Source: www.csw.org.uk
Date: March 6, 2021
Ahead of International Women’s Day on Tuesday, we’re focusing on women of faith across Cuba.
One of those is Yusdeylin Mercedes Olivera Nuñez, a Muslim woman who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Cuban government has denied her the right to seek potentially lifesaving treatment abroad, in a move that she believes is due to her membership of an unregistered religious association.
Yusdeylin’s religious community has assisted her in securing free medical treatment at a hospital in the United States; the treatment, which is unavailable in Cuba, would significantly improve her quality of life.
She was first targeted in 2015 after joining the unregistered Cuban Association for the Dissemination of Islam (CADI). Soon after, she was sentenced to five years of restricted liberty.
On 10 February 2021 the Ministry of Public Health failed to submit the required paperwork, effectively blocking the procedure to waive her remaining sentence, which would then allow her to seek a humanitarian visa to travel to the US for treatment.
The Cuban authorities have long targeted those who, like Yusdeylin, belong to unregistered religious associations – while refusing to register these associations.
‘We had seen other colleagues who had done the same…fall like dominos’
Meanwhile, anyone highlighting the government’s human rights abuses also faces reprisals. Maria Antonieta Colunga Olivera is the wife of Yoe Suárez, a journalist and human rights defender. Her husband has written extensively on human rights and freedom of religion or belief, and as a result of his work, he has been subjected to regular harassment by the Cuban authorities.
She told us, ‘The first time that they arrested him…we had foreseen this moment. We had seen other colleagues who had done the same as him – reporting Cuba’s realities without compromising with the powers that be – fall like dominos, and we knew our turn would probably come.’
In summary, please pray:
- That Yusdeylin Mercedes Olivera Nuñez is able to travel to the US to receive the treatment she needs, which could save her life.
- For protection over Maria Antonieta Colunga Olivera and her husband Yoe, as their continued work for justice and human rights puts them at risk.
- Thanking God for all the incredibly courageous women CSW is privileged to know.