The delegation from Wellesley and Framingham to Puerto Padre and Delicias was very informative on a number of levels. We experienced the warmth, appreciation and welcome of both communities and learned of the economic and social hardships they daily face, with frequent blackouts, high inflation, and increasing inequality which creates particular hardships on those with only state salaries or elderly with fixed incomes. Despite these hardships, or perhaps because of them, Cuban Friends have learned the lesson too easily forgotten among more affluent Friends of the importance of love and community, how to truly be one’s brother’s keeper and to share what little they have with generosity. Although their external form of worship differs from our own, their lives are models for us of how to more fully live into the testimonies of simplicity, integrity, community and equality, and their Institute of Peace is evidence of their commitment to that ideal as well.
At a wide-ranging conversation we had with Jorge Luis Peña and Luis Carlos Jomarron one morning, Jorge reviewed with us his understanding of the history of Puente, of the challenges the church in Cuba now faces, and how a strengthened Puente de Amor [Bridge of Love] could help strengthen not only the connection between New England and Cuba, but the church itself.
Puente was inspired by Heredio Santos, then pastor at Banes, in 1991 shortly following the collapse of the Soviet Union when Cuba had entered its first “special period.” Cuba was in crisis and facing economic collapse, and there was a great deal of suffering. The idea of Puente in that period was to address the isolation the church had experienced during the first decades of communist rule. Property of the churches had been expropriated and religion was actively discouraged. Following the Soviet collapse, there began a process of loosening these strict regulations by the state, and over time some church property, particularly that which was in extreme disrepair, was returned to the churches. The economic challenges at the time were enormous and Puente was meant to not so much address these economic challenges as to address the enormous isolation Quakers in Cuba felt, having been so cut off from other Quakers for so long. There was even the belief outside of Cuba that Quakers in Cuba no longer existed. The focus thus was in forming fraternal bonds between meetings in Cuba and New England and to reintroduce Quaker writings to help strengthen a Quaker identity separate from other fundamental or pentecostal churches. Benigno Sanchez-Eppler and Susan Furry were instrumental in this regard, translating a number of Quaker texts that are now available in Cuba on line in Raíces Cuáqueras. As time passed and the Cuban economy recovered somewhat, there was opportunity for more frequent intervisitation, which helped to strengthen the connections between the two yearly meetings.
With the pandemic of 2020, the tourist industry, which had become Cuba’s major money earner, went into sharp decline. This was followed by the economic collapse of Venezuela, which had been providing fuel and economic support for Cuba. Both events led to Cuba’s second “special period.” Fuel was no longer available, which contributed to frequent blackouts; foreign exchange was not available to address the massive infrastructural needs of the economy, and the ongoing US embargo and the listing of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism made full participation in the international economy very difficult. Meanwhile, to address the resulting chronic shortages in basic goods, the Cuban government began to allow increased participation in the private sector, which took the lead in importing basic goods and selling them on the private market, outside the state-controlled stores. This has led to the creation of a dual economy, one state-run, the other privately run, which has had the dual effect of allowing more goods to be available but only in the private market. In that private market prices are beyond the reach of all who don’t themselves participate in the private sector or whose economic deprivation is not aided by remittances from family members from abroad. More inequality and suffering have resulted, with the consequent rise of crime. This current special period is thus characterized by more inequality of wealth than has ever existed in Cuba since the revolution, and increased frustration and anger on the part of the people who feel betrayed by a government apparently unable to deal with the impact on their lives of massive inflation that makes basic foodstuffs unaffordable to all except those with enough money to access the private market.
The context of this “special period" leads to the current challenges facing the Cuban church. They are in possession now of many buildings which have been returned to them that are in major need of repair. The cost of this repair is prohibitive because of the high inflation; needed supplies are only available in the private sector. The same problem lies with the van that is so essential for maintaining connections among the churches in eastern Cuba. The church has as its goal to be more self-sustaining, but only three churches are realistically able to be so: Puerto Padre, Gibara, and Holguín. All three are in a more stable place financially, aided in part by their ability to earn income from renting out some of their space. Other churches are not able to raise enough money and depend upon the Yearly Meeting to supplement their needs. The Yearly Meeting, in turn, has needed increasingly to look to other international Friends organizations to help them. Our yearly meeting, FUM and some Friends meetings in the Midwest and England have helped. Without this help, in this period of high inflation, the church finds itself in an economically unsustainable position.
The hardships faced by the church have led many younger members of their congregation to leave to the US, Spain, or other places in Latin America. More than 700,000 Cubans have left in recent years, and the Quaker church has not been immune to this exodus. Trump’s new policy of rescinding Biden’s humanitarian parole program has closed the door to the US as a destination, and those who have already left might now be at risk of deportation back to Cuba. This new reality has exacerbated the financial pressure on the church. Remittances have been an important source of foreign income. According to Jorge, 90% of Cubans have some family connections in the US. The irony is that, as hostile as the US government has been to the Cuban government, the Cuban people have developed a deep personal connection to the US which has only grown in recent years. Trump’s policies are eroding this connection.
This historical and contemporary context is important in appreciating the economic and social challenges currently facing Cuba Yearly Meeting. Beyond these, however, are other specific religious challenges that pose a current threat to the efforts of the Cuban church to maintain its Quaker identity. Jorge points to a liberal/conservative polarity that exists in the church that is being reinforced by some younger people joining the church with fundamentalist or pentecostalist backgrounds that are not a good fit with Quaker teachings. It is the goal of the CYM to strengthen Quaker teachings through training of new pastors at the Matanzas seminary (where Kirenia Criado, pastor of the Havana Meeting, is one of the professors). Funding is needed to support this training and their internship in local meetings. Likewise, they would like to strengthen the role of the Institute of Peace, currently under the leadership of Maria Yi, pastor of the Holguin church. The Institute has the goal of having a more international focus, bringing in teachers from abroad and providing training themselves in Latin America. However, their ability to do so is hampered by the limitations of the speed of the Cuban internet, or at least the Cuban internet that they have thus far been able to access. Retaining pastors is also a challenge because pastors are unable to support their families on the salaries the Yearly Meeting is able to afford, so they need to supplement this by either a second job (as Luis Carlos does by working as a pharmacist) or by trading in the private sector.
Cuba Yearly Meeting would like to be able to earn more money through the creation of “social enterprises,” taking advantage of the private market to generate more income for the church. One of the most important sources of income is the van which has had a history of frequent breakdowns, although lately it seems to have turned the corner on this. Another source of income is the rental of space—which requires that the space be usable. The church in Velasco is just ending a major repair project which may permit them to develop plans to earn money. Puerto Padre is still in the process of finishing its Casa Pastoral, but more work needs to be done to fully utilize the Wilmington School so it can help earn more money.
When Puente first began, the emphasis was on building a bridge of love and friendship between the two yearly meetings. Now, in this new “special period,” the help needed must include material aid just to allow the church to be able to survive, let alone grow and thrive. This reality is one that as a committee and a Yearly Meeting, we in New England need to face and address. This will require us to look again at our goals in this relationship with Cuba Yearly Meeting and expand them to include an appreciation that at this stage the church in Cuba needs not only our love and support but our tangible financial help so that it can ultimately achieve its own goal of self-sufficiency.
In New England, we also need to face and address the weakening of the sister meeting relationship with churches in Cuba. Currently, two churches, Bocas and Pueblo Nuevo, are without sister meetings in New England. Jorge has suggested we look at strengthening the connection by identifying a point person in each New England meeting who might help nurture the connection. Other ways to strengthen the relationship might include joint book groups such as the one Hanover has done with Havana meeting, or the creative use of technology, such as encouraging each congregation to join the other in worship via Zoom. The youth group in Cuba has asked whether New England young adult Friends might be willing join them at their campamento in the summer. It is too late for this to happen this year; however, with enough advance planning, this might be a possibility for next. In recent years, Cubans have been unable to travel to New England, so visitation has been distinctly one-way. This year we are fortunate, however, to have Kirenia Criado as the Yearly Meeting Sessions Bible Half-hour speaker, despite the hardship and expense of her needing to fly to Guyana to get her visa. Plans are for her to visit several meetings prior to Sessions and it is Jorge’s hope that her visit will also serve to revitalize the connections between the yearly meetings and to encourage more sister meeting relationships. Two former active members of Cuba Yearly Meeting now live in the US, and Jorge hopes that their participation at New England’s Sessions will also help to revitalize the connection, particularly because one, Kenya Casanova, is fluent in English.
This year is the 125th anniversary of the arrival of Quakers in Cuba, and Cuba Yearly Meeting plans to produce a video to honor this fact and to provide an overview of the history of the Yearly Meeting. A significant part of that history has been the special relationship Cuba has developed with New England since 1991. Jorge hopes that we will be able to help document that by taping interviews with the founding members of Puente including Benigno Sanchez-Eppler, Susan Furry, and Cynthia Ganung, as well as Len and Mary Ann Cadwallader. We have committed ourselves to help with this project by arranging to have these interviews. Their wish is to have the video done by the end of the year.
The visit helped to illuminate the significant challenges Cuba Yearly Meeting faces while also underscoring the mutual affection we have for each other. This new “special period” requires us to rethink our relationship so that it is more closely attuned to the economic challenges the Cuban church now faces. Addressing these will help Cuba Yearly Meeting not only survive, but thrive.