International Affairs
donate Books CDs HOME updates search contact

The Cuban Paradise & Religious Freedom

Armando Valladares
The Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs has opened a website (Minrex) that reports on the coming visit of Pope Francis to Cuba (September 19 - 22, 2015). The Government’s intent to manipulate the papal visit in favor of the regime is very clear, as the Communist authorities have already done with no shortage of publicity on the visits of Pope John Paul II in 1998 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. According to Minrex, the special area for news reporters who shall be covering the Mass said by Pope Francis in Revolution Square has room to welcome some 400 media professionals.

papal visit to cuba pope francis

Above, the Communist Regime promotes the papal visit; below, a preparatory commission includes communist agents & the Catholic clergy

preparation commission pope's visit to cuba
Along with the self-eulogies of the “Cuban Paradise” and the “happy world” in which the Cuban people are allegedly living, Minrex makes a great song and dance saying that Articles 8 and 55 of the Cuban Constitution “recognize and respect religious freedom.”

However, Minrex maintains absolute silence on Article 62, which makes a sudden removal of what appeared to have been granted, at least on the surface. It warns that “none of the freedoms recognized as given to Cuban citizens can be exercised against (…) the existence and the aims of the Socialist State, nor against the decision made by the Cuban people to construct Socialism and Communism.” This legal document concludes with a threat: “The violation of this principle is punishable.”

The implementation of the punishments mentioned in the Constitution is partly the responsibility of the sinister Cuban Penal Code, which has historically been one of the most repressive and most Orwellian of all the communist countries.

For example, based on Title XI, “The Dangerous State and Security Measures,” Articles 72 to 90 permit the Communist Government to apply legal punishments even to persons who show the slightest disagreement with the regime.

A detailed analysis of the aforementioned articles of the Cuban Constitution and Penal Code can be found in Chapter 6 titled “The current Cuban judicial system, an effective instrument of religious persecution on the Prison Island” in the book Communist Cuba: a Disgrace to Our Times and to Our Continent.

Raul CAstro meets Francis

Francis welcomed Raul Castro at the Vatican, May 2015

This book reports on some dramatic aspects of the prison island just before the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998, the oppression of the regime and the international silence concerning it, very similar to the current situation in many aspects.

The texts of the Cuban Constitution and Penal Code are easy to access on the Internet; thus one cannot understand the silence of human rights institutes, the communication media, and Ministries of Foreign Affairs throughout the world, including the Vatican Secretary of State, about the juridical aberrations included in both of the above-mentioned texts.

Regarding the left-leaning position of the current Pope Francis, including some gestures, statements and acts that are directly or indirectly favorable to the Castro dictatorship and that help to boost the leftist movement of Latin America, the news agency Destaque Internacional has highlighted several articles, which the reader can access here.

Share

Blason de Charlemagne
Follow us



Posted September 11, 2015


Armando Valladares is a writer, painter and poet. He spent 22 years in political prisons in Cuba. He is the author of the bestseller Against All Hope, which recounts the horror of Castro's prisons.

He was US ambassador to the to the UN Human Rights Commission under the Reagan and Bush administrations. He received the Presidential Citizens Medal and Superior Award of the State Department. He has written numerous articles on the collaboration of the Church with Cuban Communism and the Vatican Ostpolitik towards Cuba.


Related Topics of Interest

Related Works of Interest


A_Offend1.gif - 23346 Bytes Animus Injuriandi II
A_ad1.gif - 32802 Bytes A_ad2.gif - 31352 Bytes A_ff.gif - 33047 Bytes
A_ecclesia.gif - 33192 Bytes A_hp.gif - 30629 Bytes A_pnp.gif - 27395 Bytes