Arequipa, Peru – The Government of Cuba prohibited the celebration of the Solemn Viacrucis of Ramos Sunday, a Christian procession of the Holy Week planned for this Sunday in Vedado Habanero.
This was reported through Facebook The parish priest Lester Rafael Zayas Díazwho last Friday had shared photos of the preparation of the event from the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus where he officiates.
“By this medium we report that the Solemn Viacrucis announced and prepared by the Vicaría for tomorrow Sunday of Ramos at 6:00 pm from Line to Lartán has been suspended because the authorities have not approved it.”
In 2024, the Cuban regime also prohibited liturgies for Holy Week in several provinces El País, including the capital of the island and in Granma.
According to Zayas Díaz, on that occasion the denial was related to himself, an answer figure whose homilies “bother or make some nervous.”
In his denunciation of the prohibition, he explains that “denying it as punishment to a pastor is also absurd, a violation of religious freedom. The pastor is only the spokesman for the desire of the people, he is the one who requests it from the competent authority but it is not a personal desire of his.”
Likewise, last year the Cuban authorities prohibited processions per Holy Week in the diocese of Bayamo-Manzanillo, province of Granmareported a Cubanet a source inside the Catholic church which requested anonymity.
The denial of the permit was notified by Bismar Quesada, who is in charge of the agency in Bayamo of the Office of Attention to Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC).
“They didn’t give explanations, they never give them; they just say yes or no,” said the source.
The refusal was known a week after they exploded protests Popular in the city of Bayamo, where protesters sang the national anthem and shouted “freedom” and “Long live Cuba Libre”, in addition to demanding “current and food.”
Last March, the United States Commission for International Religious Liberty (USCIRF) recommended in Your annual 2025 report That Cuba is again designated as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) due to “systematic, continuous and atrocious violations of religious freedom”, occurred during the year 2024.
“In 2024, the conditions of religious freedom in Cuba continued to be very bad,” says the report.
The Commission denounces that the Cuban government has reinforced its repressive legal framework with new laws such as the Citizenship Law, approved in July, which allows to revoke Cuban citizens to individuals who reside abroad and perform acts “contrary to the political, economic or social interests of the country.” This ambiguous definition exposes people involved in peaceful religious activities to the risk of losing their nationality.
