wfn.org | Cuban church leaders welcome visit by Jimmy Carter

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Note #7168 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

21-May-2002
02186
  
Cuban church leaders welcome visit by Jimmy Carter 

Former president's visit helped "build bridges of reconciliation" 

by Suecia Mendez
Ecumenical News International
  
HAVANA - 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.)
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