A 16-year-old prays, Cuba imprisons him – and exposes its fear of conscience | Opinion

Cuba’s youth

Something in me broke when I read the April 29 Miami Herald report, “Cuba is holding a 16-year-old in prison, targets young evangelicals in crackdown.”

For many young Cuban Americans, such reports are painful. They remind us how far the regime will go to extinguish even the quietest forms of courage. A teenager who prays, speaks, gathers, or imagines a freer country is treated as a danger. Families are made to live under suspicion. Faith is watched. Hope is punished.

The persecution of evangelicals and of religious Cubans more broadly has long been the history of the communist revolution. Yet there is something especially powerful about these young Cubans. They do not speak with hatred; rather, they speak with conscience. They are educated, brave and committed to a future in which Cuba is not governed by fear…

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