“Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”- Hebrews 13:3
The Center for a Free Cuba wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah!
Christians are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, and the promise of freedom and peace he embodies.
The first night of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, falls on Christmas this year, and in 2024 should have special meaning for Cubans.
This Jewish holiday celebrates the Maccabean Revolt of 165 BC against the attempt by the Greeks to impose pagan practices on the Jewish people. It was a campaign for the freedom to worship.
Cubans, of all faiths, have been denied their religious freedoms for decades by the communist dictatorship on the island. Christmas was prohibited, priests, brothers, and a Cuban bishop were forcibly deported at gunpoint. Others were sent to forced labor camps. Jewish children have been forbidden by Cuban educational officials from wearing a kippah in school. Anti-semitic tropes continue to be spreadby the Cuban government.
In 2024, this failed regime repeatedly plunged all of Cuba into darkness with a collapsed electrical grid due to years of lack of maintenance, and neglect. Today, there are over 1,150 political prisoners on the island.
Nevertheless, we must not despair, both Christmas and Hanukkahoffer the promise that darkness cannot resist light, and tyranny will eventually be brought down, but we must do our part.
Please join us in this campaign for a Christmas when all political prisoners have been freed. Share this image and hashtag: #ForAChristmasWithoutPoliticalPrisoners
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