We Want Yordi in Santa Clara

The Methodist Pastor Yordi Alberto Toranzo Collado, rector of «Trinity» Church in the city of Santa Clara. Source: Google Images.

Seeking the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, has been the Methodist Pastor Yordi Alberto Toranzo Collado,, rector of the «Trinity» Church in the city of Santa Clara, who swore before the Altar of God to seek the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness. The same inscription is in a stained glass image of Jesus with outstretched arms, leading the church whose rector, with the consent of the Holy Spirit, Yordi leads in that city, this image offers a welcome to the people of Santa Clara who pass in front of the temple and gather there.

So the Rev. Yordi Alberto Toranzo Collado, encouraged by the sense of justice, left his house and walked a few blocks to join the grieving family of Soto García, Sunday May 8, the feast of Mother’s Day, as he does and is called on to do, not only as a minister of God, but to all the baptized.

It is sad to see how Monseñor Ricardo Pereira Díaz, Bishop of the Methodist Church in Cuba, a few days later and prompted by fear of State Security through the Department of Attention to Religious Matters and the Ministry of Justice and the Council of State, called for the removal of the pastor to the town of Santa Cruz del Norte, of Havana province. It is painful that an authority of the Church of Christ for the Republic of Cuba serves the government better than he serves his flock and their pastors.

Monseñor Pereira, I am a witness of this town of Santa Clara, where the adages of contempt continued against the temple, the sign that announced the Municipal Party Headquarters, the place which was operated as the Methodist Church in Cuba, I remember as a child (because I am from Santa Clara), how the workers of the Municipal Part bought eggs and called the children studying the Mariano Clemente Prado primary school, located across from the church, to through the eggs at the Reverent Pedro Mayor and his wife Ana Luise whom I remember with much fondness.

Now as a priest of Christ I do not understand, nor will I ever understand, the position you have taken agasint Yordi, his place is to be at the side of justice and I am very sure that this is being denied by the ministry in which you preside. Reflect and ask for the light of the Holy Spirit and say with us:

«We want Yordi in Santa Clara.»

June 28 2011

The Beast Grows Angry When it is Reminded of its Dead

My brother and friend, Priest Pastor Bautista Mario Félix Lleonart Barroso, told me “the beast grows angry when it is reminded of its dead» in a text message that reflected his worry because of the arbitrary arrest of my wife Katia Sonia Martín Véliz and Aimé Cabrales Aguilar, on the morning of July 13.

Unfortunately, while many Cubans paid tribute to the victims of the tugboat “13 de Marzo” (March the 13^th) that, by order of the Cuban government, was sunk in the waters of the Bay of Havana to the sound of pressurized water jets and sandbags, the world shuddered because of the death by freezing of a young Cuban who was trying to escape the same regime that massacred a group of people seventeen years ago.

This time, Adonis put himself at the risk in search of freedom like any human being, he tried to make it in the rear landing gear of an Iberia aircraft that served the Havana-Madrid Flight 6620. His body was found with wounds in the chest and the head, as reported by the Anatomical Forensic Institute of Madrid. Cubans submerged in complete misinformation had no knowledge about another victim of the Castro regime intolerance. I do not think Adonis was escaping repression, but he was in search of opportunities that Cuban people are deprived of.

The Priest Bautista was right; the beast grows angry when it is reminded of its dead, but the firm stand of the internal opposition movement, day after day, continues to remember and pay tribute to the dead of the dictatorship, until it is time for the murderers to present themselves before the court of life and assume the consequences of their actions.

Presbyterian Ricardo Santiago Medina Salabarria+

Translated by: Nina

July 13 2011

Cuba Independent and Democratic Party Delivers Constitution Proposal to Cuban Parliament

Click to view slideshow.

Katia Sonia Martín Véliz, Eastern Coordinator of the Cuban Independent and Democratic Party, delivered a  Constitution Proposal at noon on July 21, to the People’s Power National Assembly in the name of the National Executive Committee of the CID.

The proposal of the Constituent Assembly is the fruit of months of work and was accompanied a cover document, signed and sealed by that body as an acknowledgment and nod with folio 1487, in which the National Executive Committee Cuba of the Cuban Independent and Democratic Party explains to the Nomenklatura that real change in Cuba must be under the rule of law, without any exclusions, and where supported by the people directly and without repression; taking into account the opinions and participation of all Cubans, regardless of their place of residence.

The missive dated July 20, recognizes the example and vision of Commander Huber Matos Benitez, founder of the CID and current Executive Secretary and stresses that accepting the enrichment of the constituent proposal with the opinion of all Cubans living on the island or in the diaspora.

The National Executive Committee (CEN) is composed of Daniel Mesa Cantillo, Katia Sonia Veliz Martin, Ricardo Santiago Medina Salabarria, Irel Gómez Moreira and Nivaldo Amedo Ramírez.

Lisbán Hernández Sánchez
Giraldilla Information Center

July 22 2011