(16 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 08 February 2024
1. The bells toll in Catholic churches
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 16 February 2024
2. Muslims at mosque, some offering prayer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 04 February 2024
3. Buddhists chant mantras
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 16 February 2024
4. Jews celebrate the Sabbath
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 13 February 2024
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maximiliano Trujillo, Philosophy Professor at Havana University
“In Cuba, it’s not uncommon that someone goes to meet a babalao (Santeria high priest) in the morning and can visit a Pentecostal temple in the afternoon, and at night goes to Mass – and doesn’t see any type of conflict in its spirituality.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 14 February 2024
6. Various of Yoruba Association historian Gloria Esperanza paying homage to Afro-Cuban deities and leaving offerings to the goddess of the ocean
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 07 February 2024
7. Various of Afro-Cuban dancer Susie Stuart Castellanos dancing to the rhythm of drums
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Susie Stuart Castellanos, Afro-Cuban dancer: ++IMAGES OVER SOUNDBITE++
“I have so much faith in my saint.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 16 February 2024
9. Various of Jews celebrating the Sabbath
10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Betina Acosta, Teacher, Israeli folk dancer:
"We are Jews, that sense of belonging that is my identity in spite of living here (in Cuba) as I reflect myself in Israel."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Santiago de Cuba, Cuba – 11 February 2024
11. Pilgrims traveling to the sanctuary of the Virgen de la Caridad
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 08 February 2024
12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Monsignor Ramon Suarez, Chancellor of the archdiocese of Havana:
“Cubans are believers, but sometimes they believe in everything.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 13 February 2024
13. “Religious freedom” says book on a table
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 16 February 2024
14. Various of Muslims in prayer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 04 February 2024
15. Mediations in Japanese Buddhist group, Soka Gakkai
16 . Various of Twin brothers Yasnel and Yasmel meditating in Soka Gakkai group
17. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yasmel Quintana, Buddhist practitioner: ++SOUNDBITE OVER IMAGES++
“(Buddhism) became our first and only religion, where we felt identified and decided to grow as a person and spiritually.”
18. Various of members of the group singing in Japanese
STORYLINE:
The 1959 Castro-led revolution installed an atheist, Communist government that sought to replace the Catholic Church as the guiding force in the lives of Cubans.
But 65 years later, religion seems to be everywhere in Cuba, in dazzling diversity.
The bells toll on Catholic churches and the call to prayer summons Muslims in downtown Havana. Buddhists chant mantras as they gather at the home of a jazz musician. Jews savor rice, beans and other Cuban staples for Sabbath dinner. Santeria devotees immerse the senses as they dance and slap drums in a museum filled with statues paying homage to their Afro-Cuban deities and leave offerings to the goddess of the ocean.
It’s also visible in the growing ranks of evangelicals who worship across the island, in the faith of LGBTQ+ Christians who sing at an inclusive church in the seaport of Matanzas, or in the pilgrims who travel to the remote shrine of Cuba’s patron saint in the shadow of the Sierra Maestra mountains to ask for health and prosperity during a wrenching economic crisis.
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