This decision is attributed to the pressure on the Church from the Communist Party of Cuba to undermine the initiative of the priest of Esmeralda, Alberto Reyes.
14ymedio, Havana, 19 May 2024 — The bishop of Camagüey Wilfredo Willy Pino Estévez prohibited Father Alberto Reyes from continuing to ring the bells of the Esmeralda parish as a symbolic protest against the blackouts in that municipality, sources close to the Catholic Church confirmed to 14ymedio, attributing this decision to pressure from the Cuban Communist Party to undermine the religious initiative.
“For the good of the Church and Father Alberto,” Willy issued the warning, sources say, and was “clear” in prohibiting this form of protest. The decision comes a few hours after the 30 bells that rang in Esmeralda on Friday night went viral on networks and were remarked on in independent media. As Reyes published on Facebook, the bells were for the “agonizing death of our freedom and our rights, the suffocation and collapse of our lives.”
The pressures from the PCC Religious Affairs Office, headed by Caridad Diego, are constant, but in the last three years, after the demonstrations of 11 July 2021, they have intensified, especially wit