wfn.org | U.S. embargo harms Cuban poor

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (2878 notes).

Note 2878 by SUSAN PEEK on April 19, 1996 at 15:01 Eastern (4343 characters).

SEARCH: Cuba, United Methodist, General Conference, Castro,
embargo 

015 {2889}                                          April 18, 1996

General Conference '96

Cuban Bishop Says U.S. Embargo
Is Harming The Poor, Not Castro

     DENVER (UMNS) -- Every day, Cuban Methodist Bishop Gustavo
Cruz passes hungry children crying for milk in the streets of
Havana.

     Poor people in Cuba are dying for lack of medicine and people
come to church in tattered clothes and shoes that are falling
apart, he said. 

     As intended, the U.S. embargo has hit Cuba hard -- but it is
the poor who are suffering, according to the bishop, not Fidel
Castro's government.

     Cruz was in Denver to attend the 1996 General Conference of
the United Methodist Church, with which the 10,000-member Cuban
Methodist Church is affiliated.

     In an interview with United Methodist News Service, Cruz said
he agrees with those U.S. Christians who are asking the U.S.
government to end the embargo against Cuba. 

     He emphasized that he was speaking for himself, not on behalf
of the Cuban church. 

     Cruz, a former pastor who was consecrated as bishop in March,
wept during the interview as he recalled a friend who died 18 days
after prostate cancer surgery because the Cuban hospital had no
antibiotics. 

     "I don't blame the United States for the troubles between our
countries. It's probably true that the Cuban government is very
much responsible," Cruz said, adding that he does not take sides
in the political battle, but considers himself on the side of
Jesus Christ.

     But, he said, the embargo is penalizing the poorest Cubans,
not government officials. "When the Cuban officials get sick, they
have their own hospitals and access to the best medical care. But
when a poor person gets sick, they die because of lack of
medicine."

     Cruz called the embargo "a political idea that is hurting
people who have the least power to make changes."

     He suggested that the United States could make resumption of
diplomatic relations with Cuba conditional, holding Cuba to
certain requirements.

     
     He told stories of friends and church members who struggle
from day to day to feed and clothe themselves.

     "A friend called me one day and said the sheets on his
children's beds were so ragged that there was no place to patch
them," he recounted. "And I've seen children infested with
parasites, with no medicine to help them."

     Despite the economic strains, the bishop said an evangelical
fervor is sweeping the country. "The spirit of Jesus Christ is
bringing thousands to church," he added.

     Cruz estimated that 80 percent of Cuban Christians are youth
and young adults. The Cuban Methodist Church has at least 200
organized congregations, with at least 100 more house churches or
informal ministries bringing even more people to the faith.

     Christians also work ecumenically, in such organizations as
the Council of Cuban Churches, the Caribbean Council of Churches
and CIEMAL (the Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches in Latin
America). 

     "It is amazing that our young people have been taught nothing
about the faith in the secular, government schools, yet many of
them are seeking a relationship with Christ," he said.
     
     He recalled a young woman -- a high-ranking official in the
Communist youth organization -- who came to his church, had "a
life-changing experience" and became a Christian.

     Cruz said relations between Christian churches and the Cuban
government have been relatively good since 1991. He admitted,
however, that tensions have increased since the downing of an
anti-Castro dissident group's plane by the Cuban military earlier
this year. 

     He said that Castro's government has cracked down on tourists
coming to Cuba claiming to be church workers, because many of them
preach anti-government sentiments. 

     Since 1984, the United Methodist Church has been on record as
supporting resumed economic and diplomatic relations between the
U.S. and Cuba.  The 1996 General Conference is considering
petitions from at least three regional United Methodist bodies --
the Wyoming, Wisconsin and Nebraska annual conferences -- to
reiterate that call.
                                             -- M. Garlinda Burton
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