Attack shows Communists still persecute Christians

Attack shows Communists still persecute Christians
Focus on Islamic outrages doesn't mean other crackdowns have ended

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Many of the high-profile cases of Christian persecution are happening in Muslim nations these days, where converting from Islam to Christianity routinely is considered a "crime" worthy of the death penalty. But a Cuban pastor can attest to the fact that the historical persecution of Christians under Communist governments continues.

The pastor, Rev. Carlos Lamelas, was arrested early in 2006 and served about four months in a prison before judges in a secret proceeding declared him innocent of the charge of human trafficking, but guilty on a previously unannounced count of falsifying documents, according to a report from Voice of the Martyrs.

He was accused of trying to help Cubans who wished to leave the oppressive nation for freer lives elsewhere. A report cited by VOM said the judges imposed a fine of 1,000 Cuban pesos, or about $45, on the documents charge, even though the trafficking count could have netted him nine years in prison.

"Even though this (penalty) is favorable, we are not satisfied. If a crime of falsification truly had been committed, that would make me an accomplice to trafficking in humans, and I would not have been acquitted," Lamelas told Compass News. "How can it be that I am innocent of the original crime, and nevertheless guilty of the one they later invented?"

He had been arrested on Feb. 20, 2006, and taken to the Villa Marista Detention Center where he was held for months, being given only weekly 15-minute meetings with his family.

The pastor with the Church of God, based in Anderson, Ind., also lost a computer and other office equipment as well as a number of personal documents when authorities searched his Havana home.

Then came the allegations that he was helping people leave Cuba illegally. Four months later he was released without explanation, and his subsequent acquittal of the trafficking charge and conviction on the documents charge also came without explanation.

The pastor had been key to starting a number of house churches while serving his own church congregation on The Isle of Youth, and moved to Havana after being elected national president for his denomination.

Reports say his troubles began after he refused to sign a government-required loyalty pledge to the Communist regime headed by Fidel Castro, because he considered the government control of the church unconstitutional.

Leaders in Cuba's Christian community, however, have expressed their concern that the actions against Lamelas are part of a harassment campaign to silence a dynamic leader in the Christian church. ...
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