Churches to the rescue of Havana's legions of poor - Taipei Times

In communist Cuba, where priests were once persecuted, churches are acting as a lifeline for the needy during a severe economic crisis aggravated by a crippling US oil blockade.

Dozens of people queue outside the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem in Havana twice a week for free medicine, which, like food and electricity, is in short supply on the island.

The crisis, which began six years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic, has deepened since January, when the US began piling pressure on its arch foe after overthrowing the leader of Cuba's closest ally, Venezuela.

Photo: AFP

To force Cuban leadership to the negotiating table, US President Donald Trump cut off oil exports to the island, pushing the already teetering economy to the brink of collapse.

Churches, which for the first three decades after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution were hounded by atheist authorities, are increasingly filling the vacuum left by a cash-strapped state.

Juana Emilia Zamora, a 71-year-old retiree who has hypertension, came to the church because the state-run pharmacy is out of the drugs she needs.

"The other way to get them would be from people who sell them [on the black market], but the prices are very high," said Zamora, who survives on a monthly pension of 2,000 Cuban pesos (US$83).

The aid comes with no strings attached, but before the donated medicine is handed over, Friar Luis Perna, one of the church's Franciscan priests, recites an "Our Father."

When the church began the distributions in 2022, only one or two people came each week, lay volunteer Gretel Agrelo said.

However, in recent months, up to 300 people have begun seeking assistance, leaving the congregation struggling to meet demand.

Perna said that a growing number of Cubans were "deprived of the bare necessities of life."

Some leave crumpled, virtually worthless pesos in a donation box as a gesture of gratitude.

The Catholic Church had a fraught relationship with the state in the early years of communist rule.

In 1961, its schools and other social programs were confiscated by the state, eager to maintain control over the two main planks of the revolution: education and healthcare. The end of state atheism in the 1990s and a succession of economic crises gave the Catholic Church room to play a bigger role, in social upliftment and as the Vatican's mediator in talks between Havana and Washington. It was to the church and its non-governmental organization Caritas that Washington turned to when seeking a non-state partner to distribute US$9 million in humanitarian aid for the victims of Hurricane Melissa.

The hurricane struck eastern Cuba in October last year, but US aid is still slowly making its way to remote villages.

Protestant congregations have also stepped up their charitable operations in response to the crisis.

Three times a week, about 400 people — up from 90 two years ago — attend a service at Nazareth Baptist Church in Havana, after which lunch is served and those who need can see a doctor.

"Most are elderly people who live alone or come from very low-income families, but we also have single mothers and people with disabilities," said pastor Karell Lescay, a 52-year-old pediatrician.

The aroma of meat and black beans served with rice and coleslaw — mostly donated by families living on the island — fills the pews.

Keeping the soup kitchen running is "a huge challenge," Lescay said, pointing to prolonged power outages and "exorbitant" prices for food.

With supplies of subsidized rice, sugar, oil, bread and other basics dwindling, these meals are a lifeline for the diners.

"In these difficult times... the church is here, steadfast, strong and helping," 84-year-old Aleida Rodrigue said.