«Cuba is alive, despite so many difficulties»

Catholic priest Castor José Álvarez Devesa has never thought about «out of Cuba.»

«We are priests, our work is to cure, and where the sick are where we have a job,» he said on a recent visit to Martí News. That is why he remains on the communist island where he has been monitored, detained and sanctioned for openly manifesting his ophy to the system.

Father Castor, as he is known among his parishioners and friends, is pastor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, in the model cast in Camaguey, and currently leads «The Cuban and his faith», one of the radio programs that Martí News produces exclusively from Cuba.

«Cuba is alive, despite so many difficulties,» said the priest in a conversation where he talked about political prisoners, the work of the Catholic Church on the island and how the authorities want to «obviate the bishops» on the island.

«We are in a very complicated present, very tangled, but see that the grain when he dies, germinates. I am seeing a germ in this youth and in a town that has passed an experience that has made him learn that with this system there is no future «, said.

On the recent negotiations between the Vatican and the Cuban authorities in which the release of 553 prisoners were agreed, and from which the authorities of the Catholic Church of Cuba were excluded, he points out that “there is a long history of trying to put in bad to bishops with the people and go directly to the Vatican. ”

“We have Fidel (Castro) who wanted to ignore the bishops of Cuba. The totalitarian rulers try to dominate the heads to dominate the body. They should have dominated all heads within their territory and when there is an external dependence that is a problem, so they try to directly influence the Vatican, ”he said.

For the Catholic institution in Cuba, «the issue of political prisoners is a very old issue,» he says. «The Church has been trying to release prisoners for a long time.»

They have had a presence in prisons, but «as far as we have let us arrive,» he says. «Today permits are requested and let some people go, they don’t authorize me,» he clarifies.

Father Castor, who entered the priestly education after being expelled from the University of the East, has openly expressed his opposition to the system.

In 2018, he sent a letter addressed to Raúl Castro with two other religious in which they denounced the totalitarianism of the system and the need to hold free elections in the country.

In 2021 he was beaten and arrested by the authorities after joining the massive anti -government protests of July 11 of that year.

That was one of the moments when he had to «part with the world» and «put at risk whatever to be able to step up.» He says it is his way of «being free where there is no freedom.»

The Camaguey priest leads the podcast «the Cuban and his faith» produced by Martí News and is published once a week. The program seeks to «enter the soul of a people who, despite the difficulties and uncertainties, never lose its faith in the future.»

Father Castor was a listener of the program when Father Francisco Santana was driving in 1993 from Miami. Santana not only preached and transmitted masses, also served as a family member abroad from thousands of Cubans who wrote him asking for help and who sent medications, through a humanitarian organization that named «Cubans with faith in action.»

«The Cuban and his faith» resumed his transmissions on January 6 of this year and is available On the Martí News website.