Related videos:
Cuban religious leaders inside and outside the island have launched the initiative “67 Nights Praying for Cuba,” a daily prayer call aimed at spiritually supporting the Cuban people and calling for changes in the country after more than six decades of communist rule.
The proposal was announced by Baptist pastor and chaplain Joanna Columbié, a Cuban academic exiled in Miami, who explained on social media the symbolic meaning of the campaign. She noted that the prayer period coincides with the years Cuba has lived under the system established in 1959.
“Today we are starting a simple yet deeply meaningful initiative: 67 days of prayer for Cuba. 67 days that symbolically correspond to the 67 years our country has lived under a dictatorship that has profoundly marked the life of our people,” wrote Columbié on Facebook.
The announcement proposes virtual meetings every night for 15 minutes at 7:30 p.m., Cuba time, via the Zoom platform. The aim is to create a space for collective prayer in which believers both on and off the island can participate.
“For 67 days, we will be praying daily for Cuba for 15 minutes each day at 7:30 PM, Cuba time, via Zoom,” the pastor explained while presenting the initiative.
Prayer and Call for Change
Columbié emphasized that the project aims not to be confined to a private spiritual act, but to morally support the Cuban people amidst the economic, social, and political crisis the country is experiencing.
“We believe that prayer is a real force in the history of peoples. But we also believe that authentic faith is not limited to prayer; it also calls us to speak the truth, to accompany our people in their hope for change, and to take action,” he stated.
In her message, the religious leader emphasized that the call is part of what she views as a spiritual responsibility of Cuban believers.
In that regard, he emphasized that this is a call that transcends religious institutions and is directed at the Christian community in a broad sense.
"This time of prayer is not an isolated gesture; rather, it is part of the spiritual responsibility we feel as a Church. We do not speak of the church as an institution, but of the Church as the Body of Christ: men and women who are part of the Cuban people and who clearly affirm that Cuba needs a radical change, a free Cuba without dictatorship," he expressed.
The pastor further announced that the initiative will be accompanied by a pastoral statement signed by both religious leaders and laypeople, both inside and outside the island.
"Tomorrow we will also be making public a letter, a pastoral call signed by priests, pastors, and laypeople, members of the Church both inside and outside of Cuba," he announced.
Open call
The initiative also has the support of other Cuban religious leaders.
The Baptist pastor Mario Félix Lleonart, director of the Patmos Institute, explained that the call is open to anyone interested in joining the prayer for the future of the island.
“The goal is that for at least 15 minutes each of those 67 nights we are calling for change in Cuba,” stated Lleonart, according to statements collected by Martí Noticias.
The pastor also expressed his hope that this period of prayer coincides with political transformations in the country.
"The expectation is that during these 67 nights, by the time we reach the end of the 67th, the change will have already happened. Hopefully, we will spend most of the nights giving thanks to God for the system having fallen," he stated, according to Martí Noticias.
According to the promoters, the invitation is open to people of any faith or belief, and it is being shared on social media through a poster with a QR code that provides access to the Zoom link for participating in daily prayers.
The initiative, as its organizers explain, aims to bring together Cubans both on the island and abroad in a symbolic gesture of faith and hope. As Columbié wrote when announcing the campaign:
"We pray for Cuba, we raise our voice for Cuba, and we stand with our people with the conviction that no night is definitive and that the dawn for our nation is drawing near."
Filed under: