MIAMI, United States. – In a special session of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), officials and human rights experts denounced the surveillance and repression exercised by the Cuban regime on places of worship and religious actors who try to exercise their freedom of expression .
During the meeting, showed up the study of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on the right to freedom of conscience, religion and beliefs in the Americas, and the serious restrictions faced by religious groups in Cuba were highlighted.
The special ambassador in the Office of International Religious Freedom of the State Department of USARashad Hussain pointed out that in Cuba, although the Government allows certain religious activities related to humanitarian assistance, it strictly regulates all aspects of religious life.
“The Government monitors places of worship and threatens religious actors who exercise their freedom of expression, religion and beliefs,” Hussain said, according to the report. Martí News. In addition, he noted that many religious leaders on the island practice self-censorship to avoid reprisals and added: “According to reports, the Government tortures and physically mistreats prisoners who are religious political actors.”
During the session, the religious leader and human rights activist Ofunshi Oba Koso, author of the report, also spoke. “Obstacles faced by leaders and members of Afro-Cuban religions in Cuba”. Oba Koso highlighted that “despite the fact that these practices are generally accepted as part of Cuban culture, and are even marketed for tourism, Afro-descendants and members of the LGBTIQ+ population of these religions suffer discrimination and stigmatization and receive a unequal treatment in many circumstances.”
Oba Koso added that he has recorded a “growing number of cases of stigmatization, discrimination, violence and other forms of unfair treatment” against members of religions of African descent in Cuba.
For his part, international human rights lawyer Knox Thames, who has held several positions in defense of religious freedom, expressed that the human rights situation in Cuba is an example of how limitations on fundamental freedoms also affect freedom. of cult.
“Freedom of worship is blocked when the Cuban government refuses to recognize religious communities, and the inability to register them means that worship is technically illegal,” Thames said. In addition, he highlighted that pastors are subject to criminal sanctions and that freedom of expression is restricted regarding the content of sermons. “Freedom of speech is also limited in what pastors can preach or penalized when it is not approved or considered to challenge government narratives,” Thames explained.
Likewise, he highlighted that pastors and clerics who defend the rights of their communities “are often imprisoned or forced into exile, similar to the treatment given to human rights defenders.”
Finally, the participants in the meeting called on the international community to continue making these violations visible and support those who fight to exercise their right to religious freedom on the Island.
