by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) -
Government officials in Cuba have demolished an Assemblies of God church building and are preventing other churches from opening again after COVID-19 measures were lifted, Morning Star News reported Sunday. The Cuban government claimed the building was demolished to lay piping for a cement plant, but such infrastructure would have required the destruction of local homes and the relocation of residents: none of this has happened.
After months of negotiations with Assemblies of God representatives, Cuban authorities began to demolish the AoG church building outside Santiago de Cuba on October 30. The church had managed to obtain legal status before the Castro regime began in 1959 and was thus permitted to make its case with authorities. According to Morning Star News, however, the government pretends to negotiate with church leaders to give a misleading impression of allowing religious liberty.
Meanwhile, Cuban government authorities are also preventing other churches from reopening after the lifting of coronavirus measures. The reason given for this is that the churches are “illegal.”
In a letter requesting prayer from other Christian leaders, Rev. Julio C. Sánchez, secretary-general of the Assemblies of God in Cuba, explained the situation on the ground: “Today the government is blocking the re-opening of some of our temples that we closed due to the pandemic, based on the argument that they’re illegal when 90 percent of our churches are illegal because they don’t offer us a pathway for making them legal.”
Concerning the recent demolition of the AoG building, Sanchez added: “After several months of dialogue with the government, all efforts have been unfruitful. The reality is that this fact is part of a government campaign against the church because we have made a front against its agenda of establishing gender ideology and other laws openly contrary to Christian principles.”