Displaying items by tag: Caribbean

Cuba was an atheist country during the Castro era. In 1960 Rev Naranjo spent two years in a labour camp for his evangelical preaching. Now, his church is full of life with 200 worshippers on Sundays, providing clinical care for disabled children and hosting a Bible study group. Across Cuba tens of thousands gather for evangelical worship every week even though the government still doesn't allow religious groups to construct their own houses of worship and have demolished church buildings. Presbyterian pastor Joel Ortega Dopica said, ‘There's a revival of churches of diverse denominations; all of them are growing, not just in the number of members, but in their capacity to lead and act in society'. Dopica is the president of the Council of Churches of Cuba, an official association of 32 Protestant denominations.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic share both the island of Hispaniola and a painful and controversial history. On Tuesday the former Guatemala president said that the international community has abandoned Haiti to its fate and left the Dominican Republic to deal with the consequences of political instability, an economic crisis and the human drama of refugees crossing the Hispaniola borders. He drew the international community’s attention to Haiti’s suffering and asked for major powers to help the Dominican Republic assist the hemisphere’s poorest country. ‘The country on the east of the island, with its own problems, cannot withstand the burden of another poor sister nation.’ The Haitian people’s only escape is the Dominican Republic ‘because all the world’s doors have been closed and that has a huge impact on the economy. Uncontrolled migration strikes directly at health care and education, and contributes to job insecurity.’ Voodoo and Roman Catholicism are the official religions of Haiti. See also outreach ministries to Haiti at: