. After the war the economy was a mess and we had no Navy. So those issues were important to take care of. But they had planned to abolish slavery from the start but could not risk dividing Americans during the revolution.

If America was not founded on Christianity, then on what principles was it founded on? What philosophy did the founders use to come up with their revolutionary new system of government?

The Constitution those Founders created literally defined non-whites as being worth less than a white person. How is that not foundation on racism?
 
They actually agreed with many Biblical accounts like the Flood and the Exodus out of Egypt and didn't question it.

You realize that the science of archaeology did not exist when Jefferson and Franklin were around, right?
 
Christianity did not come from Europe. It began in Judea before it was accepted by Europeans and racism is not taught in the Bible.

The forms of Christianity that began in the Middle East (Assyrianism, Chaldeanism, Coptic Christianity, Nestorianiam), you would consider "not real Christians". Let's start with the fact that the majority of them reject the Trinity as well as the idea that Jesus was divine when he was alive.
 
A nation founded by Christians follows the teachings of the Holy Bible which allows or free will. This means by Canon Law we cannot establish a tyrannic state. This is what a Christian nation looks like. But you are still hardwired to think in total extremes which is why you cannot understand a single word I am saying.

What worldview was this nation founded on?

Which teachings of the Bible allow the ownership of slaves or the violent theft of land from and genocide of the Native Americans?
 
Cuban pastor arrested and church demolished
https://www.csw.org.uk/2020/10/30/press/4860/article.htm

30 Oct 2020

Early on Friday morning, 30 October, Cuban authorities in the city of Santiago de Cuba moved to demolish a church that has been under threat since 2015. A prominent pastor of another church who was recording the demolition was detained by Cuban police and remains in custody.


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Pastor Alain Toledano

Cuban State Security, accompanied by heavy machinery including bulldozers, arrived at the site at about 7:30am and began to attempt to clear the area located in the Abel Santamaria neighborhood of Santiago de Cuba. Witnesses told CSW that the authorities planned to demolish the Assemblies of God Church as well as the homes of members of the church located on the property. The Assemblies of God is one of the largest religious groups in Cuba and is legally recognized by the government.

Pastor Alain Toledano, a prominent leader of an unregistered denomination, the Apostolic Movement, and who lives in the same neighborhood, went to the site to record the government attack on the church. He broadcast it on Facebook Live via his mobile phone. As he was filming, he was approached and physically apprehended by men in plainclothes. The phone was dropped on the ground and before the feed was cut, the sound of bulldozers can be heard as members of the church sing in the background.
Click link above for full article.
The Castroit communist regime in action. This is a photo of what was left of the Church afterwards. Church buildings are destroyed, their leaders are harassed, arrested, unjustly sentenced in kangaroo courts. Religious Cubans face increased incidents of harassment by Communist regime. This is life for religious Cubans in communist Cuba.

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This is what was left of the property of the demolished Church in Santiago de Cuba”
 
The Castroit communist regime employ all types of tactics to prevent pastors from performing their activities. Among these repressive activities are surveillance, warnings, harassment arbitrary detentions, dismissal from jobs, family intimidation, forced exile and jail time. This is the life for Cubans pastors under the communist regime. The island of Dr. Castro remain a totalitarian hellhole ruled by a ruthless dictatorship.
 
Religious leaders under pressure to sign agreement regarding church demolition
Religious leaders under pressure to sign agreement regarding church demolition - CSW

3 Nov 2020

Cuban authorities in the city of Santiago de Cuba are pressuring religious leaders to sign an agreement regarding the demolition of their church. The Assemblies of God church, led by Pastor Faustino (Fausto) Palomo Cabrera, located in the Abel Santamaria neighbourhood of Santiago de Cuba, was demolished by authorities on 30 October.

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The church in Abel Santamaria being demolished. Credit: Alain Toledano Valiente/Facebook

The demolition began at approximately 7.30am when Cuban State Security, accompanied by heavy machinery including bulldozers, attempted to clear the area. According to Cuban independent journalist Ricardo Fernández Izaguirre, the church belongs to the legally recognized Assemblies of God denomination. Footage of the demolition has emerged on Facebook.

During the demolition, Pastor Alain Toledano, a prominent leader of an unregistered denomination, the Apostolic Movement, was physically apprehended by the police whilst filming the attack. He was taken to the Motorizada Police Station, where he was held alongside two other members of his church, Adrián Arza and Félix Daniel González, incommunicado for nine hours.
Click link above for full article.
Demolition of church buildings by the Castroit regime continuous unabated. The regime used heavy machinery including bulldozers to demolish the Assemblies of God church. The Pastor and the Regional Superintendent of the church were taking away by the Department of Physical Planning, which is applying pressure on them to sign a document saying that the demolition of the church was legal. It is a real Dantesque hell in which the believers are denied even their most basic rights.
 
Religious persecution by the Castroit tyrannical regimen have increased during 2020. The regime continues to employ arbitrary detention to harass and intimidate critics, independent activists, political opponents, and others. The number of arbitrary short-term detentions have increased, a number religious leaders have been banned from leaving the country. False charges being brought against religious leaders and arbitrarily detained. Churches of all denominations have been shut down and demolished. Religious people going to church are pelted with stones. The regime has zero tolerance for any religious expression that does not align with its policies.
 
Cuba frees Christian pastor, confiscates nearly $2K in tools needed for his business
Cuba frees Christian pastor, confiscates nearly $2K in tools - The Christian Post

By Jackson Elliott, Christian Post Reporter
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https://cdn.christianpost.com/files/cache/image/14/13/141363_w_760_428.jpeg
Pastor Parra Rosabal, the pastor of Fuego y Dinámica Apostolic Church in Jobabo, Cuba, worships with his congregation. | Maricel Alonso González

A bi-vocational pastor was released from jail in Cuba last Friday after authorities accused him under false pretenses of “hoarding” tools for his bicycle repair shop.

Authorities held Pastor Karel Parra Rosabal in prison for 10 days before his release from the police unit in Jobabo, Las Tunas, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a nonprofit that serves persecuted believers in over 20 countries.
office dropped the charges and allowed the pastor of the Fuego y Dinámica Apostolic Church in Jobabo to present proof-of-purchase documents for his work tools. The government didn’t return the tools he needed to make a livelihood, however.
Click link above for full article.
Pastor Karel Parra that earns a living by repairing bicycles has his tools confiscated by the regime, which accused him under false pretenses of “hoarding” tools for his bicycle repair shop. Under the Castroit regime it is illegal to own any tools for which you have no receipt. This is not the case with regard to the pastor since he had proof of purchase of the tools and the Prosecutor dropped the charge He will be unable to make a living and support his family now since the regime did not returned the tools. This could not be more Orwellian than that. It is sickening.
 
After Hurricane Irma devastated part of the north coast of Cuba, religious organizations have faced great difficulties to provide humanitarian aid and support to hurricane victims. The Castroit regime denial of aid from religious organizations to hurricane victims is an act of injustice and oppression. The regime put politics ahead of the suffering of the Cuban people.
This is how it always goes under Marxist regimes. Christian charity is in direct competition with Marxist atheist rule. Christian charity is far more effective and fervent than so-called government aid. I see it right here in our own community. We have a church based food bank in our city that serves more people on a shoestring than the government agencies. But unlike with the private sector, inefficient government agencies never go out of business. They continue to be subsidized with taxpayer money.
 
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 arbitrary arrests, beatings, demolishing places of worship and confiscation of charge property.
Look for a lot more of Christian oppression. Look for it in America in the coming years.
 
Which teachings of the Bible allow the ownership of slaves or the violent theft of land from and genocide of the Native Americans?
The curse of Hamm, commonly called, however it is really
The curse of Cannon.

This was used to justify slavery of blacks in Americs.
 
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 arbitrary arrests, beatings, demolishing places of worship and confiscation of charge property.
America has become the new Castrol regime thanks to the fake election
 
CUBA | Journalist’s Travel Ban Requested Lifted
20210205_CUBA_Journalist_s_Travel_Ban_Requested_Lifted.pdf
CSW | 2.5.2021

Today marks one year since Cuban independent journalist, Yoe Suárez, was put under a government-imposed international travel ban. Over the past year, Suárez, who frequently writes about human rights issues, including freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), has been repeatedly summoned and threatened by the police and Cuban State security.

On Jan. 26, Suárez received an official summons to appear at the Siboney Police station in Havana at 10 a.m. He complied with the order and was isolated in a cell where he was frisked by a police officer before being interrogated by three state security agents, who questioned him about his activities as a journalist and on social media. The agents warned that they were “concerned” about Suárez’s ’s activity on social networks, which they described as “confrontational.”

The officers asked Suárez about his journalism for independent news site Diario de Cuba (Cuba Daily), where he has written about his experiences of state-orchestrated harassment and other human rights violations in Cuba. An officer called Johnathan threatened Suárez saying that as long as he continued to write for Diario de Cuba, he would not leave the country.
Click link above for full article.
Not only Yoe Suárez has been intimidate, harass, threatened and punished for his Christian believe by the state security of the regime, but the regime has made clear to him that if he continuous with his independent journalistic work, his son, wife, parents and friends will be at risk.

Through history totalitarian regime have tried to eliminate religion, but time and again they have failed. People of faith would not violate their religious believes regardless of the consequences.
 
Wife of Cuban journalist summoned and interrogated
Wife of Cuban journalist summoned and interrogated - CSW

2 Mar 2021

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Yoe Suarez and Maria Antonieta Colunga Olivera

The wife of a Cuban journalist who has been targeted by the government because of his work covering human rights issues, including freedom of religion or belief, was abruptly summoned by Cuban State Security on 1 March. Maria Antonieta Colunga Olivera was given three hours’ notice to report to the Immigration Police Station in Nuevo Vedado, where she was interrogated about the work of her husband, Yoel “Yoe” Suarez.

According to Mrs Colunga Olivera, a state security officer hand delivered a police summons at around 10.30am. He told her that it was for the same day, despite the fact that the printed copy indicated that the citation was for 29 March. She decided she would go immediately, given that the location is 9km from where she lives and because reliable transport is scarce in Cuba.

Once at the station, two state security officers informed Mrs Colunga Olivera that they wanted to have a conversation with her about her husband’s work. Mrs Colunga Olivera responded that she was there involuntarily, noting that the summons indicated she could be fined if she did not comply, and that as such this was not a conversation, but an interrogation, and that “whatever they needed to know about my husband, his journalistic work and anything else, it seemed wiser to ask him, that I would only answer questions related to me.”
Click link above for full article.
The Castroit regime would not stop threatening Yoe Suarez wife, mother and friends. It does not care about religious Cubans and would use all its power to stop Joe journalist work covering human rights issues like freedom of religion.
 
Independent journalist Yoel Suarez summoned by authorities again
Independent journalist Yoel Suarez summoned by authorities again - CSW

17 Mar 2021

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Yoe Suarez. Credit: Angeldel Castillo

Cuban independent journalist Yoel “Yoe” Suárez received a summons to present himself at the Miramar Police Station on 12 March, the latest development in an ongoing campaign of harassment against him and his family by the Cuban authorities.

The interrogation at the Miramar police station in Havana lasted 35 minutes and was conducted by a new sector head who identified himself as Captain Pinheiro. During the interrogation, Mr. Suárez was asked detailed questions about his family and work. He was also asked about his previous interactions with State Security counterintelligence officials. Mr Suárez replied that he had been summoned on various occasions because of his work as an independent journalist and his social media posts covering the situation in Cuba.
Click link above for full article
As I have said before, the Castroit regime would not stop threatening Yoe Suarez. He has been targeted because of his work as an independent journalist covering human rights issues, including freedom of religion. The regime state security will continuous to harassed him to control and stop his social media posts covering the situation in the island. The regime has zero tolerance for any religious expression that does not align with its policies.
 
What a load of crap. God was never supposed to be in school in the first place under separation of church and state. Not only that, but last time I checked, there was nothing preventing someone from praying to themselves; they just can’t force everyone to do so or disrupt class with showy displays.

“Homosexual sin” ? Sorry buddy, you not being allowed to oppress innocent Americans does not mean you yourself are being oppressed.

Yeah.....God stood by and allowed Adolf Hitler and Iosif Stalin to murder tens of millions of innocent people. It’s pretyy clear he doesn’t agree with your fantasy that you not being allowed to oppress others means that you are oppressed.

Frankly, the persecution complex American Christians have is laughable, especially when you look at the suffering of Christians in places like the Middle East.
Separation of church and state simply means atheism is the state religion. That's why that concept is bogus, and the First Amendment says nothing about it.
 
Separation of church and state simply means atheism is the state religion. That's why that concept is bogus, and the First Amendment says nothing about it.

Separation of church and state ensures that religious fanatics can’t impose their beliefs on anyone else....which is why it is so incredibly important. The founders didn’t want the US to be like Europe, where kings and nobles used force to compel everyone to follow a state religion.

And atheism is not a religion.
 
Seems that Pope Francis adopted the Liberation Theology, which was fought forcefully by Popes John Paul II and Joseph Ratzinger. He is a vocal critic of capitalism, has associated with ex-priest Leonardo Boff, a strong supporter of liberation theology left wing causes, which in an interview said, “Francis is one of us.” In 2015, Pope Francis canonized Bishop Oscar Romero, one of the main figures in the liberation theology movement. In an interview with the Spanish daily El País, he said that “Liberation Theology was a good thing for Latin America.” But Ratzinger referred to Liberation Theology as a “singular heresy” and a “fundamental threat” to the Church. No wonder Pope Francis is called the Red Pope.
Romero wasn't a proponent of liberation theology. The Marxist stole and perverted the notion of caring for the poor, which they, of course have never done. Romero was beatified under Pope St. John Paul.
 
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