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{{afd-mergeto|Religion in Cuba|Jehovah's Witnesses in Cuba|01 September 2010}}
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Revision as of 01:07, 1 September 2010
This article was nominated for deletion. The discussion was closed on 01 September 2010 with a consensus to merge the content into the article Religion in Cuba. If you find that such action has not been taken promptly, please consider assisting in the merger instead of re-nominating the article for deletion. To discuss the merger, please use the destination article's talk page. (September 2010)
Jehovah's Witnesses in Cuba are a community of 91,651 active Jehovah's Witnesses in Cuba (about 0,9 % of the citizens), belonging to 1250 congregations. In 2009, more than 200,000 persons (about 1.9 % of the residents) celebrated the Memorial of Christ's Death. The share of witnesses in the population is exceeding that in Great Britain. According to the Watchtower Society, the number of baptisms was 3,293. Cuba had 1,250 JW congregations in 2009. In the 1938 to 1947 period, the number of Jehovah's Witnesses in Cuba increased from about 100 to 4,000. After the Second World War, the number of Jehovah's Witness in Cuba increased to 20,000.
There has been persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Cuba. The movement has been illegal since the 1970s. Their have been imprisonments of Jehovah's Witnesses caused by their refusal of military service. The number of Jehovah's Witnesses, who left Cuba on the occasion of the 1980 Mariel exodus is estimated at 3,000. In 1989, there were an estimated 30,000 of Jehovah's Witnesses in Cuba.
In 1994, the Cuban government freed representatives of the Watchtower Society. Adherents now could meet in groups counting upto 150 persons. In Cuba a Bethel was opened. Although this religious activity was not yet legally recognized, they were allowed to use the building formerly occupied, including Kingdom Halls as well as the printing of own publications. In 1996 more than 70 000 followers were reported. In 1998, authorities agreed to large congresses in the largest Cuban cities. In that year there were more than 82, thousand spokesmen. And 10 years later more than 90 thousand. Memorial Attendance was at 170,000 in 1998.
Cuban dissident Rene Montes de Oca Martija is the son of a Jehovah's Witness. A removal from a job because of his being a Jehovah's Witness has been claimed as recently as 2006.
