(17 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 16 December 2024
1. Various of man crawling on his knees carrying his young daughter on the way to the shrine of Saint Lazarus
2. Alvaro Ernesto kneeling in the street
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alvaro Ernesto Pérez, devotee of Saint Lazarus:
“What I want is to make this promise to get off drugs. I do it for my grandmother, for my mother, for my wife, for my children, for everyone. I want to get off drugs, I have been using since I was 16 years old and what I want is to end it now.”
4. Man sliding on the ground towards the shrine
5. Man being carried away on a stretcher
6. Various of Daimy carrying her son crawling on her knees
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Daimy Acebedo, mother devotee of Saint Lazarus:
“The doctors at the hospital where I am receiving care said that my child would not be able to talk. I am from Camagüey and traveled all the way here to take care of my child. Unfortunately, when they performed an electroencephalogram, it showed an enlarged brain mass, and they claimed he wouldn’t speak until he was 7 years old. My child is 2 years old and already speaks.”
8. People lighting candles
9. Various of Cardinal Juan de la Caridad Garcia celebrating mass
10. People surrounding Juan Miguel as carts a life-size statue of Saint Lazarus
11. Juan Miguel Ramirez, devotee of Saint Lazarus
“The Saint saved me from near death. My mother’s tears came down as she said – this cannot be, my son. The doctors told me that you would not walk.”
12. Juan Miguel on the road singing the saint’s praises
STORYLINE:
Cuban faithful made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Lazarus on Monday in a display of religious fervour, uncommon in a country that installed an atheist Communist government in 1959.
Believers dressed in purple, a color associated with the saint, walked and crawled on their knees in penitence to reach the sanctuary in the village of El Rincon on the outskirts of Havana.
Some Saint Lazarus devotees, such as Alvaro Ernesto Pérez, came to ask for the Saint’s help. "What I want is to make this promise to get off drugs," said Perez.
Meanwhile, Daimy Acebedo, crawled on her knees carrying her son on her back to thank the Saint for a blessing.
Acebeda said she was make the pilgrimage to thank her son’s good health.
The annual ritual that brings thousands of Cubans to the shrine of St. Lazarus had a special resonance this year due to deepening economic hardship.
St Lazarus, or “El Viejo" (the old man), as he is affectionately called, is a Catholic saint and the patron of the sick and poor.
He is also known as the Afro-Cuban Yoruba deity Babalu-Aye, embraced by many practitioners of Santeria, the Afro-Caribbean religion widely practiced on the island.
Over the years, attendance and pilgrimages have dwindled, but the faithful still come to give thanks for what they consider saintly intervention during 2024 and to ask for support and good health for themselves and their families in the coming year.
The annual ritual takes place on December 16th and 17th
AP Video by Ariel Fernández and Milexsy Durán
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