ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 24, 2023 / 12:30 pm
Father Alberto Reyes, a priest of the Archdiocese of Camagüey in Cuba, recently stated that members of the Church who denounce the injustices that occur in the country get calls and threats from the government.
Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the priest reflected on the exercise of religious freedom on the island, a right that should not be limited only to worship in churches but also includes the participation of believers in the public life of the country in different areas, such as education, health care, and freely expressing one’s opinion.
The World Religious Freedom Report 2023, presented on June 22 by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), states that in Cuba, “it can be said that freedom of worship is generally respected, but one cannot speak of full religious freedom” because “the control of the state and the Communist Party over religion, as well as over the rest of the aspects of the life of citizens, limits, restricts, and regulates to the extreme many of their actions and movements.”
“Although there was some hope for reforms in Cuba,” the ACN report explains, “the changes in the constitution in 2019 and in the penal code in 2022 raise fears that the situation will not improve in the near future. Both laws further reinforce the subordination of society to the construction of a socialist system under the leadership of a single Marxist party.”