US Secret Service urgently removed Díaz-Canel from a church in New York

The Cuban rulerMiguel Diaz-Canel He was rushed from a church in New York City's Chinatown by United States Secret Service agents on September 23.

The incident took place while the ruler was in the city to attend the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Goals andto participate in the UN General Assembly.

The Cuban government had previously requested the Archdiocese of New York for the possibility of placing a wreath before the statue of theFather Felix Varela, as revealedNational Catholic Register (NCR).

The event, which was to be private and secret, was scheduled to take place at the Church of the Transfiguration from 5 to 6 pm, with the planned presence of the cardinalTimothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York.

However, the situation took an unexpected turn when Díaz-Canel arrived ahead of schedule at the church, where he was received by the retired auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn,Mountain. Octavius Cisneros. Cardinal Dolan had not yet arrived at the scene, and the conversation focused on the legacy of the Venerable Félix Varela and his importance to the Catholic Church in New York.

The meeting between the Cuban president and Bishop Cisneros lasted less than 10 minutes when Díaz-Canel was abruptly informed by the US Secret Service that he had to leave. Cardinal Dolan was just a few blocks away when he received word that the Cuban president had left.

Díaz-Canel's hasty departure left everyone in the Transfiguration parish church bewildered, including observers from the Holy See and members of the Cuban delegation. The chancellorBruno Rodriguez Grill apologized to the representatives of theVatican and they talked about the importance of future meetings and relationships with the Church.

The meeting between Díaz-Canel and the Catholic Church in New York generated mixed reactions. Some religious freedom activists expressed their displeasure, noting thatCuba is on the list of countries that pursue religious freedom according to the US State Department and questioning the legitimacy of an event in which the Cuban government participated.

Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Hudson Institute, considered the event a propaganda strategy for theCuban Communist Party and a way to try to lift sanctions on Cuba. According to Shea, the Cuban government was trying to appropriate the revered figure of Venerable Félix Varela.

According to the directive, with this simulation of veneration, the Cuban regime was "kidnapping a revered figure," given that Father Varela is a prominent reference for theindependent civil society.

In 1998, the political activistOswaldo Paya He promoted the so-called Varela Project, which advocated political reforms in Cuba and in favor of greater individual freedoms. That initiative, which made the dictator angryFidel Castro, would have cost Payá his life at the hands of theState Security, according to a report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

"They are doing this to try to lift sanctions on Cuba. It is surprising that they are honoring a priest. Now they want to send a different signal. That is not sincere," Shea concluded in his statements toNCR.

Photographs shared by the “continuity” leader on his X account show him placing an offering of flowers before the bust of the Cuban priest.

Some nervousness must have been in the air, since Díaz-Canel andLis Cuesta Peraza They placed the crown with the ribbon upside down, with the letters of the dedication upside down. Undeterred by the error, both stood in front of the tape with the illegible message with a solemn face.

“At the Church of the Transfiguration, in New York, we honor Father Félix Varela, who arrived in this city 200 years ago. 'He who first taught us to think' wanted Cuba to be as much an island politically as it was in nature and to owe its independence only to its children," said the ruler.

In the comments to his publication, the opponentRamon Saul Sanchez wrote: "Coward, you came out of your burrow only when you had your sycophants outside and not when the exiles demonstrated against you. And you outraged the memory of Father Varela by mentioning his independence movement, when you have foreign powers on Cuban soil."

For its part,King Iglesias, spokesperson forChristian Liberation Movement (MCL), asked him "what would you know about what Father Varela taught the Cubans, if you gave the order to the communists to beat and murder the people on June 11, when they civically (took to the streets) demanded their rights. "You are a traitor to Cuba and Varela's teachings!"

"You murdered Oswaldo Payá andHarold Cepero"They kidnapped more than 40 activists for eight years and exiled us without the right to return to our country for being promoters of the Varela Project, a constitutional initiative to return sovereignty to the people," he added.

Furthermore, the presence of Díaz-Canel in New York causedrejection among Cuban activists who held several demonstrations in that city during their stay, including a march to the Permanent Mission of Havana to the UN.