While reaction to the resignation of Fidel Castro was quiet in Cuba, Baptists are looking ahead to their work on the island.
“The Cuban Baptist conventions are strong with a healthy focus on sharing the Good News of Jesus with all Cubans,” one Baptist worker said. “Regardless of changes, Cuban Baptists are capable of continuing to expand their influence across the island.
“The one thing we ask is that all Christians pray for them as they move ahead with their plans. Southern Baptists will continue to assist Cuban Baptists as they request and as we are able.”
Castro, 81, ended his nearly 49 years of rule prior to Sunday’s meeting of Cuba’s National Assembly, which is expected to turn the presidency over to his 76-year-old brother, Raul, the country’s defense minister and acting head of state. Fidel Castro has been out of the public eye and in declining health since undergoing stomach surgery in July 2006.
In a letter made public Feb. 19, Fidel Castro cited health problems as a primary reason for stepping down, but expressed his desire to “fight as a soldier of ideas.” Castro, however, will continue to wield influence as first secretary of Cuba’s communist party.
President Bush, during a six-day, five-country trip to Africa, said in a news conference in Rwanda that Castro’s departure should lead to “a period of democratic transition” for the Caribbean nation.
From a faith standpoint, restrictions on Christians have eased over the years, compared to the jailing of 53 Baptist pastors, including two American citizens, in 1965. According to one report, the enrollment at the Baptist Seminary in Havana rose from 54 resident students in 1999 to 610 last year in various commuter programs and extension classes for future pastors and church lay leaders.
The Catholic Church fared better under Castro, whose regime left Catholic parishes open and maintained diplomatic relations with the Vatican. A top Catholic official, Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, was slated to begin a previously scheduled six-day visit to Cuba Feb. 20.
Odalis Ramirez, a waitress who said religious persecution caused her to flee Cuba seven years ago, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, “I lived many years in Cuba, and I can tell you that everything is based on vain hope, on the lie that we’ll see something better someday.” – BP