Cuba: Cuban House Churches Confiscated by Authorities, Page 4

Cuban House Churches Confiscated by Authorities (continued)

By early morning there were over 200 neighbors and spectators gathered around the house. Some of them were pleading with the officers not to throw the pastor and his family out of their home. Because the telephone lines were cut, the neighbors could not make any telephone calls. Pastor Domínguez requested to make a telephone call at the police station, but his request was denied.

     All of their goods, except those in the bedroom were loaded onto the truck by daylight, but because of the crowd the truck was not moved until 11 a. m. School teachers, doctors, and even Communist Party members, gathered with neighbors and all were sympathetic to the plight of the pastor and his wife. At times, the crowd may have grown to as large as 300 people. Many people were crying. During the confiscation process, people from the crowd threw stones, breaking the windows of the housing authority car. The housing authority director had to be protected from the crowd and removed from the scene for his protection. Some women even tried to upset one of the police cars.

Neorbis and his mother were able to reunite thanks to a friend of ICC

     After the truck was loaded they took the pastor back to the police station, but his wife and children remained locked in the house. At the police station they tried to provoke him by calling him a sissy and saying that he should wear a dress. The police chief said that Domínguez should be like him, a macho man, the boss of his house. Many times during the course of the day they insulted Pastor Domínguez, trying to get him to fight back. However, Domínguez remained calm. He told the police chief that in his house, he and his wife made joint decisions after prayer. The police chief wanted to put him in jail, but other police officials argued that they had no cause to arrest him because he had done nothing to resist them and had not even raised his voice. He told the police chief that even if they hit him he would not strike back. The police chief got so aggravated that he left the station.

     At about 11 a. m. the police allowed Domínguez to go back to his house, on the condition that he talk to his wife and get her and the children out of the house. After this method failed, the police major ordered the housing authority officers to take the pastor away from the house in a police car. The movers then broke down the front and back doors and windows of the house. They dragged 8-year-old Neorbis out of the house and put him in the ambulance. Then two policemen took the baby from the mother's arms and took the baby to the ambulance. Two other policemen took the pastor's wife by the arms and forced her into the ambulance. The ambulance then left the scene with the mother and children. The flat bed truck with the furniture, two of the movers, and the inspector of housing took Pastor Domínguez and his furniture away to another town.

     The family was then forced to live apart for two months. Domínguez could not return to the Santi Spiritus area for fear of arrest. His wife had to live with friends in a town Banao so she could receive medical help for the baby, and Neorbis had to stay with an aunt in Banao so he could attend school. Thanks to funds from friends of ICC, the family has been re-united as is temporarily renting another residence.

Pastor Leonel Dominguez Vega with his wife and baby.

     Attorneys from the housing authority and others say that the police broke three or four laws and the housing authorities made several mistakes during the operation. A formal suit has been entered with national authorities in Havana on behalf of Pastor Domínguez and house church leaders believe the home will be recovered as soon as the neighborhood cools down.

     An official of the Assembly of God in this area along with Pastor Domínguez made several day trips to the area and found the response of the people in the community to be overwhelmingly in support of the pastor. There is a new openness in the neighborhood as many people proclaim him as a hero and a man of God. Praise the Lord!

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POSTED:  February 26, 2003