GM Call for Granting Religious Travel to Cuba

GM Call for Granting Religious Travel to Cuba

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GLOBAL

MINISTRIES

A common witness of the Division of Overseas Ministries, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

and Wider Church Ministries, United Church of Christ


Signed By: Rev. Dr. David A. Vargas Rev. Cally Rogers-Witte

President, Division of Overseas Ministries Executive Minister, Wider Church Ministries

Co-executive, Global Ministries Co-executive, Global Ministries

P. O. Box 1986 700 Prospect Avenue, 7

th Floor

Indianapolis, IN 46206-1986 Cleveland, OH 44115-1100

Tel. 317-713-2575 Fax 317-635-4323 Tel. 216-736-3201 Fax 216-736-3203


dvargas@dom.disciples.org rogersc@ucc.org

globalministries.org

Rev. Dr. David A. Vargas

President, Division of Overseas Ministries

Co-Executive Director, Global Ministries

Rev. Cally Rogers-Witte

Executive for Wider Church Ministries

Co-Executive, Global Ministries

May 28, 2006

President George W. Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As leaders of Christian denominations and ecumenical organizations, we have a long collective history of missionary and

humanitarian activity in the nation of Cuba. Our partnership with churches, denominations, and ecumenical organizations

there goes back many years, and transcends political ideologies. We write you today because recent policy decisions by the

State Department and the Treasury Department are deeply damaging to our ability to work with our sister churches in Cuba.

Regulatory decisions made by these agencies curtail religious freedom, and impair our ability to participate in what we

understand to be the churches’ global mission.

For more than a decade, U.S. church bodies, whether national, regional, or local, have been eligible to receive licenses to

conduct religious travel to Cuba. These licenses have allowed us to work closely with partner churches and religious

institutions and to assist Cuban churches in their important faith witness.

But new interpretations of U.S. government regulations have suddenly restricted our ability to work with our partners.

National denominational bodies and religious organizations are now eligible only for very restricted licenses, which limit us

to one trip per quarter, and require us to submit at the beginning of the year a list of no more than 25 people who will

participate in each trip. These impractical restrictions have reduced our ability to send religious delegations to Cuba, limit

our opportunities to accompany and support our Cuban church partners, and have the effect of severely restricting

participation in Cuba missions by many local U.S. churches and congregants. We are deeply troubled by these decisions;

we believe them to be unfair and inappropriate, and to reflect undue governmental interference in the exercise of religion.

We write today to call these issues to your attention. We know that you have asked the Commission for Assistance to a

Free Cuba, chaired by Secretary Rice, to make a set of recommendations to you about U.S. policy toward Cuba by the

beginning of May. We hope you will use the opportunity created by this review of Cuba policy to affirm your

Administration’s support for the free exercise of our work in mission and fellowship with churches and ecumenical

agencies in Cuba, and to see that these restrictive and unnecessary regulations are reversed.

Respectfully,


GLOBAL

MINISTRIES

A common witness of the Division of Overseas Ministries, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

and Wider Church Ministries, United Church of Christ


LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

globalministries.org


Félix E. Ortiz-Cotto Ruth Chavez Wallace Julia A. Flores-Ferrer

Executive Program Associate Administrative Assistant

fortiz@dom.disciples.org rwallace@dom.disciples.org jferrer@dom.disciples.org


Mailing Address Building Address

P.O. Box 1986 130 East Washington Street

Indianapolis, IN 46206-1986 U.S.A. Indianapolis, IN 46204-3645 U.S.A.

Phone: 317-713-2561 Fax: 317-635-4323