One hundred processions and the sermon of religious persecution in Cuba
“Cuba joins Nicaragua in the persecution of Holy Week”,
“Cuban regime prohibits Holy Week processions in Havana”.
Reading these and other similar headlines, we will conclude that
despite there are three thousand temples and cults of all kinds in Cuba,
“religious persecution” prevails. Or, at least, that of the Catholic faith.
It´s the message that the US Government brings to the world. And, to do this,
it finances from its own sources. In a direct and proven way,
it pays for the reports of supposedly “independent” organizations
such as the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights and
reports from entities such as
Outreach Aid to the Americas or Prisoners Defenders in a veiled and indirect way.
These last two – “independent” ones, let no one doubt it! –
wrote the report of a US federal government agency
about “religious freedom” in Cuba.
But, curiously, this organic connection with the White House
doesn´t prevent them from appearing as an “expert” source.
Is it true that during Holy Week processions
were prohibited in Cuba? Well... it seems not so much.
According to what the Secretary of the Episcopal Conference of Cuba,
Ariel Suárez, told Reuters that there were 111 processions. Religión Digital,
the main international portal for religious information in Spanish,
published a complete report with photographs of Palm Sunday
in different parishes in the capital. The text shows “many places”
where “there was the procession of branches or palms”
of the traditional Via Crucis on Good Friday in Old Havana,
about the broadcast “on National Television” of the
“Sermon of the Seven Words”, a discourse given
by Pope Francis, radio programs hosted
by bishops, plays about the Passion of Christ
and Easter vigils. All during this Holy Week.
It seems that there are those who,
even though they are very Catholic, do not comply with the eighth commandment.
The Spanish radio station COPE headlined that
"Cuba is experiencing a Good Friday marked by repression:
'People stay in their homes'".
With statements from Rosa Rodríguez, a Cuban “dissident”
who claimed from Madrid, that in his country,
“people (…) can no longer go to church”.
The sermon of “religious persecution” is a constant
of the cassock-wearing right-wing. Bladimir Navarro, a Cuban priest
who emigrated to Madrid three years ago, at the height
of the economic sanctions imposed on his country
by Donald Trump, granted exculpation... to the White House.
“The blame for Cuba's ills” is not “with the US”,
that Cuba is falling “to pieces” is
“cause of communism”, he said in
an interview with Telva magazine.
In any case, it does seem confirmed that
there was a procession (it means one) that was not authorized in Havana.
The official and unique version of the media is that
“Cuba prohibits religious processions cause of the fear of public protests”,
“the Government doesn´t want people in the streets
attending to the fear of possible demonstrations”, “(The regime) is afraid of
gatherings of people”, “a procession can (…)
create a breeding ground for
another political demonstration to suddenly break out”. Yes, of course.
Just one question: if that´d be right,
why did they allow 111 processions?
Such are the contradictions, lies and propaganda,
designed and written in Washington and Miami,
reproduced in Madrid and seasoned with the demagoguery
of those who silence or show their faces
for the criminals who are trying from the US
that the Cuban people starve.
Translated & Subtituled by Laura V. Mor.