The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba (COCC) expressed “its deep concern” this past Saturday regarding what it considered an “aggravation” of the economic and social situation in the country, and urged “seeking paths of dialogue and structural changes.”
“Cuba needs changes and they are increasingly urgent, but it absolutely does not need any more anguish or pain,” the message from the Cuban Catholic bishops emphasized, referring to a possible halt in the supply of oil after the order from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on countries that sell crude to the island.
The Republican signed an executive order on Thursday that establishes that Cuba “constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security and foreign policy of the U.S. The new measure comes after the cutoff of Venezuelan crude oil supply to Havana announced following the detention of President Nicolás Maduro, in a U.S. military intervention on January 3rd.
Trump believes that the Cuban government is numbered since then and maintains that blocking the oil supply to the island will provoke a change of regime in a country already worn down by the economic, energy, and social crisis.
Regarding this, the Cuban Council of Churches (COCC) added: “We want and yearn for a renewed, prosperous, and happy Cuba, but without increasing the suffering of the poor, the elderly, the sick, and Cuban children.” The document, published on the COCC’s website, added that “conflicts must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, never through coercion or violence,” while demanding “an environment of plurality and respect within the country.”
This message alludes to the severe economic crisis in which Cuba has been mired for more than five years, which has generated an accelerated deterioration in areas such as electricity generation, hospitals without supplies, a deficit of public transportation, and problems with water supply, among others.
Furthermore, the island suffers from a shortage of basic goods (food, medicine, fuel), prolonged daily blackouts, high inflation, increasing dollarization, low agricultural and industrial production, deterioration of public services, and massive migration.
RD/EFE
Digital Religion
English version translated with AI