A declaration regarding the current situation of the Cuban people

National Presbyterian Hispanic Latin Caucus calls for an end to the embargo

by the National Presbyterian Hispanic Latin Caucus | Special to Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — As a Hispanic/Latin community in the United States, we are profoundly concerned about the events that have occurred in the Caribbean country of Cuba. We feel and share the pain of the Cuban people in light of the shortage. of food and medicines and health conditions worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We understand that it is our responsibility, in accordance with the aforementioned purposes, to communicate to our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba and the Presbyterian and Reformed family in Latin America, our support and solidarity with the people of Cuba and our desire for their well-being.

The National Presbyterian Hispanic Latin Caucus advocates for the elimination of the embargo that the United States has imposed on Cuba and the elimination of the policies on Cuba imposed by the administration of former President Donald Trump.

The National Presbyterian Hispanic Latin Caucus recognizes and respects the just and free self-determination of the people of Cuba.

The National Presbyterian Hispanic Latin Caucus recognizes the right of the Cuban people to express themselves and to have their human rights respected and guaranteed. May peace and dialogue be promoted, instead of confrontation and violence. We are dismay by the acts of repression by government authorities against those who demonstrate peacefully.

The National Presbyterian Hispanic Latin Caucus expresses its solidarity with the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba and other ecclesiastical bodies on the island of Cuba.

Among the purposes of the National Presbyterian Hispanic Latin Caucus:

• Advocate for issues that adversely affect the lives of descendants of Hispanic/Latin and Brazilian people.
• Promote and educate on social, gender, racial, educational, economic, ethnic and generational justice in relation to persons who are excluded, marginalized and vulnerable in society.
• Work with other secular entities and ecumenical organizations, within and outside the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), to create strategies and cooperative alliances to further the purposes of CNPHL (English acronym).

The National Presbyterian Hispanic Latin Caucus calls on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to practice what we affirm in the Confession of Belhar:

“We believe

• that God has revealed God’s self as the one who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among people.
• that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity, is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged.
• that God calls the church to follow God in this; for God brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry.
• that God frees the prisoner and restores sight to the blind.
• that God supports the downtrodden, protects the stranger, helps orphans and widows and blocks the path of the ungodly.
• that for God pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphans and the widows in their suffering.
• that God wishes to teach the church to do what is good and to seek the right.
• that the church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things, that the church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
• that the church as the possession of God must stand where the Lord stands, namely against injustice and with the wronged.
• that in following Christ the church must witness against all the powerful and privileged who selfishly seek their own interests and thus control and harm others.

Therefore, we reject any ideology which would legitimate forms of injustice and any doctrine which is unwilling to resist such an ideology in the name of the gospel.” (“Book of Confessions,” 10.7—.8)

With the prophet Isaiah, the National Presbyterian Hispanic Latin Caucus says: “Learn to do good! Seek justice: help the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.” (Is. 1:17, Common English Bible)

Respectfully,

National Hispanic Latin Presbyterian Caucus

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)