The latest
report on FoRB in Cuba by
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) details 1606 separate violations between
January and July 2016. Cases include the demolition and confiscation of church
buildings, the destruction of church property, arbitrary detention and other
forms of harassment, in particular seizure of religious leaders’ personal
belongings.
The
government has continued to follow through with the confiscation of 1,400 AOG
churches; 100 of those churches are under threat of demolition. AOG leaders and
leaders from other denominations expressed concern to CSW that the government’s
repression of religious groups has worsened significantly over the past
year.
There has been an unprecedented spate of church demolitions. Four large
churches linked to the unregistered Apostolic Movement were destroyed by the
government in central and eastern Cuba. In each of these cases, the pastors and
their families were dragged out of their homes in the very early hours of the
morning. They were also detained and held in separate police stations for the duration of the demolition. In some
of these cases, large numbers of members of the churches were
detained, apparently to stop them from
protesting.
