The Trump administration is orchestrating an international campaign claiming that there is a lack of religious freedom in Cuba. It has also unilaterally added Cuba to a US government Special Watch List for supposedly having engaged in severe violations of religious freedom. The objective is a crude attempt to isolate Cuba and ultimately destroy the Cuban revolution.

Through lack of knowledge, many people in the United States, and even many here in South Africa, may be under the mistaken impression that this is true. Of course, part of the reason for the US’s illegal blockade against Cuba is precisely to prevent people from travelling to the country to learn the truth first-hand.

My own experience – and the lived experience of the Cuban people – tells a different story. A traveller to Cuba will see evidence of vibrant faith communities living out their faith and expressing their spirituality.

In 1985 I made my first visit to Cuba. At the time, I was working for the Lutheran World Federation and was part of a joint delegation of the Swaziland and Zimbabwe Council of Churches. It was during that visit that I realised it is possible to organise society in the interests of a poor majority, rather than a rich minority.

Since then, I have visited Cuba a number of times. On several of my visits, I had the opportunity to preach at the Episcopal Cathedral in Havana, and some of the clergy from that country have become my lifelong friends.

Connected both to the Baptist Union and to centres in the US and across the world, there is a Martin Luther King Memorial Centre in Havana where I have also preached. The Revd Raúl Suárez, who led the centre for many years, was also a member of the Cuban parliament.

There is also a very active Council of Churches in Havana (much like the National Council of Churches in the United States and the South African Council of Churches) with whom I have met whenever I go to Havana.  When I was there in 2016, many church people told me that the relationship between church and state has never ever been as healthy as it is today in Cuba.

The Council of Churches and individual Cuban Churches are affiliated to the World Council of Churches.

In Matanzas, 90 minutes out of Havana, lies the Evangelical Theological Seminary which I have often visited. The seminary includes academic staff from outside Cuba. One of their professors, the Revd Ophelia Ortega, is a former president of the World Council of Churches.

Roman Catholics have always been the largest Christian Church in Cuba, and President Fidel Castro was Jesuit educated.

During the first years of the revolution, there was a fraught relationship between Church and State as a result of the negative role played by some in the Catholic hierarchy. The Vatican played a constructive role in normalising that relationship.

Who can forget the visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba, or the Mass he held in Revolution Square beneath a giant image of the Sacred Heart, attended by Castro? During that visit, the Supreme Pontiff unequivocally condemned the US blockade as he called for greater openness by, and to, Cuba. Equally, who can forget the response of a deeply moved President Raul Castro after his first encounter with Pope Francis?

In the light of the present spurious allegations by the Trump administration, it is worth recalling that it was the Vatican, working behind the scenes, that helped pave the way for the Obama administration’s first steps towards normalising the relationship between Cuba and the United States

When five Cuban heroes were incarcerated in prisons across the US for helping prevent terrorism, this grave injustice galvanised Cuban faith communities to stand together in the forefront of demanding their release.

Like the US and South Africa, Cuba is a secular state. The separation between the religious and the secular does not prevent collaboration and cooperation between Church and State, whether in books or in care homes for the elderly run by churches and partially funded by the state. Between 2018 and 2019, a total of 848,070 Bibles and New Testaments entered the country and were distributed by the Biblical Commission of Cuba.

The Editorial Caminos, publishing arm of the MLK centre, published the Cuban Edition of my memoir, Redeeming the Past.  The funding came from Instituto Cubano del Libro (ICL) – the Cuban Book Institute which, in turn, is funded by the Cuban state.

Religious freedom can be seen throughout the length and breadth of Cuba today. These freedoms are guaranteed in five different articles of the Cuban constitution.

Ironically, it is the Helms-Burton Act of the United States which prevents Bibles being sent from the US to Cuba.

Back in 1975, at a time when the South African army was being defeated in Angola, there was a terrible headline in the Sunday Times: “I killed Cubans for Christ.” I imagine there was confusion when some of the dead Cubans were found with Bibles in their pockets.

While I was in Cuba in 2016, the Cuban government played host to the first-ever meeting between the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Pope Francis as head of the Catholic Church.  Who could have ever thought that communist Cuba would be the site for the first steps towards healing a rift that dated back to the 11th century?

During my visits to Cuba, I have also witnessed the joyful celebrations of popular religious practices first brought to the country by Africans, of the Yoruba people, who arrived as slaves centuries ago. These practices are now blended with elements of Catholicism.

Religious freedom can be seen throughout the length and breadth of Cuba today. These freedoms are guaranteed in five different articles of the Cuban constitution.

On Good Friday this year, the Way of the Cross, led by Pope Francis, was broadcast on Cuban radio, as were programmes of the Council of Churches. Such broadcasts have been continuing since 1992.

In 2019, almost 10,000 people visited Cuba to meet with 72 Cuban religious organisations and fraternal associations.

In July 2018, the Episcopal Church of Cuba became a constituent diocese of the Episcopal Church of the United States. This is similar to the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, which extends across a number of countries in the sub-continent.

As recently as March this year, the National Council of Churches issued a joint statement with the Cuban Council of Churches deploring the intensification of the US blockade in this time of Covid-19.

To claim there is a lack of religious freedom in Cuba today is demonstrably hogwash. We should be clear that the motive for spreading these falsehoods is malevolent.

Let all of us who have experienced freedom of religion in Cuba please speak out. It is important for us to educate ourselves on this and share with others a truthful picture of the country. DM