The Cuba Partnership Resource Manual
Volcanic Revolution on the Home Mission Field
Last Updated (Tuesday, 22 February 2011 21:36) Written by Karla Ann Koll Tuesday, 22 February 2011 21:28
in the United States of America to the
Revolution in Cuba
by Karla Ann Koll
When the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. entered Cuba in 1898,
the work of establishing churches and schools was placed under the
Board of Home Missions (later National Missions). The Presbytery of
Cuba because part of the Synod of New Jersey. In 1959, the predominately
urban and middle class constituency of the UPCUSA in Cuba found itself
living under a revolutionary government. The UPCUSA adopted a dual
strategy of helping those Presbyterians who wished to leave Cuba and
supporting the Presbyterians who remained in Cuba as they organized
a national Cuban church.
From the time Protestant missionaries from the historic churches of the
United States entered Latin America in the mid-nineteenth century, they
dreamed of applying the ideals of their religious vision to the reformation
of Latin American society. W. Stanley Rycroft, former executive secretary
of the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America and secretary for Latin
America of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the
U.S.A. (PCUSA) reiterated this hope for Latin America in his 1958 book
entitled Religio nand Faith in Latin America
Latin America's great need is not for more religion, but for a vital, dynamic
faith that not only transforms men morally and spiritually but sends them
forth to challenge evils and injustices ,remaking society through the concerted
actions and penetrating influence of the church of Jesus Christ. According to
Rycroft, real progress would be impossible in Latin America as long as wealth
remained concentrated in the hands of very few while the majority suffered in
poverty and neglect. Latin America in1958 was in the midst of a social revolution
and the evangelical churches of the continent, with the support of their r
espective mission boards, were to contribute to this revolution by drawing on
the ethical principles of their faith and working for freedom and justice.
Protestant educational institutions played an important role in this vision by
disseminating Protestant values .
A year after Rycroft's hook was published, the Protestant churches in the
United States, including the Presbyterians, were confronted with what J
ohn Ackay described as a "volcanic social revolution," the second such
revolution in the history of the western hemisphere.' The revolution took
place in Cuba, an island nation only ninety miles off the coast of Florida.
The social transformations pursued by the revolutionary government in
Cuba were far more radical than many Protestants in Cuba and the
United States were willing to accompany. The Protestant churches in t
his mission territory were related not to the foreign missions boards of
their respective denominations in the United States, but rather were
under the administration of home mission boards.
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the response of the United
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA) to the Cuban revolution
was conditioned by the particular relationship which had developed
historically between the home missions board and Presbyterians in
Cuba as well as the political climate of the time.
I. Presbyterian Work in Cuba Prior to 1959
The initial Presbyterian work in Cuba was started in early 1890 by
Evaristo P. Collazo, a tobacco worker in Havana. Together with his wife,
Magdalena, he converted their home into a preaching center. Magdalena
also ran a day school for girls out of their home. In addition, the couple
also conducted services at two other sites in the city Collazo had been a
lay reader in the Episcopal Church, probably from as early as
1884.
Collazo's reasons for choosing to start his own congregation unknown,
though Edward A. Odell speculates that Collazo became acquainted
with Presbyterianism in south Florida or was influenced by Cubans
who had become Presbyterian while living in the United States.'
At the end of March of 1890, Collazo wrote a letter to the foreign
mission headquarters of the Presbyterian Church in the United States
(PCUS), located at that time in Nashville, Tennessee, and asked that
someone from the mission board come to Cuba to evaluate his work.
At or near this same time a missionary working in Mexico, Rev. H. B.
Pratt, suggested that the PCUS consider undertaking missionary work
in Cuba. The Board of Foreign Missions of the PCUS asked Rev. Anthony
T. Graybill, a founder of Presbyterian work in Mexico, to travel to Havana.
Graybill arrived on June 4, 1890. After he had visited the different
preaching stations, organized two congregations, and started another
preaching station in Santa Clara, Graybill was so impressed with Collazo
that he ordained him. In 1891, Rev. Dr. John Gillespie Hall, another
missionary working in Mexico, visited Cuba. Apparently upon Hall's
recommendation the PCUS decided to provide economic support for
Collazo's work .
In February of 1895, the PCUS discontinued its work in Cuba, apparently
upon the recommendation of Pratt. In 1894, Pratt had periodically
visited the work in Cuba from his post in Mexico, but the outbreak
of the war for independence at the beginning of 1895 forced him to
curtail his work in Cuba. Rafael Cepeda suggests the work was abandoned
for the following reasons: the death of Magdalena de Collazo in August of
1893, which left Collazo without sufficient help in running both the
churches and the school; the lack of offerings given by church members
to pay for Collazo's expenses and the cost of renting facilities; and
Collazo's increasing involvement with the struggle for independence
being waged by the Cuban Revolutionary Party.
'Once the United States controlled Cuba after the defeat of the Spanish in
1898, both the northern and southern Presbyterian churches joined the
race of U.S. Protestant missions into this new mission field. Other mission
boards from the United States that entered Cuba at this time included the
Society of150 Volcanic Revolution on the Home Mission Field, Friends, the
northern Baptists, the Southern Baptists, the Congregationalists, the
Disciples of Christ, the Episcopal Church and the southern Methodists.
The southern Presbyterian church (PCUS) placed mission work in Cuba
under its Board of Foreign Missions, as it had been earlier.
In April of 1899,Rev. Dr. John G. Hall of the Board of Foreign Missionsof the
PCUS reached Cuba and decided to start work in the small city of Cardenas
where he had thecollaboration of Dr. W. H. Forsythe, a medical doctor in
the U.S. occupation army. Hall was receivedin Cardenas by Isabel Waugh,
a Presbyterian from New Orleans, and her husband, Ezequiel Torres.Soon
Hall was joined by Janet Houston, who began school work. Other missionaries
soon followed. The Presbyterian Church in Cardenas was organized on February
11, 1900 with twenty-one members. In November of 1900, Rev. Dr. Robert L. Wharton,
who had arrived in Cardenas on December 9, 1899,founded La Progresiva,
which became the best known of the Presbyterian schools in. Cuba.' In contrast
to the PCUS, the northern Presbyterians(Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.,
PCUSA) assigned responsibility for mission in Cuba to the Board of Home Missions,
"as if Cuba were part of the territory of the United States."'
In July of 1901,The Assembly Herald echoed the rationale offered by the U.S.
government for the occupation of Cuba to justify placing the island nation
under the Board of Home Missions: It is not by a mere convention that Cuba
has been assigned to the care of home missionary agencies. Whatever may be
the technical relations of the two republics, their real interests are bound to be
as intimate as those between the United States and Alaska. And, as we do mission
work in Alaska for our own protection as well as for the salvation of the territory,
so our Christian duty to Cuba has the double inspiration of the value of Cuba
to itself and its value to us. It is at our southern door, and as the Government
insists on Cuban sanitation for our own health, so for the purity and safety of
our own institutions we must carry the saving and purifying gospel to Cuba.
It is this home mission ground as truly as any western territory.' On April 2,
1899, Rev. Pedro Rioseco, who was sent out by the Presbytery of Philadelphia
Sabbath School Work, arrived in Havana to begin work as a Sunday School
missionary."' Beulah Wilson, appointed by the Woman's Board of Home
Missions, arrived in Cuba in May of 1901." Rev .Dr. Joseph Milton Greene,
former rector of the Presbyterian seminary in Mexico, was sent by the Board
of Home Missions of the PCUSA to Cuba in October of 1901.
On December 8, 1901, the First Presbyterian Church of Havana was organized
with Greene as pastor. Greene also served as the superintendent of the work
of the Board of Home Missions in Cuba.' The First Presbyterian Church of
East Orange, New Jersey, assumed responsibility for paying Greene's salary.'
Though Collazo resumed his ministerial work after the war, he was not listed
as a worker of the PCUSA until 1903.The first school was established by Beulah
Wilson in Guines in 1902. The schools were sustained by the Woman's board.
The organization of the Presbytery of Havana, to be placed under the Synod
of New Jersey, was approved by the General Assembly of the PCUSA in 1903."
The organizational meeting of the Presbytery of Havana took place in November
of 1904. In 1905, the Presbytery had seven churches with a total of 416 members.'
In 1909, the Board of Home Missions absorbed the work of the Home
Mission Board of the Congregational Church of the U.S. in Cuba. The PCUS did
not organize its Cuban presbytery, Central Presbytery, until 1914.2" From the
beginning of their work in Cuba the two U.S. Presbyterian mission boards
maintained a good relationship. Cepeda comments on the different styles
of the two superintendents. Hall of the PCUS was more cautious, preferring
to depend on PCUS missionaries and train Cuban pastors .Greene of the PCUSA,
on the other hand, pushed for the rapid expansion of the work and willingly
incorporated pastors from other denominations and former Roman Catholic priests.
In 1917, the work of the two Presbyterian boards was merged, though as Cepeda
notes, the merger resulted in the absorption of the mission in Cuba by the Board
of Home Missions of the PCUSA as the PCUS withdrew. At the same time, the
Disciples of Christ also decided to pass their mission work in Cuba to the PCUSA.
The Woman's Board of Home Missions of the PCUSA took primary responsibility
for the funding of the schools and the provision of teachers.
Rev. Dr. Edward A. Odell of the PCUSA became superintendent of the churches
and Wharton of the152 • Volcanic Revolution on the Home Mission Field PCUS
supervised the schools. Odell also served as pastor to both the Spanish-speaking
and English speaking congregations in Havana. In 1923, the Board of Home
Missions and the Woman's Board of Home Missions were merged to form the
Board of National Missions. The following year, Odell was called to New York
as the new secretary for the West Indies of be Board of National Missions and
Hubert G. Smith took his place as superintendent.
In 1930, the presbytery which had resulted from the merger of the two
presbyteries changed its name to the Presbytery of Cuba.' In 1941, J. Merle
Davis published a study of Cuban Protestantism that had been commissioned
by several U.S. Protestant mission boards. Davis found that the mission boards,
including the Board of National Missions of the PCUSA, had imposed and were
maintaining an ecclesiastical model that •was incompatible with the social and
economic conditions of the country. The Protestant churches were urban and
middle-class, out of touch with both Cuban culture and the rural population.
They were also dependent on foreign personnel and resources. 'Control of the
work in Cuba was turned over to Cubans in the 1940s. All the pastorates in Cuba
had been filled by Cubans since H. G. Smith left the pastorate in Cardenas to
become superintendent in 1924. Upon the retirement of Wharton in 1940,
Rev. Emilio Rodriguez Busto was appointed superintendent of schools.
In 1942,Smith retired and was replaced as superintendent by Rev. Julio Fuentes.
The visit of Dr. John R. Mott to Cuba in 1940 gave impetus to the founding of
the Cuban Council of Evangelical Churches(CCEC), in which Cuban Presbyterians
played a major part. The first president of the CCEC was the Presbyterian pastor
Rev. J. M. Hernandez.
In 1946, the Evangelical Seminary of Theology at Matanzas—a joint venture of the
Presbyterian and Methodist Churches—was opened under the direction of Rev.
Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez Hidalgo, a Presbyterian. The initial faculty of the seminary
included three Methodists and four Presbyterians. The Episcopal Church joined
the seminary in 1951.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Cuban Presbyterians contributed an increasing
share of the presbytery's budget, though the work remained financially dependent
on the Board of National Missions.
In the years following World War II, the changes in the mission theology of mainline
Protestant churches was reflected in new mission relationships. The Board of
Foreign Missions of the PCUSA moved toward relating to the churches which
had emerged as the result of U.S. Presbyterian mission efforts as partner churches
with whom the PCUSA was engaged in mission. In a process known in Presbyterian
circles as integration, mission workers, who had previously followed orders
from the Board, began to serve at the invitation of and under the direction of
national leaders.24 Benjamin F. Gutierrez has noted that the transfer of control
of the work of local institutions to national leaders occurred much sooner in Cuba that
it did in many of the countries under the Board of Foreign Missions.
Yet, in contrast to other nationals who led increasingly autonomous national
churches, the Cuban leaders served in a presbytery of the PCUSA related to the
Board of National Missions. Under this arrangement, Cuban pastors were paid
at the same level as the median salary for pastors in the United States. Cuban
pastors were also included in the pension plan of the church. Though Gutierrez
recognizes that such salaries could be considered just, Cuban pastors were thus
introduced to a standard of living that was out of accord with the conditions
in their own country.
Such policies worked against autonomy and self-sufficiency for the church in Cuba.
They would also prove problematic as conditions in Cuba changed." Cuban church
historian Marcos Antonio Ramos has warned against a simplistic analysis of the
dependency of the various Protestant churches in Cuba on the home mission boards
of their respective denominations in the United States. "Many Cuban leaders actually
preferred this arrangement, because it was to their advantage and placed them into
a relationship which genes-ally improved the difficult situation of the national worker.
In his survey of mission archives, Gutierrez found no evidence that either Cuban
Presbyterians or representatives of the mission board had ever pushed for an
autonomous Presbyterian church in Cuba prior to the revolution. Some mission
executives even claimed that the Cubans were proud of this situation. Odell wrote
in 1952, There has been in Cuba, as in Puerto Rico, a gradual and uninterrupted
growth toward a well-integrated and definitely Cuban Church, identified officially
with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.
There could be no substitute from an organizational point of view for the sense
of responsibility and confidence that has pervaded the Cuban Church, growing
out of its participation in the annual meetings of the Assembly, the constant and
direct contact with the office of the General Assembly, the frequent visits of
Moderators, and many other important and inspiring associations. This experience
has made it very easy for the Cuban churches because it [sic] is related to a
national Board, and "national missions" to them means Cuban missions. The word
"nacional" has been a source of great inspiration to them, and their loyalty and
devotion to the Board of National Missions has been a great influence in the
unification of the program as well as in the development of Cuban leadership.
" The Annual Report of the Board of National Missions to the 1959 General
Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA) lists t
he following statistics on personnel in Cuba: twenty-eight pastors, one
community worker, 160 teachers, four medical workers and twenty-two
workers engaged in other kinds of service.
These workers were all Cuban with the exception of three teachers from
the United States. Under the Department of Work in the West Indies the
Board ran fourteen elementary schools. The Department of Education and
Medical Work of the Board had responsibility for ten elementary schools
and one high school:" Statistics submitted to the General Assembly by the
Presbytery of Cuba for 1959 list thirty-four churches with a total membership of
4,293. Of the forty-six pastors listed on the role, twenty-eight were serving in
churches, thirteen others were either honorably retired or serving in a
non-parish capacity, three were retired missionaries residing in the United
States and two were pursuing studies at Princeton Theological Seminary.
The report of the Board also highlighted the continuing urban nature of
Cuban Presbyterianism by insisting that Cuba has always been thought
of as a country of cities Odell had earlier described the Presbyterian churches
of Cuba as a "necklace of cities." Presbyterian work had developed out of the
cities along the railroad lines, but Presbyterians in Cuba paid little attention
to the rural areas." Ramos says the following of the Presbyterian Church in
Cuba in 1959:
The Presbyterian Church of Cuba, at the end of this period [1933-59], was
one of the most notable forces in the country. Its schools were among the
best in Cuba. It had managed to reach not only the humble classes and
the middle class, but had reached the upper middle class as well and its
ranksincluded an infinity of professionals, intellectuals and businessmen.
" This urban, predominantly middle-class church would soon find itself
living under a revolutionary government whose socioeconomic reforms
were designed to benefit the poor rural majority of the island's population.
II. Initial Response of the UPCUSA to the
Cuban Revolution
Christians in Cuba, Protestants and Catholics alike, shared the general
euphoria in the country as Fulgencio Batista, the dictator who had ruled
the country since 1952, fled the country and the forces of the July 26
Movement under the leadership of Fidel Castro entered Havana in early
January of 1959. Only after the triumph of the revolution did the extent
of involvement by Cuban Presbyterians in the struggle to overthrow the
Batista dictatorship become known. The Herald° Cristiano, official
organ of the Piesbytery of Cuba, listed ten alumni of La Progresiva who
gave their lives as martyrs for their country and nine Presbyterians who
participated in the underground.
Presbyterians who held prominent positions in the revolutionary movement
included Faustino Perez, who had been chief of propaganda and responsible
or all urban clandestine activity; Manuel Ray Rivera, who coordinated civic resistance;
Dr. Mario Llerena, who for a time was the spokesperson for the July 26 Movement
in the United States; and Rev. Raul Fernandez Ceballos. Presbyterian churches
and schools had sustained little damage during the fighting. La Progresiva was
one of the few secondary schools not shut down by the Batista regime. TM'
Presbyterian women in the United States had inadvertently contributed to the
efforts of the revolutionary forces. In March of 1957, the women's organization
had donated a mobile medical unit worth $7,000 to the work in Cuba.
A few months later, the vehicle was stolen from a garage in Cabaiguan. Several days
after the fighting ended the unit, now painted olive green, was returned to the church
by the rebel forces.37 On January 10, 1959 Presbyterian pastors joined with pastors
from other Protestant churches in issuing a manifesto supporting the separation of
church and state. Cuban Presbyterians expressed their support for efforts undertaken
by the revolutionary government in areas such as agrarian reform, the recovery of stolen
state property, the closing of gambling establishments, popular education and improved
social services." At the end of January, 1959, Dr. Edward A. Odell, acting Caribbean
secretary for the Board of National Missions, said: We feel certain the Church in Cuba
and in the United States will support every step taken to translate the idealism of the
new regime into positive reform measures. We deplore the continuation of the sacrifice
of life, and we pray that God's reconciling spirit may be poured out upon Cuba, that
divisions may
be healed, that leaders burdened by responsibilities and decisions of far-reaching
significance may be guided to establish a genuine democratic government.
Lois C. Kroehler, a North American teacher at La Progresiva, stated in her article,
"'This almost unbelievable triumph of the revolution seems almost like a miracle."
She goes on to say that prayer contributed to this miracle.'" In February of 1959,
the Presbytery of Cuba sent a commission to New York to discuss needs on the island.
The delegation was made up of Rev. Francisco Garcia, superintendent of the
churches; Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez Hidalgo, rector of the Evangelical seminary;
and Dr. Emilio Rodriguez Busto, superintendent of the schools.'
As a result of their visit, the General Council of the UPCUSA approved a grant of
$95,000 out of One Great Hour of Sharing funds to be administered by the
Presbyterian Church in Cuba to " 1) establish provisional camps for homeless
children; 2) equip mobile health units for work in devastated areas; 3) rebuild 250
wrecked homes of families, regardless of religion, in towns of Oriente Province;
[and] 4) set up recreation and guidance centers for rebel soldiers!'" Prior to this
time there had been no Presbyterian work in the Oriente, the rural eastern part
of the island where Castro had begun the revolutionary movement.
Cuban Presbyterians saw this project as not only an opportunity to respond to
the needs of a portion of the population displaced by the war, but also as a
chance to move toward establishing churches in that region of the country.
"Our Cuban church," Francisco Garcia told Presbyterian Life, "needs the help
of congregations in the United States if we are to meet the need for new churches
in this expanding frontier."' The Cuban Presbyterians established two camps
for children, one at Sagua de Tanamo and the other at El Caney.
The camps opened in June of 1959 with a capacity of 120 children each. Most
of the children were war refugees from families connected with the rebels, but
children of jailed or killed Batista soldiers were also admitted. At the camps
the children received schooling, food, clothing and medical care. Mobile health
teams also called on the children's families and others in the refugee camps
where they were waiting for the government to construct new homes.
Literacy classes for adults were offered in the evenings. On Sundays, the camp
staff preached and held Sunday school classes in the surrounding communities.
For many Cuban Presbyterian volunteers from urban areas, the camps provided t
heir first contact with the poverty of the countryside." "We had kept our eyes
shut to Cuba's poverty," Mrs. Figueredo, the wife of a Presbyterian doctor from
Cardenas who was volunteering with her husband at the camp in Tanamo, told
A. C. Forrest of Presbyterian Life. "We didn't know, and we didn't care.
The Figueredos were among the Cuban Presbyterians who allowed the revolution
to open their eyes to the needs in the countryside. Other aid from Protestants,
including Presbyterians, in the United States was channeled through Church
World Service of the NCCCUSA. By the end of October, 1959, close to four
million pounds of dried beans, cornmeal, powdered milk, used clothing
and vitamins had reached Cuba. In many cases transportation for the donated
goods was provided by the U.S. Navy. The Cuban Council of Evangelical Churches
took charge of the distribution in Cuba.
Protestants, particularly Presbyterians, were placed in high positions in
the new government of Cuba. Though Protestants had held government
positions before, including on the cabinet and in the military during the
Batista dictatorship, Protestants were represented in the government
far out of proportion to the percentage of the population for which they
accounted. Dr. Faustino Perez, a member of the First Presbyterian Church
of Havana, was the minister for misappropriated property and his ministry
was charged with recovering state property stolen by former government
officials.
The other Presbyterians on the cabinet were Manuel Ray Rivera, the Minister
of Public Works, and Jost' A. Narango, the Minister of the Interior. Daniel
Alvarez left the pastorate of the
First Spanish Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn to work as one of the chief
officers in the Department of Social Welfare. Rev. Raul Fernandez, pastor
of the First Presbyterian Church of Havana and executive secretary of the
Cuban Council of Evangelical Churches, was placed in charge of literacy
work for the government.'
The August 1, 1959 issue of Presbyterian Life carried an article on the
presence of Christians in the new Cuban government. The Cuban Presbyterians
saw positions in the new government at both the national and local levels as a
chance to serve God and their country. For Protestant observers in the United
States, the presence of Protestants in the Cuban government provided hope
that the Cuban revolution would not turn against the United States. Thomas
Goslin, former missionary to Latin America, wrote, "As Christians, we should
rejoice in the fact that Protestantism is at once the strongest anti-totalitarian
and pro-North American force in Latin America.
Though Presbyterian leaders in Cuba initially lauded the government's plans
for an agrarian reform, the promulgation of the Agrarian Reform Law in May
f 1959 raised fears in Washington that the Cuban revolution was turning toward
communism. The expropriation of landholdings above the one-thousand-acre
limit began to affect U.S. business interests on the island. Criticism of the Cuban
government grew in the U.S. media as the revolution's leaders made plans to
nationalize foreign investments.
The Cuban government also blamed the U.S. government for acts of armed
resistance, such as bombings.'" In this context, at the end of 1959, Rev. Arthur
L. Miller, Moderator of the UPCUSA, visited Cuba along with thirty-two pastors
and another elder. The U.S. Presbyterians spent a week preaching in churches a
round the island. Miller reported that the visitors found the country relaxed and
the people gracious, despite the increasing tension between the two governments.
Miller ended his report of the trip in Presbyterian Life with a call to the U.S.
government to rethink its policies toward Cuba and all of Latin America.5' In
January of 1960, the Presbytery of Cuba launched an ambitious five-year plan
which focused on evangelization, growth, extension, consolidation, the training
of the laity, and education in stewardship and mission. The plan was to be
funded by a special offering from Cuban Presbyterians matched by an equivalent
amount from the Board of National Missions.
The explanation of the UPCUSA participation in the five-year plan given by
Rev. Dr. Kenneth G. Neigh, secretary of the Board of National Missions, nearly
a year later expressed the position the Board adopted in the face of the growing
tension between the governments of Cuba and the United States. We are
contributing to a major expansion of Presbyterian work in Cuba because
we believe that we meet our Christian obligations in that troubled country
by commitment to the work and witness of our Lord, not by withdrawal.
As His witnesses, we cannot withdraw from a country because it has a
revolution or a government that has denounced ours. .We have no comment
n the government or political life in Cuba. It is not our government or political
life. But we believe in the Presbyterian Church in Cuba. It is in this spirit that
we announce our joyful and emphatic response to the Cuban Church program
for the next five years.
The goal of the plan was to double the membership of the church in Cuba,
However, by the end of the first year of the plan the exodus of Cubans, including
many Presbyterians, had begun and the goals of the five-year plan were never met.
" In late 1960, it was rumored in Cuba that the government planned to establish
a national Protestant church which would be headed by Raul Fernandez Ceballos.
This rumor was emphatically denied by Fernandez.' Adon Taft, religion editor of
he Miami Herald, reported on the possibility of the formation of a National
Protestant Church.
The Interchurch News of the National Council of Churches picked up the story
and ran it in its October 1960 issue. The November 30, 1960 issue of the Christian
Century quoted the rebuttal of Taft's article written by Rafael Cepeda, then executive
secretary of the Committee on Presbyterian Cooperation in Latin America. Cepeda
claimed he had never heard any mention of plans for a national Protestant church in Cuba.
'' The Cuban government, desperate for economic assistance to finance social reforms
and for a market for Cuban sugar, entered into full diplomatic relations with the Soviet
Union in May of 1960.
This move raised alarm in Washington and in many church circles in Cuba.
Anti-communism had been standard fare in the preaching and teaching of
both Catholic and Protestant churches on the island. Polarization within Cuba
grew as the superpowers vied for influence over the government, with Washington
increasing pressure by cutting back the quota for sugar imports from Cuba and
Moscow offering more assistance.
Israel Batista has described how Protestantism and capitalism had been so
intertwined in the experience of many Cuban believers that they suffered a
crisis of faith as the capitalist structures of the island were dismantled and
replaced by a socialist economy." A few years later, Rev. Dr. Cecilio Arrastia,
a Presbyterian who had served on staff of the Cuban Council of Evangelical
Churches, described the situation of Protestant leaders during this time in
this way. "We were simply theologically unprepared for what happened.
We Protestants had no program. We just wanted to help Fidel get rid of Batista.
And then we went back to our regular work.
But carrying on business as usual became more and more difficult in Cuba
as domestic and international tensions pushed church people to make choices.
In the Cold War climate, many perceived their choice to be between support
for the U.S. government, identified by many with the Free World and
Christianity, and support for the Cuban government, increasingly allied
with the atheistic communism of the Soviet Union." In addition, many of the
ocioeconomic reforms implemented by the revolutionary government, such as t
he urban reform law, hit hard at the middle-class constituency of the
Presbyterian Church in Cuba.
A Presbyterian medical doctor in Cardenas reported to A. C. Forrest, sent to
Cuba as a special correspondent for Presbyterian Life, that his family had
lost thirty houses.' After the U.S. government broke off diplomatic relations
with Havana in January of 1961, Dr.Neigh issued a statement underlining
the nature of the UPCUSA's work in Cuba. "First," he said, "it should be
stated that the nature of this work has never been determined by the character
of any political regime, past or present.
Neigh stressed that the church in Cuba was in the hands of Cuban leaders and
Cuban Presbyterians were taking increasing financial responsibility for the
support of the work on the island. At that time, the Board of National Missions
did not expect the rupture of diplomatic relations to interfere with its financial
arrangements with the Presbytery of Cuba. "Now, as always," concluded Neigh,
the purpose of the Church's mission work in Cuba, and elsewhere, remains the
same: to extend the gospel of Christ in all its fullness, and his service in all its
implications.
Even before Cuba established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union,
President Eisenhower authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to
prepare a force to invade Cuba. On April 16, 1961, the day after renewed
bombings on the island left seven dead, Fidel Castro declared the Cuban
revolution to be socialist. The next day, the CIA's invasion force of Cuban
exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs, where they were quickly defeated and taken
prisoner by the Cuban military. The invasion did not spark an uprising
against the Castro regime as the invaders and their U.S. sponsors had expected.
On April 24, 1961, a week after the Bay of Pigs invasion, Dr. Neigh issued
another statement. "There is still a United Presbyterian Church in Cuba,"
he wrote. This is the essential fact for Presbyterians in the United States to
keep in mind as they consider the events of the past few days.
Though communications with Cuba had become very difficult, the Board
of National Missions had received no information to indicate that there had
been interference with the activities of Presbyterians on the island. The Board
reiterated its commitment to assist the church in Cuba in every possible way as
well as to aid Cubans fleeing their country."' The invaders, who included three
Spanish Roman Catholic priests and one Protestant minister, openly identified
their armed efforts to overthrow the revolution with the cause of Christianity.
The Cuban government, frustrated in particular by the continuing recalcitrance
of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, moved to restrict the influence of the churches.
In what would be the greatest blow for Cuban Presbyterians and the Board of
National Missions, Castro announced the nationalization of all private schools
on May 1, 1961. Enrollment in religious schools was already declining as the
government rapidly increased the number of public schools. Some in the
government had been arguing that the continuing existence of private education
was inconsistent with goals of the revolution."' The Presbyterians lost properties
and equipment which had been acquired through much sacrifice.
Rafael Cepeda, one of the Cuban Presbyterians who was supportive of the revolution
and could understand the reasons for the government takeover of the schools, admitted
that "the surprise and the procedure used profoundly injured the sensibility of the
believers.' Some of the teachers did take-up the government's offer to teach in public
schools, but most felt they could not. Practicing Christians were prohibited by the
government from teaching history and philosophy. Usually those who did take
government teaching jobs cut their ties with the church. The majority of teachers
from the Presbyterians schools chose to leave the country.
The Board of National Missions, upon learning that several former staff members
had decided they could not work in government schools, offered to relocate any s
taff member who asked for aid. At first the requests were handled on a person-
by-person or family-by family basis, but as more requests were received the
program became formalized. By November of 1961, about 150 Cubans, including
six pastors and their families, had already received aid from the Board. Many of
he teachers were given teaching positions in schools run by the Board in the
United States. Others were helped toward new employment by the United
Presbyterian Committee on Resettlement Service.
The exodus of the teachers had a dramatic effect on the church in Cuba. Most
teachers had been active leaders in their local congregations and had contributed
a significant part of their salaries to the church." Two Cuban pastors, both of
whom were well-known outside of Cuba before the revolution, were given
prominent national-level positions in the United States. One of the first Cuban
Presbyterian pastors to leave the island was Rev. Dr. Cecilio Arrastia, who
accepted a position in the Division of Evangelism of the National Council of
Churches in 1961. Ramos has said of Arrastia, "[He] has been without a doubt
the most important religious speaker that Cuban Protestantism has produced
and some consider him to be the most eloquent evangelical preacher in Latin America."
In February of 1956, Arrastia carried nearly ten thousand dollars collected in
Cuba to Fidel Castro in Mexico to finance the expedition of the Gramm; against
the Batista regime. He was convinced that Castro had lied to him at that time
about not being a communist. Arrastia was elected president of the Cuban
ouncil of Evangelical Churches in 1961 and in that position led some of the initial
confrontations between the Protestant churches and the Castro regime. He left
Cuba in, September of 1961. 69 In a 1964 response to an article by John A Mackay
on Cuba in the Christian Century, Arrastia offered two justifications for pastors
eaving Cuba. The hundreds of thousands of Cubans who had fled the island
needed pastors.
Who would have shepherded these Cubans—laborers, professional men, farmers
—if pastors had not also come out?" Arrastia also asserted that the preaching of the
gospel in Cuba was necessarily incomplete if the church was unable to fulfill its
prophetic role in condemning social sin. Christians who chose to remain in Cuba
to witness to the gospel should be supported with prayer, but "not every Christian
is so constituted that he can subject himself to such mutilation.'" The other prominent
Presbyterian to leave Cuba soon after the revolution was Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez Hidalgo,
former rector of the seminary in Matanzas.
In 1962, he took a position as the Associate Director of the new Departamento Hispano
Americano of the Board of National Missions. Israel Batista has noted that eighty-five
percent of the graduates of the seminary left the country after the revolution.' Both of
these men had been important role models for Cuban Protestants. Their exodus may
well have influenced others to join them and their administrative posts placed them
in a position to help other Cuban pastors who came to the States.
Even as the UPCUSA helped Cubans related to the Board of National Missions flee
the island, the UPCUSA continued to express support for those Presbyterians who
chose to remain in Cuba. The report of the Board of National Missions to the 1961
General Assembly held at the end of May made the following reference to the
situation in Cuba. Cuba is in turmoil; what the final effect of the Revolution in the
United Presbyterian Churches comprising the Presbytery of Cuba will be, no
man can tell.
The Board of National Missions, charged with oversight of the work in Cuba,
is without detailed information. Only scraps of news leak through. Apparently
there is no interference with freedom of worship and freedom to evangelize,
although United Presbyterian schools have been taken over by the government.'
Upon recommendation of the Board of National Missions, the General Assembly
made the following declaration: A. That the United Presbyterian Church express
to its brethren in Cuba its admiration for their loyalty to our Lord and appreciation
of their five-year program of evangelization and service to their people; B. That the
General Assembly remind the Church of the ties of affection and
respect which bind us to our brethren in Cuba; C. We call upon United Presbyterians
in our country to continue to remember in their prayers with concern and
affectionate hearts their brethren and fellow members in Cuba."
The Presbytery of Cuba, which met in Santa Clara on July 18, 1961, expressed
gratitude for the uninterrupted support given to its work by the UPCUSA. The
ministers and elders of the presbytery declared that their desire to remain in
their country "does not mean a determined political attitude nor imply any kind
of sectarian leanings, but is motivated by our primary loyalty to the people of God
who reside in Cuba."' As a response to the loss of the church's schools, the
Presbyterians who remained in Cuba organized. an intensive program of Christian
education, taught by volunteers during after-school hours. The camp in Tanamo
continued to be a center of health, literacy and evangelistic ministry, of which
Rev. Emilio Veitia was named the coordinator. The Board of National Missions
donated $33,000 to match what the Cubans had collected in the first two years
of their five-year plan.'
In January of 1963 Rev. W. Donald Harris, director of the Departamento Hispano
Americano of the Board of National Missions, spent two weeks in Cuba, preaching
throughout the island. He found the Cuban churches filled with people and committed
to serving their communities. He reported that Cuban Presbyterians had collected
$23,424.16 during 1962 for their five-year plan.
In October of 1963, the Presbytery of Cuba celebrated a National Presbyterian Institute
with the theme "The Nature and Mission of the Church in Cuba Today." The daily
sessions were attended by 199 delegates, of whom twenty-nine were pastors. The
uest lecturer was John A.Mackay, who addressed the public evening sessions in
which the Presbyterian delegates were joined by Protestants from other denominations.
Mackay wrote that lie had been able to speak of the realities of the Christian faith
"with complete freedom and candor." Upon his return, Mackay characterized the
U.S. embargo of Cuba and the ban on travel to the island as "morall reprehensible,
pragmatically futile and politically disastrous."" Harris returned to Cuba in December
of 1963, accompanied this time by Dr. Kenneth G. Neigh, General Secretary of the
Board of National Missions. Neigh explained that the purpose of their trip was to
"determine at first hand the issues the United Presbyterian Church faces in Cuba,
and maintain on a firsthand, personal basis the relationship that for many years has
existed between the Board of National Missions and the Presbytery of Cuba.
In July of 1963, the United States government had imposed an embargo on financial
transactions with Cuba, which resulted in the suspension of support from the board
to the presbytery. The presbytery responded by voting to cut the minimum salary of
pastors from $4,500 to $2,400 and began making plans to become self-sufficient.
By this time the center in Tanamo had been sold to the government, but Harris felt t
hat the experience of relief work in the Oriente would have a lasting impact on
Presbyterians in Cuba. Neigh said of the Christians he met in Cuba, "They feel that
now as never before they have a responsibility to the Church, because they are convinced
—I think I agree with them—that a pattern whereby a Church may be effective in a
Marxist society has not been developed anywhere.
He continued, "The Presbytery of Cuba asked me to express to the Church-at-large
its great appreciation for its support and friendship and to say to all that whatever
happens, the Church in Cuba will be the Church of Jesus Christ.' In mid-1964,
the moderator of the UPCUSA, Rev. Edler G. Hawkins, visited the Presbytery of
Cuba to express once again the UPCUSA's support for Presbyterians in Cuba. In
early 1965, the church in Cardenas took on responsibility for paying the salary of t
he one remaining UPCUSA missionary in Cuba, Lois Kroehler. The Presbytery of
Cuba moved toward self-sufficiency and independence.
III. The Cuban Refugee Crisis in Miami
The presence of hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees in Miami posed
a major challenge to the home missions enterprise. In addition to the Board
States, the Board became involved in local ecumenical efforts to aid Cuban
refugees, most extensively in Miami but also as well in some of the cornmunities
where Cubans were resettled, that went beyond traditional cooperation among
Protestant denominations. Evangelical churches not affiliated with the NCCCUSA,
member denominations of the NCCCUSA, Roman Catholic agencies, Jewish
groups and others all worked together at national and local levels on behalf of
the Cuban refugees. This experience of grassroots ecumenism surely contributed
to the ecumenical vision of the church.
Though the UPCUSA claimed that its work with Cuban refugees was politically
neutral, it worked closely together with the U.S. government, whose policy toward
Cuba was far from neutral. In March of 1958, the Presbytery of Southeast Florida,
with some of the funding coming from the Board of National Missions, established
the First Spanish Presbyterian Church of Miami, located in Coral Gables, and called
Rev. Ernesto Sosa from his pastorate in Cuba to pastor the congregation.''Eighty
percent of the congregation was Cuban in background. As Cuban refugees began
to call upon the church for assistance,
Sosa used personal funds to transport refugees from Key West to Miami. He also set
up a couple of racks of used clothing in his basement for refugees. In late 1960, Sosa
insisted that there was no political motivation to the work with refugees. "When Batista
was dictator of Cuba, we helped the refugees from that regime. This is merely doing
self-evident Christian work, trying to demonstrate a little of God's love and care for
people in need.' Early in 1961, Rev. Sosa's efforts to aid refugees were expanded and
formalized with the founding of the United Presbyterian Cuban Relief Center. The Board
of National Missions reported to the General Assembly in 1961 that the United Presbyterian
Cuban Relief Center had served 1,538 families from March 24 to May 5, 1961.
By mid-1960, Jon Reiger, executive head of the Division of Home Missions of the National
Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCCCUSA), realized that the Cuban refugee
situation in Miami was neither temporary nor local. The General Assembly of the
NCCCUSA authorized the Division of Home Missions to form a special committee
with Church World Service to respond to the refugee problem. Russell Stevenson
was loaned by the Board of National Missions of the UPCUSA to Church World Service
to coordinate Protestant relief efforts in Miami. Stevenson, together with others,
formed the Protestant Latin American Emergency Committee which brought together
all ten of the denominations working with Cubans.
On March 1, 1961, shortly after Stevenson arrived, the federal government began to
provide relief grants of one hundred dollars a month and surplus food to Cuban families.
The church relief centers provided additional food, used clothing and other services
would be better off remaining in Miami. Ernesto Sosa told the Christian Century
that the concentration of Cubans in Miami was "the most wonderful opportunity
to reach Cubans with the gospel.
The people in Cuba were indifferent. They thought of money and family. This hard
experience has made them turn to the church."" In October of 1961, the NCCCUSA
sponsored a conference on Cuban refugee work and approved a plan to increase
efforts to resettle Cubans in other parts of the country. By that time, the number of
Cuban refugees in the United States was estimated at over one-hundred thousand.
The federal refugee center had just under 80,000 on its voluntary registry. The
federal government was to provide funds to Church World Service to meet the costs
of transporting the refugees to their new communities.
The Protestant Latin American Emergency Committee was directed to urge
Cuban pastors to settle elsewhere to carry on their ministries." Though Russell
Stevenson retired at the end of 1961 and was replaced by Friends pastor Earl Redding,
the Board of National Missions of the UPCUSA continued to help underwrite the
administrative costs of the Church World Service program in Miami."
By early 1962, Sosa had changed his tune about resettlement of Cubans to other
parts of the country, as least when he spoke to his denomination's press. In a
February 15, 1962 article in Presbyterian Life, Sosa described how he would show
newly arrived refugees letters from families who had been resettled by churches
in different parts of the country." The reorganized program to resettle Cuban
refugees was designated "Flights in Freedom" and was a cooperative effort of
Church World Service, the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the United
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Service, the International Rescue Committee and
various federal agencies involved with refugees."
The Cleveland Cuban Refugee Resettlement Commit- Jewish agencies—offered
to be the first community to receive a chartered planeload of Cuban refugees
from Miami." The first Presbyterian-sponsored "Flight in Freedom" brought Cubans
from Miami to be resettled in the Synod of New Jersey in May of 1962. Stated Clerk
Eugene Carson Blake was on hand to greet the newcomers."' Other judiciaries
which sponsored "Flights in Freedom" through the remaining months of 1962
included the Presbytery of Los Angeles, the Presbytery of Hudson River, and the
Synod of Michigan."
The influx of Cubans led to the reorganization of work with Spanish-speaking
Presbyterians in the United States. In 1962, the Board of National Missions
of the UPCUSA reorganized all responsibilities for its work with Spanish-speaking
peoples under the new Departamento Hispano Americano. Rev. William Donald Harris,
whose parents had been missionaries in Puerto Rico, was named head of the
Departamento. As already noted, Rev. Alfonso Rodriguez Hidalgo, former rector
of the seminary in Matanzas, was called as Associate Director.
By the end of 1963, the UPCUSA had resettled 2,570 Cubans. Church World Service,
which coordinated all Protestant resettlement efforts, had registered 14,274 Cubans
for resettlement and had relocated 12,722. Among the agencies involved in resettlement,
Church World Service had been able to place by far the highest percentage of those r
egistered, yet the other agencies were reluctant to share their caseloads with the
Protestants. John C. Corbin, the chair of the UPCUSA's Committee on Resettlement
Services, stated that one of the reasons Cubans were becoming more willing to
relocate was the recognition that they could be "more effective interpreters of their
country's plight in their new places of residence than they could possibly have been
in overcrowded Miami.
The Cuban church leaders who left Cuba were well-educated, highly articulate
men who carried their theologically and politically conservative vision into their
new pastorates and administrative positions in the United States, from which
hey were able to set the tone of Presbyterian work among Hispanics for many years.
The resettlement of Cuban refugees ensured that Presbyterians across the country
became acquainted with the refugees' version of the situation in Cuba. Despite the
stances taken by the Cuban leaders in exile, the Board of National Missions
maintained relations with the Presbyterians who had remained in Cuba. Adolfo
Ham points out how important the position of the various mission boards related to
the NCCCUSA was to the church in Cuba.
The mission boards always considered the true Cuban church to be made up
of those who remained on the island and never supported the formation of a
Cuban church or council of churches in exile. The mission boards also insisted
on maintaining their ties to the churches in Cuba, in spite of the breaking
of diplomatic ties by the U.S. government and the embargo imposed by Washington.
IV. Toward a national Presbyterian Church in Cuba
Rafael Cepeda estimates that by 1966 the Presbyterian church in Cuba had
lost one-half of its members and one-half of its clergy. Marcos Antonio Ramos
claims that the Presbyterians lost two-thirds of their clergy. Those Presbyterians
who remained in Cuba made plans for founding a national church. In September
of 1964, the Presbytery of Cuba accepted a plan to assume the salaries of pastors in
Cuba in five years, thus halting the payment of salaries by the Board. In 1965, a
delegation from the Presbytery of Cuba composed of Francisco Garcia, Orestes
Gonzalez and Rafael Cepeda traveled to Geneva to discuss financial arrangements
for the future with representatives of the Board of National Missions.
In September of 1965, the Presbytery named a special committee to elaborate
a plan for the formation of the Presbyterian Church of Cuba. The plan was approved
by the Presbytery in March of 1966 and sent on to the General Assembly of the
UPCUSA. Rev. Francisco Norniella, moderator of the Presbytery, and Dr. Rene
Castellanos were commissioned to take the request for autonomy to the General Assembly. ''
The overture of the Presbytery of Cuba met with some opposition. The Synod of
New Jersey, in its meeting on May 3, 1966, held at Princeton Theological Seminary,
adopted the following overture to the General Assembly: Whereas the Synod of
New Jersey expresses its sorrow and deep regret at the independent
and unilateral action by which one of its presbyteries, namely the Presbytery of Cuba,
claims to be a separate national church, no longer part of The United Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America; and Whereas the Synod of New Jersey
reaffirms its historic concern and ecclesiastical responsibility for Cuba as included
in its bounds defined by the General Assembly, as recently as 1964; and Whereas, the
Synod of New Jersey believes this ecclesiastical responsibility and fellowship should
not be broken by independent action but should continue whether members of
this Presbytery live in Cuba or elsewhere; Therefore, the Synod of New Jersey expresse
under present circumstances; and overtures the General Assembly:
1. Not to concur with the action of the Presbytery of Cuba; and Further overtures
the General Assembly to designate the Synod of New Jersey to be the administrative
agent for the Presbytery of Cuba."Cepeda notes in passing that opposition to the
independence of the church in Cuba was organized by Cuban Presbyterians living
in the United States." Once the church in Cuba became independent, pastors in the
United States could no longer claim to be members of the Presbytery of Cuba or claim
to speak for the Presbyterian Church in Cuba.
The General Assembly rejected the overture of the Synod of New Jersey and voted to
release the Presbytery from the Synod to become a national church." The founding
assembly of the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba (Iglesia Presbiteriana
Refimada en Cuba—IPRC) was held in Havana January 27 to 24, 1967. The new
church claimed to have 3,082 members and seventeen active pastors. The majority
of delegates to the founding assembly were women.
The celebration included the ordination of Ofelia Miriam Ortega, the first Cuban
Presbyterian woman ordained as a pastor. The ordination sermon was preached
by Dr. Marcel Pradervand, general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches. Lois Kroehler was commissioned as director of music for the new church.
Dr. Ganse Little, Moderator the General Assembly, and Dr. William Thompson,
Stated Clerk, represented the UPCUSA. Representatives were also present from
the Association of Presbyterian and
Reformed Churches in Latin America (AIPRAL), the Reformed Church of Hungary,
the Christian Peace Conference, the National Council of Churches of Mexico, and
the Presbytery of Puerto Rico.''"Responsibility for maintaining the UPCUSA's
relations with the IPRC was passed from the Board of National Missions to the
Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR) on January 1, 1969.
The Board of National Missions continued to be responsible for work with refugees1
coming from Cuba. In addition, the Board continued to fulfill its pension obligations
to workers who had served in Cuba under the Board."' The ! 1969 General Assembly
adopted a wide-reaching policy paper entitled "Illusion and Reality in Inter-American
Relations." Among the specific policies adopted with the report was the following:
"Consistent with the right of self-determination and to demonstrate that the
United States intends to avoid punitive politics in Latin America, the • United
States government should immediately take steps to re-establish normal relations
with the Government of Cuba. This should include the lifting of the trade
embargo against Cuba."'
This policy brought protests from several sectors of the UPCUSA, especially t
he First Spanish United Presbyterian Church of Miami, but subsequent General
Assemblies did not change the policy.'''' In Cuba, the Presbyterians who remained
behind struggled to find their place in the emerging socialist society under the
conviction that both the revolution and the church in Cuba were living under God's
udgment. Rafael Cepeda described this process to students who gathered in Cuba
for a conference of the Student Christian Movement in August of 1962.
The relation of dependence which existed up to now is being replaced by the
relation of independence leading us to discover our own forms of church government,
our own ways of communication, and the theological and biblical perspectives
which seem important to us. It is not that we wish to discover the Mediterranean but
simply learn to navigate our ship for ourselves instead of being carried along by
omeone else who chooses our course for us. When we have passed this second
stage of difficult and always costly independence, then we shall tackle with
vigor the third stage of inter-dependence.'
In 1977, after three years of discussion, the IPRC adopted its own confession of
faith, seeking to express the meaning of the church's faith in the midst of the
Cuban revolutionary process.' During the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s,
Cuban church leaders were able to have only sporadic contact with staff from
COEMAR and later the Program Agency of the UPCUSA at meetings held in
Madrid and Geneva."'In the 1980s, as the Cuban government became more
open on questions of religious practice and both governments eased travel
restrictions, Cuban Presbyterians were able to visit churches in the United States
and U.S. Presbyterians were able to visit Cuba.
The relationship between the IPRC and the PC(USA) entered a new phase
with the advent of presbytery partnerships. The Presbytery of South Louisiana
was the first PC(USA) presbytery to establish a relationship with Cuban Presbyterians
in 1986, followed by the Presbytery of Long Island in 1989. Currently eight PC(USA)
presbyteries are engaged in partnerships with the IPRC.'" Leaders of Presbyterian
mission efforts in Latin America such as Stanley Rycroft dreamed of inspiring people
to embrace a dynamic Christian faith that would challenge the injustices present in
society. Presbyterian work in Cuba, carried out by Cubans and some mission workers
from the United States, did produce a vital faith. For many in Cuba and the United
States, however, this vital faith was inextricably linked to U.S.-style democracy and
capitalism.
As the Cuba revolution embraced socialism and restricted the influence of the
churches and of practicing Christians, many Cuban Presbyterians felt they had
no choice but to leave. In the climate of the Cold War, the Board of National Missions,
which oversaw the work of the Presbytery of Cuba and various Presbyterian institutions
on the island, chose to facilitate the exodus of many Presbyterian leaders from Cuba.
Other Cuban Presbyterians chose to stay, confessing their faith as the Church of
Jesus Christ in Cuba.