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CUBA
Pressures on Church’s social work
Communists force soup kitchen to close
The Pro-Human Rights Party of Cuba has said the local branch of the Communist Party in the Diocese of Guantanamo is applying political pressure to prevent the Catholic Church from providing social assistance in the region.
According to Odilia Collazo Valdes, spokesman for the party, officials of the Communist Party in Guantanamo ordered a Church-run soup kitchen for the elderly to close, even though it was providing critical food assistance to 31 elderly.
The Church initiative began on May 22 at the home of one parishioner, Norge Blanco, but it was forced to shut down after Blanco’s wife was threatened with fines of 5,000 pesos, an amount far above the reach of the average Cuban.
“Authorities have been systematically blocking any Catholic social initiative, even though some of them are urgently needed in the region,” said Collazo Valdes. “Guantanamo has become one of the places with the lowest nutrition rate in Cuba, and despite all that, [the authorities] close a service that was feeding the elderly,” she added.
Collazo Valdes also revealed that the Bishop of Guantanamo, Carlos Baladron, has been requesting authorization to launch other social initiatives since the diocese was created on January 1998, immediately after Pope John Paul II’s visit.
Communist authorities in Guantanamo have turned down the bishop’s request to create a home for the elderly homeless and also an ambulance service, which does not exist in the city.
According to the Pro-Human Rights Party, Communist authorities have told Bishop Baladron that, if the Church has the resources to carry out those initiatives, they should be turned over to the state to administer them.
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