On 24 February, a majority of the Cuban people voted in favour of a new constitution that severely limits freedom of religion or belief. Article 15, which covers freedom of religion, removes language explicitly protecting religious rights and replaces it with vague references to rights and responsibilities – which could facilitate further abuses by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunday 14 July<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The campaign against the new constitution was backed by different church denominations from all over Cuba \u2013 an unprecedented show of unity in the Cuban population. Give thanks to God for this unity, and pray that it will continue in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monday 15 July<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of the church leaders who spoke out against the new constitution experienced severe harassment both before and after the referendum. Some have even been branded counter- revolutionaries \u2013 essentially enemies of the state. Pray that God would grant them both courage and protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuesday 16 July<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rev Hernandez publicly opposed the draft constitution, and received a call branding him a counter- revolutionary. He told CSW, \u2018I have total confidence that, even in Cuba, God reigns. Pray for me and my family…my wife and I have spoken and prayed because at any moment they could take me prisoner.\u2019 Pray that God would watch over Rev Hernandez and his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wednesday 17 July<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, pray that the new constitution, especially Article 15, would be amended with clearer wording that fully protects freedom of religion or belief and other human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thursday 18 July<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
CSW has a long history of campaigning for freedom of religion or belief in Cuba, and working with human rights activists who courageously speak out for the rights and freedoms of others. Pray for wisdom, insight and strength for our Latin America advocacy team members as they develop new strategies for our work on Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friday 19 July<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the days following the referendum, one church leader told CSW, \u2018It is horrible what is happening in our country…The terror of the \u2018No\u2019 [campaign] has made [the government] paranoid. A friend in my church was fired from his job. A 16-year-old student was questioned on how she was going to vote and because she said \u2018No\u2019 they issued a pre-arrest warrant against her and took the case to the municipal level… There are many other [similar] stories.\u2019 Pray today for all who are being targeted by the government because of their referendum vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saturday 20 July<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heavenly Father, we commit the future of the Church in Cuba to you, as it faces more restrictions on freedom of religion or belief. Thank you for the show of unity both before and after the referendum: we pray that it continues as the Christian community faces an uncertain future. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On 24 February, a majority of the Cuban people voted in favour of a new constitution that severely limits freedom of religion or belief.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":16736,"template":"","regions":[140,137],"class_list":["post-26448","prayer","type-prayer","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-cuba","regions-latin-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer\/26448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/prayer"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer\/26448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41118,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer\/26448\/revisions\/41118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=26448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}