U.S. government targets Cuban Council of Churches; CWS decries "improper interference"

Storm waves from Hurricane Wilma crash into Havana's downtown Malacon, flooding streets in October 2005. Photo: Rolando Almirante

August 7 , 2006

Church World Service has urged the U.S. government to respect religious freedom without trying to shape the mission activities of U.S. churches and ecumenical organizations.

In a July 31 meeting with State Department representatives, CWS Executive Director John McCullough said the government’s intention to use humanitarian aid and religious travel licenses to accomplish its policy objectives in Cuba was an improper interference by the government in religious judgments and decisions.

The meeting with the State Department’s Cuba Transition Coordinator Caleb McCarry and his deputy Christopher Robinson followed a July 10 report approved by President Bush which targets the Cuban Council of Churches, a long-term partner of Church World Service.

The report recommends that the U.S. Department of Commerce “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 organizations, such as the Cuban Council of Churches.”

CWS Associate Director for Public Policy Martin Shupack said the State Department officials were told that CWS worked with national ecumenical councils that operate in a variety of political contexts, in varying degrees of proximity to their governments.

CWS does not find the Cuban Council of Churches different in this regard from some other national church councils with whom CWS partners.

Rev. McCullough was accompanied by Mr. Shupack, Director of CWS Emergency Response Network Donna Derr, and Mavis Anderson of the Latin America Working Group. They told Mr. McCarry and Mr. Robinson that “the Cuban Council of Churches is committed to the integrity of its own identity and mission, and has served as a reliable faith-based partner for getting humanitarian aid to vulnerable people.”

Read the full report of the meeting

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