The US Embassy in Havana criticized the Cuban government for violating freedom of religion on Friday (3), three days before the start of the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, a meeting to which representatives of the island were not invited.
The diplomatic mission, in a large post on Twitter, accused the communist government of taking actions related to freedom of religion. In an earlier message in a less harsh tone, the embassy reminded that the administration of Democrat Joe Biden recently lifted restrictions on Cuba in 2020 by the previous administration of Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021).
The allegations against the Cuban government in the U.S. State Department’s Religious Freedom 2021 report, released on Thursday, relate to the detention of clergy during the July 2021 demonstrations. He was detained, according to Cubalex, a Miami-based human rights NGO.
“State forces committed acts of violence, detained and mistreated religious leaders from various religious communities who participated in peaceful demonstrations across the country,” the embassy said in a statement.
According to this report, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken returned Cuba to the Special Watch List in November for “gravely violating or condoning freedom of religion.”
The diplomatic mission cites the case of José Castor Álvarez, a Catholic priest allegedly attacked by security forces on 11 July in the east of the island “while offering help to a person injured at a protest in Camagüey”; and Pastor Lorenzo Rosales was “sentenced to 10 years in prison for participating in a demonstration” the same day.
– ‘A road of regression’ – Cuban State Department also highlighted a letter on its Twitter profile this Friday from activists and organizations in San Francisco addressed to Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. To create a new way in diplomatic relations between his country and Cuba.
The document calls for “immediate reversal” of the decision to exclude Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from the Summit of the Americas, which will be held June 6-10 in Los Angeles, California.
Cuban foreign ministry cited the letter, saying the exclusion “represents a path of regression”.
The tweets from the two countries came amid Washington’s refusal to invite, as the host nation, the left-wing governments of the three aforementioned countries.
The United States said “commitment” to democracy would be the determining factor in who will be invited to the summit, which Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said would not attend “in any case” after warnings from several heads of state. He said they would miss the meeting by not approving the exceptions.
Regarding the lifting of restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, the US embassy referred to President Biden’s order Wednesday to lift restrictions on certain air services between the US and Cuba, in another tweet.
We are expanding air travel options to additional destinations in Cuba by helping Cuban Americans more easily reach their families in Cuba and enabling US travelers to increase their ties to Cuban people and business people.”
source: Noticias
[author_name]
