A man who was caught red-handed while robbing a Catholic church in Diez de Octubre, Havana, threatened to kill the priests who apprehended him.
"If I had a knife, I was going to kill both of them," the individual warned several times in an intimidating tone, after being caught stealing at the parish of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, in Santos Suárez, on June 22nd, as shown in a comprehensive report by journalist Rachel Susana Diez, correspondent for Cuba of the Catholic communication channel EWTN.
The reporter stated that the same man has committed at least 12 robberies, half of them in Catholic churches, "although he is never caught and tries again."
Diez pointed out that the presence of individuals and "the state of alert in the communities regarding thefts have raised concerns about who is responsible for the theft or vandalism against ecclesiastical heritage in Cuba."
According to the tally kept by EWTN, there have been at least 50 cases of theft and vandalism in 34 parishes, houses of religious communities, and churches in various regions of Cuba, from March 2023 to date. Most of the reports come from churches in Havana.
The part of the report where the captured thief threatens the priests was published this Sunday on Facebook by the young Catholic and filmmaker Adrián Martínez Cádiz.
The priests called the police and for a long time prevented the individual from leaving, "until they had no choice but to let him go since the Cuban police never arrived at the scene," Martinez said. “Now he is walking free thanks to the inefficiency or the striking lack of interest from the authorities in Cuba to detain those who threaten the Catholic Church on the island.”
"This is not the first time that authorities have been called due to issues," he stated. "At least on five more occasions, police assistance has been requested due to problems with individuals attempting to attack parishioners at the church, and authorities never show up at the scene."
On the same day as the events, the EWTN correspondent made an extensive post on Facebook about the frequent thefts and acts of vandalism against churches, following the capture of the individual on June 22.
This afternoon my parish, the community of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Santos Suárez in Diez de Octubre, suffered an attempted robbery that, fortunately, was spotted and stopped in time by our parish priest, who intercepted the thief when he jumped over the fence to access the church premises and the rectory.
When asked about his motivations, the man argued that he did it to find a pill,” Diez recounted, and added, “I don't know whether to feel sorry for a man who clearly insults our intelligence, or to think about the level of degradation that our society has reached, which leads an individual to embark on such a suicidal endeavor.”
The young woman said she did not know the reasons that prompted the individual to steal, nor the motives "that drive those who have broken the stained glass windows and crystals of the Church of San Antonio de Padua in Arroyo Naranjo, an event reported a few hours ago by Father Kenny Fernández" or "the motive behind those who have committed, for more than a year, successive acts of vandalism at the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Línea del Vedado, which is accompanied by Father Lester Zayas."
Likewise, he recalled the complaint made by the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Baraguá, where "they have experienced 10 robberies so far this year, and more than 50 towards the community."
The reporter then offered her professional services to document the constant criminal acts committed against Catholic temples in the country. "I hereby announce to my fellow believers that I will be collecting all possible material to share the complaints and expose our level of vulnerability in this matter," she stressed.
"When someone in broad daylight is able to jump over a gate as notorious as the one in my community, it is because they have understood that there are certain limits of impunity within which they can act. Besides their needs," Diez stated. "Also because, as Cubans, we understand well that popular saying which goes, 'those who are going to steal, are willing to do anything'."
"In the evangelical love that unites us, we also know that stealing is a sin. And that prolonged exposure to dishonesty has serious consequences for the moral configuration of any society. Silence also makes us accomplices," declared the young layperson.
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