Will the Church grow in Cuba?

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Some of you may know that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro announced on Tuesday that he is stepping down to become simply a “comrade.”

What you may not know is that a small group of Latter-day Saints has been meeting unofficially in Cuba for many years. This U.S. State Department report points out that a small congregation of Latter-day Saints has been meeting for several years and has generally not been harassed.

The official Church position is that the Church does not operate in Cuba. The unofficial Cuban congregation is not part of any mission or stake. I have asked Church headquarters for an update on any potential plans for Cuba, and will post the response as soon as I get it.

In general, the Church is very careful about discussing Cuba policy. I think the Church’s position is very understandable: Cuba is an atheist state that tolerates various religions but has been known to harass and crack down on practitioners over the years. Right now, a few dozen people meeting in Havana is not a threat of any kind to the regime. Church leaders do not want to give the regime any excuse to harass that small group of Mormons or prevent future Church growth.

Based on what happened in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, the Brethren will decide at the right time to approach the Cuban government to proceed with official Church recognition. Hopefully missionaries will quickly be sent to Cuba, and certainly the Church will grow.

Please see this web site for more on the Church in Cuba:

http://www.geocities.com/dyancey3/ldscuba.htm

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About Geoff B.

Geoff B graduated from Stanford University (class of 1985) and worked in journalism for several years until about 1992, when he took up his second career in telecommunications sales. He has held many callings in the Church, but his favorite calling is father and husband. Geoff is active in martial arts and loves hiking and skiing. Geoff has five children and lives in Colorado.

8 thoughts on “Will the Church grow in Cuba?”

  1. good. Let the church lead the way the country should then follow. Our policy towards Cuba these past 50 years have been one of the silliest foreign policy policies ever.

  2. Dan, I am shocked, SHOCKED that you would criticize a foreign policy instituted by the Democrats (Kennedy and LBJ). šŸ™‚

    But more seriously, you may be surprised to hear that, speaking as a private citizen and not a Church member, I agree with you. The embargo has had little real effect on Cuba except to serve as an excuse for the pathetic performance of the Communist economy there. I do think there is a place for embargoes and economic sanctions on countries that are oppressing their citizens and/or are terrorist states. Embargoes can be useful tools instead of declaring war on a country that is behaving in an aggressive way. For example, I would rather see an embargo on Iran than a declaration of war on Iran. I think you could argue that our economic sanctions on Libya actually had some effect in changing Qadafi’s actions there to be less overtly aggressive toward the United States and to give up his nuclear program. There were other factors involved, but the embargo had some effect.

    The problem with lifting the embargo against Cuba has always been that it would have given the appearance of legitimacy to Castro and that he would use it as a propaganda tool. Of course, the real reason it has never been lifted is because of politics in Florida, where Cuban-Americans still overwhelmingly favor an embargo to punish the Castros.

    The mistake Cuban-Americans make — and I have had this discussion literally dozens of times in Miami — is that ending the embargo would have brought Castro’s demise years ago. Economic freedom is a great first step toward political freedom. Once you have prosperity and trade, it’s impossible to keep all those satellite dishes out, and all of the sudden people have more information and the ability to organize. The embargo has been a great way of preventing technology and communications inside Cuba, which has in the end prolonged the Castro regime.

  3. Information update:

    I have received a few e-mails with some interesting information. One very reliable source reports that Church officials have, over the years, quietly visited Cuba to meet with members there. I have heard this from Church leaders in Florida as well. All of this is legal — humanitarian trips to Cuba are not against the embargo.

    I have also received an e-mail from Church HQ basically saying that Church policy is not expected to change until the Cuban government changes its policies with regard to the Church. The Church is very intent on doing everything legally within the framework of Cuban laws. For Church administrative purposes, Cuba falls within the Mexico area of the Church, and the Church is monitoring the situation there to make sure members’ needs are met.

  4. Geoff,

    Dan, I am shocked, SHOCKED that you would criticize a foreign policy instituted by the Democrats (Kennedy and LBJ).

    Dude, how often shall I tell ya that I’m a moderate and not some hyper-partisan. If I think a policy is silly, I’ll say so. (Clinton’s signing of the Iraq Liberation Act was silly).

    For example, I would rather see an embargo on Iran than a declaration of war on Iran. I think you could argue that our economic sanctions on Libya actually had some effect in changing Qadafi’s actions there to be less overtly aggressive toward the United States and to give up his nuclear program. There were other factors involved, but the embargo had some effect.

    Actually the embargo had the most effect on Libya’s switch. And you are right, they are far more effective at forcing change in another country than war ever will.

    The problem with lifting the embargo against Cuba has always been that it would have given the appearance of legitimacy to Castro and that he would use it as a propaganda tool. Of course, the real reason it has never been lifted is because of politics in Florida, where Cuban-Americans still overwhelmingly favor an embargo to punish the Castros.

    But Castro doesn’t need, never needed, and never will need the embargo lifted to have his policies appear legitimate. The fact of the matter is that the embargo probably had a greater effect at keeping him in power this long time than anything else. You want change in Cuba? Remove the embargo and cut your losses. As you say.

  5. One of Arizona’s congressional representatives, Jeff Flake (who happens to be LDS), has been a proponent of dropping the embargo against Cuba. I am hopeful that the US will change its Cuban policy and allow tourism and trade from the US. This can only bring positive change to Cuba. And hopefully the Church can grow in Cuba, too.

  7. I have personal experience with putting a mission president on a plan more than once, and talking to him about other quite trips to Cuba some time ago. FOr privacy’s sake I won’t give dates but I dropped him at the airport and have picked them up on trips back. I also am aware of a private member of the church who owns a nice plane who has loaned it to church officials for trips to Cuba.

  8. I don’t know who reads this site nowadays, but I am currently very interested in the LDS Cuba thing, because I’m planning my 2nd trip there soon. For this reason, I would be very interested in hearing from people who have any contacts or knowledge about the Latter-day Saints there. I would like to visit them, support them, and make friends with them.

    Please write to me soon if you can provide any useful information.

    Many thanks,

    Steve
    SteveSGU at yahoo dot com

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