Castro May Be Dead, but Religious Freedom in Cuba Still Suffers
Fidel Castro is dead, but even with the passing of the tyrannical persecutor religious freedom in Cuba still has a long way to go.
Late Friday night, Fidel’s little brother Raul, who took over the country due to Fidel’s health problems in 2006, confirmed the death of the dictator on Cuban state television.
Unfortunately, communism in the island nation will not die with him, thanks to his brother Raul and the callous actions of western governments in recognizing the regime.
The New York Times’ obituary hailed the Marxist dictator as a “revolutionary,” Liberal Party Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened” by the passing of “Cuba’s longest serving president” who “made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.” U.S. president Barack Obama also chimed in with a sterilized recognition of “the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation.”
Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Donald responded (correctly) to the news as the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his citizens for the greater part of the 20th century:
Trump releases statement on death of Fidel Castro –> pic.twitter.com/Df7fqfY7mq
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) November 26, 2016
Well, at least one world leader is willing to speak to the regime’s true nature.
As a result of the reign of terror and persecution wrought by the Castro brothers, the state of religious freedom and other vital human rights in the tiny communist country just 90 miles from America’s shores, is still dismal despite the meager, nominal improvements that Raul has sought since taking power in 2006.
The Castro regime, first through Fidel, then through his brother Raul, has engaged in a decades-long campaign against the religious liberty of its citizens. This has included the jailing of religious and political dissidents in prisons and concentration camps, the demolition of places of worship, and the systematic regulation of religious groups through the state.
In just one of the most recent and egregious examples of this systematic persecution, the nonpartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2016 report on the country noted that in 2015 “the government designated 2,000 Assemblies of God churches as illegal and ordered their closure, confiscation, or demolition.”
When the Obama administration visited Cuba after symbolically opening up diplomatic relations with the country earlier this year, president Obama said, while standing next to Fidel had the audacity to claim that the two could hopefully learn from each other on human rights.
Meanwhile, just a few days before, scores the Ladies in White – pro-democracy protestors, many of which are the relatives of jailed dissidents – were arbitrarily rounded up by the truckload and were imprisoned so that their demonstrations wouldn’t interfere with the proceedings.
The irony was, and is still, incredible in the worst sense of the word.
As long as Raul remains in place and communism reigns across the Caribbean island, religious freedom is a dream for many not yet realized, and will remain a distant memory so long as governments continue to deem themselves governors of the human soul and the final arbiters of human worth.
If the United States has anything to learn about human rights from the Castro brothers on human rights, that lesson is a case study in what never to do if you believe in fundamental human rights in the first place.
Fidel Castro is dead, and may God have mercy on his soul; he’s going to need it. (For more from the author of “Castro May Be Dead, but Religious Freedom in Cuba Still Suffers” please click HERE)
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