CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Two Decades of Communion in Struggle

CUBA. March 31, 2010. - The 20th anniversary of a meeting of leaders of Cuba’s protestant and evangelical churches and the Jewish community with Commander in Chief Fidel Castro on April 2, 1990, was marked yesterday in Havana during a function presided over by the Cuban head of state, Raul Castro.

Held at the Jose Marti Memorial, the event took note of the fact that it had been Fidel who had led the Communist Party of Cuba to discuss and uphold at its 4th Congress the right of any person to profess a religious faith without fear of discrimination, which later became expressed in a 1992 constitutional reform.

Caridad Diego, who heads the Religious Affairs Office of the Party’s Central Committee, said the different religious denominations present on the island had joined the Cuban people in the many battles they had waged since, including the campaign for the return to Cuba of the child Elian González and the on-going struggle for the release of the Cuban Five from their unjust incarceration in the United States and against the inhumane U.S. blockade.

The 25th anniversary of the publication of the book Fidel and Religion was also commemorated.

Author Frei Betto said the book, based on his interview with Fidel Castro, continues to captivate readers after 25 years. The Brazilian priest thanked the Cuban leader for the book’s impact, "because the opinions expressed in the book are Fidel’s." He said Cuba was an evangelical country, because it was the only in the region that was truly interested in guaranteeing a dignified life for all of its people.

Speaking on behalf of those who participated in the historic meeting with Fidel in 1990, Reverend Raul Suarez, director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center, told Raul Castro that the Revolution and Cuba’s socialist project could continue to count on the men and women of faith.

In the name of the Cuban Council of Churches, the Theological Seminary of Matanzas, and the Memorial Center he directs, Suarez presented Raul with a letter for Fidel in consideration of "the prophetic ministry he has exercised to this day."

The Cuban Council of Churches and its president, Marcial Miguel Hernandez, presented Fidel with a commemorative plaque in recognition of the support the Cuban leader had provided throughout the years. They also presented Raul Castro with a Bible.

The tribute was attended by Vice President Esteban Lazo; National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon; and Culture Minister Abel Prieto. Others included Party and government leaders, and representatives of religious institutions and fraternal associations in Cuba. (Cubaminrex – Granma Daily)

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