Cuban church leaders welcome visit by
Jimmy Carter
Former president's visit helped "build bridges
of reconciliation"
[5-21-02]
by Suecia Mendez,
Ecumenical News International
HAVANA - 21-May-2002 - Cuban Protestant leaders welcomed former U.S.
President Jimmy Carter's visit to their country, saying that they hope
it will help improve relations between the United States and Cuba.
During his six-day visit, Carter had a private meeting
with 33 Cuban Protestant leaders, and attended an ecumenical service at
which senior Cuban politicians were also present. Carter's visit was the
first to Cuba by a past or present U.S. president in more than 40 years.
At the private meeting on May15, the Protestant
leaders told Carter how Cuban churches were meeting the needs of their
communities and suggested possible areas of cooperation with U.S.
organizations on such social issues as housing.
The 40-minute encounter, held at the Martin Luther
King Center in the Cuban capital, Havana, included representatives of
the Cuban Council of Churches and other church officials as well as
pastors who are also members of the Cuban parliament.
Carter asked about the needs of the churches in Cuba
and how they could be met, according to several participants at the
meeting.
"One of the biggest needs we have in Cuba is the
housing problem, and as Carter is related to Habitat for Humanity, I
told him we are open for cooperation," said the Rev. Raul Suarez,
director of the Martin Luther King Center, referring to the
international ecumenical ministry associated with Carter that builds
affordable housing for homeless people.
"The debate is how Habitat for Humanity may adapt
to our reality so we can start cooperation," Suarez told ENI.
Describing the meeting, Methodist Bishop Ricardo
Pereira told ENI: "Most of the time was dedicated to explaining
what happens in Cuba, the freedoms the church has, the opportunities to
serve our people.
"I think this is a very important visit that will
serve as a means of reconciliation. We know our brothers in the USA have
their eyes upon all that is happening here and they will exert their
influence so that the relationships between our countries will
improve."
A well known defender of human rights, Carter arrived
in Cuba on May 12 at the invitation of Cuban President Fidel Castro.
He was accompanied by a delegation of the Carter
Center, a non-governmental organization founded by Carter and his wife,
Rosalynn, to promote human rights and peace.
On May 14, in Castro's presence at the University of
Havana, Carter gave a live television address to the Cuban people. The
former U.S. president expressed admiration for the achievements of Cuba
in such domains as health care and education, but also set out his
understanding of democracy and individual human rights.
Carter's visit took place in the context of increased
tension between Cuba and the U.S. government. Last week, John Bolton,
the U.S. Undersecretary of State, accused Cuba of producing biological
weapons, a charge vigorously denied by the Cuban president.
On May 20, in a speech in Miami supporting his
brother's reelection campaign for governor of Florida, President George
W. Bush announced a tightening of trade and travel restrictions on Cuba
and vowed to maintain the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba until Castro
takes steps toward democratization of the island he has ruled since
1959.
Carter is considered by many in Cuba as the U.S.
president who has done the most to lower tensions between the two
countries since the Cuban revolution. Among other initiatives, he helped
open the way for Cubans living in exile to visit their relatives in
Cuba.
The former U.S. president's schedule included visits
to several Cuban health and educational institutions, accompanied, for
the most part, by Castro. Carter also met other religious leaders and
had private meetings with human rights groups.
His private meeting on May 15 with church leaders was
followed by an ecumenical service at the Martin Luther King Center
attended by the president of the Cuban parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, and
other government officials, as well as more than 200 church leaders,
clergy and lay people from dozens of denominations.
Since its founding 15 years ago, the center, a
non-governmental organization run by the Ebenezer Baptist Church, has
maintained strong links with a number of U.S. organizations, including
the Carter Center.
Speaking at the service, Suarez, the Martin Luther
King Center's director and pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church,
reflected on his 45 years as a pastor, including his commitment to stay
in Cuba in the 1960s, when the majority of pastors left the country
following the Cuban revolution.
"It has not been easy to understand and live the
faith during these 43 years," said Suarez.
He said that the more than 40-year US embargo against
Cuba had inflicted hardship on the Cuban people. "The blockade has
taken away things, but there is something that God has given us and
there is no blockade that can take it away: the joy of living the faith
in Jesus Christ in this Cuban land."
The Rev. Hector Mendez, a member of the central
committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), told ENI: "We
have been saying for many years that one of the main tasks of the
churches in the U.S. and Cuba is to build bridges of reconciliation
between our countries. The visit of former President Carter is one of
those bridges.
"While the WCC is celebrating the Decade to
Overcome Violence, the visit of President Carter is a concrete example
of trying to improve the relationship between the two countries."
Referring to Carter's visit, the Rev. Ofelia Ortega, a
Presbyterian minister and principal of the Evangelical Theological
Seminary in Matanzas, told ENI: "I think he has been faithful to
his people, honest, sincere and transparent, saying everything he thinks
that should change in Cuba and I believe we should be respectful of his
honesty.
"I believe that the result [of his visit] will be
that he will return to the U.S. with a different vision of Cuba. His
effort is an effort of peace."
Since 1990, when Castro pledged to end discrimination
against Christians, churches have grown rapidly in Cuba and have begun
to take over some social tasks previously carried out by the government.
Church growth continues, said Dr Reinerio Arce,
president of the Cuban Council of Churches. "The Cuban church is a
live church," he told ENI. "Right now we are expecting to have
a public celebration to mark Pentecost ... It is a step forward that
shows the growth and the activities of the church. We are not limiting
ourselves to celebrations like Christmas or Easter but are now also
[publicly] celebrating Pentecost."
Cuba has 54 Christian denominations, 23 of them
members of the Cuban Council of Churches.
(Suecia Mendez is a
leader in the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba and is vice
president of ENI's executive committee.)
