The Cuban government is threatening to evict a Christian church in Havana, on the grounds that its members are illegally there.

The pastors of La Palma, in the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, were summoned to inform them that they would have to leave the church the next day in morning.

According to the district superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Cuba, they were warned that if they refused, there woud be a "rapid response from brigade, police and ambulances”.

“They take for granted that the premises are illegal and say they need it for mothers who have more than three children and have no home”, said pastor Osmany Lovaina on the Cristianos Cubanos en Comunión (Cuban Christians in Communion) facebook site.

The religious leader pointed out that it was an injustice, as the group has been worshiping in that house for over 30 years.

“The house belonged to some pastors who went to the United States and, before leaving, they made a donation to the church in the presence of the national governing body in housing matters. The building later was declared public facility and then the government decreed that donation as illegal”, he explained.

No legal recognition

In response to the emergency, the pastor called on his congregation to pray together at the church at 5:00 am. “It's not just any place, it's a church that is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month”, he said.

That is one of the ways the Cuban government often attacks religious groups, refusing to give them legal recognition.

In 2021, Pastor Alain Toledano Valiente, who has been harassed and arrested for criticising the regime in his his sermons, denounced that the authorities fined the owner of the house where he worships.

The pastor stressed that they received “a new fine, with threats of one more in three days if the church continues to meet in its courtyard, and that the final threat would be eviction”.

The Cuban authorities claim that the house in La Palma, Arroyo Naranjo, is needed for a mother of three children, but other mothers just as vulnerable have been evicted by the police from their homes.