Recognition of Cuba
The United Methodist Church is linked in Christ with the Methodist Church of Cuba. We share a common heritage and mission. We are mutually responsible for the proclamation of God's love and the nurturing of neighbor- love.
The Social Principles require us to make the community of God a reality as we "pledge ourselves to seek the meaning of the gospel in all issues that divide people and threaten the growth of world community." We believe that "God's world is one world." However, such a world is fragmented against the will of God when nations refuse to solve their differences in respectful dialogue and give diplomatic recognition to one another.
For over 35 years the government of the United States has not maintained diplomatic relations with the government of Cuba[1] and has, instead, pursued an economic embargo prohibiting all kinds of trade with Cuba. The Democracy Act of 1992 (no. 22 U.S.C. 6001) has tightened the embargo restrictions by penalizing other countries if their ships stop in Cuba. This policy is heightening tensions in the Caribbean; it also creates tensions between the United States and the many nations that trade or want to trade with Cuba. The objectives sought by the proponents of this policy in the Cold War era were to force a change in Cuban foreign policy and to halt the growth and development of Soviet influence in that country.
Whereas, the Cold War is over and there is no Soviet Union exercising any influence on Cuba's foreign policy or posing any threat to the United States; and
Whereas, the Cuban government has made significant changes in its foreign and economic policies; and
Whereas, the Methodist Church in 1964 made an historical statement entitled the "Re- examination of Policy Toward Mainline China, Cuba and other Countries," which said: "The Christian gospel involves reconciliation by encounter and by communication regardless of political considerations. Therefore, we cannot accept the expression of hostility by any country, its policies, or its ideologies as excuses for the failure of Christians to press persistently, realistically, and creatively toward a growing understanding among the peoples of all countries"; and
Whereas, the government of the United States is the only major Western country pursuing a policy of non- relations with Cuba, while Canada, France, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and almost all other countries of the western alliance maintain normal diplomatic and/or economic relations with Cuba; and
Whereas, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted successively in 1993 and 1994 for a resolution called "Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo Imposed by the United States of America Against Cuba". In the 1993 resolution, the General Assembly is "reaffirming, among other principles, the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention and non-interference in their internal affairs and freedom of trade and international navigation" and calling "all States to refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures" aimed at "the economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba"; and
Whereas, the government of the United States has in recent years strengthened its commercial and diplomatic relations with other Communist countries such as China and Vietnam, and has also increased contacts and negotiations with North Korea, independently of their foreign policy which differs and often collides with that of the United States; and
Whereas, the Reagan administration declared that the United States will not use food as a foreign policy instrument when it lifted the grain embargo imposed against the Soviet Union by the Carter Administration in order to protest the Soviet intervention in the conflict in Afghanistan; and
Whereas, the lifting of the economic embargo against Cuba, a member of the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM), would help relieve tensions in the Caribbean; and
Whereas, the Council of Churches of Cuba of which the Methodist Church of Cuba is a member, the Cuban Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops, and several other international religious groups and leaders such as CIEMAL, the Caribbean Conference of Churches, and Pope John Paul II, as well as U.S. religious bodies such as the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the American Baptist Churches have stated or passed resolutions in favor of lifting the embargo; and
Whereas, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 and the 1994 additional measures to tighten the embargo curtails religious freedom by making very difficult the relationship between churches in the United States and churches in Cuba; and
Whereas, an abandonment of these hostile measures would facilitate improvements in democratic reforms and human rights in Cuba; and
Whereas, the Bible teachings give us the mandate to "love one another, because love springs from God...." (I John 4:7), and to practice mercy as the good Samaritan did (Luke 10:25-37);
Therefore, be it resolved, that The United Methodist Church, from its Christian and humanitarian perspective, inspired by the love of God and the historic Methodist commitment to peace and social justice, and in light of historic changes with the end of the cold war, hereby petitions the President and Congress of the United States to lift its economic embargo against Cuba by repealing the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 (22 U.S.C. 6001 et seq.) as well as the 1994 additional restrictions and any other laws or measures related to the embargo against Cuba, and to seek negotiations with the Cuban government for the purpose of resuming normal diplomatic relations.
Endnotes:
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
Petition Text: 21355-GM-R634-U
1996 United Methodist General Conference