By K.J. Pascual 

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090918/report-reveals-sharp-rise-in-religious-liberty-violations-in-cuba/index.html

“We strongly encourage the international community, in particular the European Union, to push the Cuban government to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which it signed in 2008 and to make it clear to Cuban officials that religious freedom must be protected for Cubans of all faiths.”

The communist state of Cuba is officially an atheist state and is notorious for suppressing the work of Christian missionaries. It has many political and religious prisoners. Last year, USCIRF called on the U.S. government to specifically press Cuba “through all available diplomatic channels” to release all political prisoners, and lift repressive laws and restrictions on freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief.

The fast-growing evangelical Christians account for about 5 percent of the estimated 11 million people in Cuba. There were only 1,100 churches and house churches in 1991 – the year when the Congressional Communist Party voted to change Cuba’s constitutional status from atheist to secular state, according to WorldServe. Now, there are more than 16,000 house churches, said the ministry which has worked in Cuba for over a decade.