Cubans living in Jamaica have issued a urgent plea for locals to pray as the situation back home worsens amidst an energy crisis that has affected every aspect of daily living for those they left behind.
Cuba has a diverse religious landscape, with many persons either being Roman Catholics or practitioners of the “national religion”, A large portion of the country’s 11 million citizens claim atheism or no religion. As the impact of a US imposed oil blockade takes effect, a small group of Cubans living in Jamaica made the urgent plea for divine intervention.
The Cubans who spoke to a Christian friend recently, did not disguise their concerns for their family. They told her to ask the churches in Jamaica to pray for them at this time. The Cubans, who are Christians as well, expressed their confidence in God’s ability to help their relatives survive the hardship being experienced in the country.
“They have asked us to pray,” the friend told the Freedom Come Rain newspaper.
Given the US mandate to Caribbean governments to discontinue the recruitment of Cuban doctors, professionals working in Jamaica have been maintaining a low profile. They feared speaking to the Freedom Come Rain newspaper but confided in their friend the concerns for their relatives before asking for spiritual backing from the Jamaican people.
With tariffs being imposed on countries that dare to come to Cuba’s rescue, and the US government’s stated intent to topple the communist regime, countries in the region have mostly kept quiet about the Cuban crisis.
But even as the Cubans appealed for prayer, one “prayer warrior”, who has a close relative living in Cuba, said God has assured her that the crisis is intended to pull Cubans to Him.
“The Lord said he has to do what he has to do because Cuba needs to turn to Him. Cuba must recognise that there is a God, and Cuba must turn to Him,” she said.
“He says Cuba is a nice place; that’s what the Lord says, but …..more souls need to come to Him,” said the prayer warrior who has visited Cuba before.
According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. An estimated 70% of Cubans engage in some form of Santería, which is an Afro-Caribbean religion rooted in Yoruba beliefs, honouring spirits (orishas).
”Santeria (“the worship of saints” in Spanish) teaches that although the universe was created by one supreme God, the care of the world has been entrusted to many smaller gods, called orishas. The orishas are similar to the ancient Greek gods in that each represents a set of human behavioural characteristics along with a force of nature. When one is baptised into Santeria by his godfather or godmother, the godparent is designated a smaller god, and a close personal affinity is established between them. An orisha then becomes the Santerian’s guardian angel,” states the Christian Research Institute.