The World Council of Churches (WCC) has stated that new proposals to tighten US economic and humanitarian restrictions on Cuba will adversely affect vulnerable Cuban people, in a letter addressed to US President Geroge Bush.
The letter was issued to the White House on 10th July 2006, and went on to say that any recommendation by the US that would isolate the Cuban Council of Churches constitutes “a gross violation of religious freedom and a remarkably aggressive interference in religious matters.”
The General Secretary of the WCC, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, signed the letter, which comes in response to the report of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba – an American government body which advises on national policy issues on Cuba. The Commission is chaired by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
The American report includes a recommendation to “tighten regulations for the export of humanitarian items, other than agricultural or medical commodities, to ensure that exports are consigned to entities that support independent civil society and are not regime administered or controlled organisations, such as the Cuban Council of Churches,” explains the WCC.
Dr Kobia said, “We strongly feel that it is completely inappropriate for the US Government, or any government, to determine who is and who is not a legitimate national council of churches, and to restrict or deny Christian fellowship and humanitarian assistance to any particular national church council, including the Cuban Council of Churches.”We strongly feel that it is completely inappropriate for the US Government, or any government, to determine who is and who is not a legitimate national council of churches, and to restrict or deny Christian fellowship and humanitarian assistance to any particular national church council, including the Cuban Council of Churches.
Dr Samuel Kobia, General Sec. World Council of Churches
The WCC is urging churches and national councils of churches to express their solidarity with the Cuban Council of Churches, and to express their concern about the restrictions to the US authorities, either directly to the US Department of State or through their nearest US embassy.
The letter sent by the WCC head is laid out in full below:
Dear Mr President,
The Second Report of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba contains a recommendation that U.S. churches and ecumenical agencies should cease to provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Cuban children, women and men through the Cuban Council of Churches. This is a matter of serious concern for us. According to an advance copy, the report recommends that the U.S. Government “[t]ighten regulations for the export of humanitarian items, other than agricultural or medical commodities, to ensure that exports are consigned to entities that support independent civil society and are not regime administered or controlled organizations, such as the Cuban Council of Churches.”
In my letter of June 2004 to the Cuban churches, issued after the meeting of the Cuban Pastoral Forum, I regretted the implementation of the recommendations of the First Report of the Commission, as these have tightened the economic embargo and adversely affected the Cuban families in vulnerable situations. As I have expressed several times, the economic embargo goes beyond an economic and political measure, therefore from a humanitarian and ethical perspective, it should be lifted.
