USCIRF Releases Report on Religious Freedom in Cuba

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report:

Cuba Country Update – This report provides an overview of religious freedom conditions in Cuba in 2022. Throughout 2022, the Cuban government continued to tightly control religious activity, using many of the same repressive tactics as in previous years, such as surveillance, harassment of religious leaders and laypeople, forced exile, fines, and ill treatment of religious prisoners of conscience. The state regulates and controls religious institutions through the Office of Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party (ORA). The Law of Associations requires religious organizations to apply to the Ministry of Justice, where the ORA is housed, for registration. Unregistered religious groups are particularly vulnerable, as membership or association with an unregistered religious group is a crime. The ORA exercises direct and arbitrary control over the affairs of registered religious organizations, requiring permission for virtually any activity other than regular worship services. Religious leaders and groups that are unregistered or conduct unsanctioned religious activity faced relentless oppression from the ORA and state security forces throughout the year.

In December 2022, the U.S. Department of State designated Cuba as a Country of Particular Concern for committing systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations. USCIRF highlighted implications for religious freedom in Cuba’s new constitution in the July 2022 report titled Constitutional Reform and Religious Freedom in Cuba.

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].

Pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the U.S. Department of State designates Countries of Particular Concern, places countries on its Special Watch List, and designates Entities of Particular Concern. As part of this mandate, USCIRF makes recommendations to the administration, including the State Department, regarding which countries and entities deserve designation on these three lists based on systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.

On today’s 100th episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Nury Turkel joins us to discuss the State Department’s most recent designations and assess how they match up with USCIRF’s recommendations.