U.S.
Department of State Human Rights Report 1998
In recent years, the Government has eased the harsher aspects of its
repression of religious freedom. In 1991 it allowed religious adherents
to join the Communist Party. In 1992 it amended the Constitution to
prohibit religious discrimination and removed references to "scientific
materialism," i.e., atheism, as the basis for the Cuban State.
Nevertheless, the State prohibits members of the armed forces from
allowing anyone in their household to observe religious practices,
except elderly relatives if their religious beliefs do not influence
other family members and are not "damaging to the revolution."
On January 21-25, Pope John Paul II made a historic trip to Cuba.
The Pope celebrated public Masses in front of hundreds of thousands
of persons in Havana, Villa Clara, Camaguey, and Santiago de Cuba,
which were televised nationally. Persons attending the Mass in Havana
chanted "freedom," and the Pope made an appeal for the "world
to open up to Cuba" and for "Cuba to open up to the world."
In his 11 discourses while in the country, the Pope emphasized the
need to allow fundamental freedoms, to respect human rights, and to
foster the development of independent civil society.
On May 30, the country's Catholic bishops publicly appealed to the
Government to recognize the Church's role in civil society and the
family, as well as in the temporal areas of work, the economy, the
arts, sports, and the scientific and technical worlds. The Government
continued to limit strictly the Church's access to the media and refused
to allow the Church to have a legal independent printing capability.
It maintained its prohibition against the establishment of religiously
affiliated schools. However, in September local government authorities
allowed the Catholic Church to hold an outdoor procession to mark
the feast day of Our Lady of Charity in Havana for the first time
since 1961. State security personnel openly and heavily harassed diplomats
during this ceremony. The Cardinal also was allowed a 10-minute address
on the national classical music station.
On December 1, the Government announced in a politburo declaration
that henceforth citizens would be allowed to celebrate Christmas as
an official holiday. (The holiday had been cancelled, ostensibly to
spur the sugar harvest, in 1969, and restored for 1997 as part of
the preparations for the Pope's visit.) The authorities again permitted
the Cardinal to speak briefly on national media to commemorate Christmas.
However, despite the Government's decision to allow citizens to celebrate
Christmas as a national holiday, it also maintained a December 1995
decree prohibiting nativity scenes in public buildings.
The Government allowed some foreign priests and nuns to enter the
country, but applications of many other priests and religious workers
remained pending at year's end. The Government also pressured two
foreign Catholic priests to leave the country. In one case, American
priest Patrick Sullivan left Cuba after Communist Party officials
objected to his displaying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
inside his church, allowing parishioners to elect the church board
members, and maintaining contacts with foreign diplomats. Father Sullivan
publicly stated that he did not leave of his own volition. In August
the authorities at Havana's international airport briefly questioned
two Italian members of a Catholic religious order who had traveled
to Cuba to participate in a religious event and warned them not to
return to the country.
The Government continued to enforce a resolution that prevented any
Cuban or joint enterprise (except those with specific authorization)
from selling computers, facsimile machines, photocopiers, or other
equipment to any church at other than the official÷-and exorbitant-÷retail
prices.
Students who profess a belief in religion continue to be stigmatized
by other students and teachers and have been disciplined formally
for bringing Bibles or other religious materials to school.
The Government requires churches and other religious groups to register
with the provincial Registry of Associations to obtain official recognition.
The Government prohibits, with occasional exceptions, the construction
of new churches, forcing many growing congregations to violate the
law and meet in private homes. Government harassment of private houses
of worship continued, with evangelical denominations reporting evictions
from houses used for these purposes. Officials of the Cuban Council
of Churches (CCC) reported that in 1997 the local government authorities
had demolished two homes used as churches in the eastern provinces.
In one case, provincial government authorities provided a replacement
edifice.
In September independent journalists reported that the Evenecer church
in a home in Caibarien, Villa Clara province, was confiscated by local
officials of the Communist Party's office of religious affairs and
the Ministry of Interior. The authorities also have threatened to
demolish homes used as churches in Havana province and have evicted
congregations from other informal chapels.
On October 22, the Government expelled a congregation affiliated with
the Western Baptist Convention from a home used as a church in Encrucijada,
Villa Clara province. The authorities confiscated the house and turned
it over to the local branch of the Union of Young Communists. Church
leaders reported that this was the first such action taken against
Baptists since the 1960's.
The Government relaxed restrictions on some religious denominations.
In February the president of the world association of Seventh Day
Adventists was permitted to visit the country, where he celebrated
an open air mass baptism in Matanzas province, presided over the reopening
of a church in Havana, and met with government officials. Jehovah's
Witnesses, once considered "active religious enemies of the revolution,"
were allowed quietly to proselytize door-to-door, and they generally
were not subjected to overt government harassment.
CCC officials reported in June that the Council had received the Government's
permission to broadcast a monthly 15-minute program on a national
classical music radio station, with the understanding that the program
would not include material of a political character. The head of the
CCC is a member of the government-controlled ANPP.
State security officials visited some priests and pastors, prior to
significant religious events, ostensibly to warn them about dissidents,
in an effort to sow discord and mistrust between the churches and
peaceful prodemocracy activists. State security officers also regularly
harassed human rights advocates who sought to attend religious services
commemorating special feast days or before significant national days,
including inside churches and during religious ceremonies.
State security agents in Santiago de Cuba, Havana, and Pinar del Rio
visited the homes of activists the night before and the morning of
July 13--the fourth anniversary of the Cuban Coast Guard's sinking
of the "13th of March" tugboat in which 41 persons, including
21 children, died--to warn them against commemorating the incident.
In Havana the police chased, beat, and detained 10 activists outside
a church. State security officials also visited the homes of some
of the family members of the victims of the incident and warned them
against commemorating the tragedy. In connection with the September
8 celebration in honor of Our Lady of Charity, state security agents
placed 16 activists under preventive detention for up to 72 hours.
State security and uniformed police also detained for about 5 hours
some 20 other dissidents who had gathered in the home of activist
Isabel del Pino to prevent them from taking part in the religious
event. Similar government harassment of human rights and opposition
activists occurred during other religious anniversaries. Nevertheless,
church attendance has grown in recent years in all denominations,
and has substantially increased at Catholic Church services in the
wake of the Pope's visit.
Source: Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices for 1998, U.S. Department of State.
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