Emanuel Church, a large church in eastern Cuba affiliated to the
Apostolic Movement, an unregistered Protestant denomination, was
demolished by the authorities on 5 February while hundreds of church
members were detained.
The property of Reverend Alain Toledano in Santiago de Cuba was
surrounded by officials including members of the police, state security
and the military at approximately 5am on 5 February. They detained his
wife, Marilín Alayo Correa, before demolishing both Emanuel Church and
the pastoral home.
The destruction of the church follows similar demolitions of two Apostolic Movement churches in Camaguey and Las Tunas provinces on 8 January.
Over the course of 5 February approximately 200 leaders and members of
Emanuel Church were also detained. A group of around 40 were held in a
local school while others were taken to police stations across the
region to stop them from protesting the demolition. Church leaders
reported that many were beaten while they were being detained. The
government has repeatedly refused to register the Apostolic Movement
denomination.
Reverend Toledano was in the United States attending a religious event
at the time of the government action against the church. He told
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) that he believes the Cuban
government intentionally carried out the eviction and demolition when he
was out of the country. He expressed concern at the impact on his
daughters, ages 11 and 12, who he said were screaming as they witnessed
their mother being detained, adding that this is the second time they
have experienced the destruction of their home and church. In 2007, the
Cuban government carried out a significant operation to destroy the
church, also located in the Abel Santamaria neighborhood of Santiago,
which at the time had around 700 members.
Church leaders told CSW that the church and family home were totally
destroyed. In addition, the government confiscated goods belonging to
the church including pews, chairs, audio equipment a piano and other
musical instruments. Over 1,000 blocks of cement were also confiscated,
despite the fact that the Toledano family has documents showing that
they were legally purchased.
The property is privately owned by Reverend Toledano and the government
had approved the construction of and renovation work on the buildings.
However, Reverend Toledano notified CSW of numerous threats of church
eviction and closure that he received throughout 2015. These included
threats by three men claiming to be government officials on 13 October
2015. In response to the threats, the church organised a ‘sleep in’ on
13 November 2015 with members staying on the property 24 hours a day.
However, these efforts were met with an eviction order issued by government Planning and Housing officials two weeks later.
CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said, “We are extremely disturbed
to learn of this latest church demolition by the Cuban authorities, in a
similar manner to the destruction of the two Apostolic Movement
churches on 8 January. We are also extremely concerned for the family of
Reverend Toledano and his wife Marilín, who saw their home razed as
part of this destruction. This series of demolitions since the New Year
indicates a worrying escalation
in terms of violations of freedom of religion or belief in Cuba. Again,
we urge the international community to raise the demolition of these
three churches, the mass detentions of pastors and church members, as
well as the threats against others with the Cuban government as a matter
of urgency. We continue to call on the EU and the US to make freedom of
religion or belief a central component of its dialogues with Cuba and
to insist on improvement in this area.”
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