LATIN AMERICA'S AUTHORITARIAN TRIAD: Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela Wage War on Christians
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a report this week titled "Patterns of Religious Repression in Latin America's Authoritarian Triad," identifying Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela as the most clearly authoritarian states in Latin America and the region's most flagrant freedom of religion or belief violators.
All three countries use similar methods of repressing religious freedom, including harassment of religious communities, legal obstruction, favoritism toward certain religious groups, and closure of civic space.
"In line with the authoritarian governance models of the three regimes, religious entities face persecution for any activity deemed to undermine state power and influence," USCIRF wrote. "In all three countries, the ruling party fully controls government functions and violates human rights to subdue opposition".
Nicaragua and Cuba are the leading aggressors in the region, with transgressions including Nicaragua's July arrest of evangelical Pastor Rudy Palacios Vargas and seven of his friends and family, one of whom died of unknown causes while in custody. Both nations have weaponized citizenship by stripping certain religious leaders of such status.
Cuba was inspired by Nicaragua in passing the 2024 Citizenship Law that allows Cuba to revoke the citizenship of those who engage in acts "contrary to the political, economic, or social interest" of the nation.
In Venezuela, USCIRF noted governmental threats to religious leaders not deemed supportive of President Nicolas Maduro, whose latest election the international community widely considers fraudulent. In January, hooded Venezuelan state security members captured Carlos José Correa Barros, a Christian journalist and director of the human rights group Espacio Público, and held him in a hidden location for a week before releasing him after nine days of confinement.
The commission noted Maduro's launch of the "My Well Equipped Church" refurbishment program, describing it as "an aggressive strategy to secure evangelical support," complete with cash stipends to 13,000 pastors.
Broadly, the three nations persistently harass religious communities through surveillance, threats of imprisonment, arbitrary detentions and arrests, control of religious messages including sermons and public attacks.
The nations enact laws that unjustly restrict the activities and legal status of religious groups, practice favoritism in attempts to control messaging and deny religious freedom to prisoners.
The U.S. State Department in 2022 designated Cuba and Nicaragua as Countries of Particular Concern for "engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom" under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. USCIRF recommended U.S. governmental responses in its 2025 Annual Report, including sanctions of those culpable in violations.
The 2025 annual report does not address Venezuela as a Country of Particular Concern, but violations there and in Nicaragua are so widespread that many consider them crimes against humanity, USCIRF said.
THE CRUSADER'S OPINION
Three communist dictatorships. One playbook. Total war on the church.
Cuba monitors pastors. Nicaragua expels clergy and seizes church property. Venezuela bribes pastors with cash stipends to preach regime propaganda.
They arrest evangelical leaders. They strip citizenship from religious dissidents. They disappear Christian journalists. One of Pastor Vargas's friends died in custody. Unknown causes. That's what tyranny calls murder.
Notice the pattern? All three regimes know that the church is the only institution they can't fully control. Faith creates a power center outside the state. People who answer to God don't bow easily to dictators. So the dictators crush them.
Venezuela's Maduro literally pays 13,000 pastors to be his mouthpieces. "My Well Equipped Church" they call it. More like "My Well-Purchased Puppets." The church isn't being equipped. It's being bought.
And the ones who won't sell? Hooded security forces show up. Hidden locations. Nine days of confinement. That's what happened to Carlos José Correa Barros for running a human rights group.
Meanwhile Cuba passes laws revoking citizenship for acts "contrary to political interest." Translation: believe the wrong things, lose your country. Preach the gospel without permission? You're stateless.
This is what socialism always does to Christianity. Every. Single. Time. The ideology demands total allegiance. Christ demands the same. So Christians must be eliminated.
The State Department designated Cuba and Nicaragua as Countries of Particular Concern back in 2022. Venezuela's violations are so bad they're considered crimes against humanity. And the international response? USCIRF recommends sanctions. Which means the slaughter continues while bureaucrats write reports.
These aren't isolated incidents. This is systematic extermination of religious freedom across an entire region. Three governments coordinating persecution. Learning from each other. Perfecting their techniques.
And American leftists still romanticize these regimes. Still wear Che Guevara t-shirts. Still defend "democratic socialism." While pastors rot in prison and churches get shuttered.
TAKE ACTION
Stand With Latin America's Persecuted Church
- U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom – Read the full report and contact your representatives demanding action
Website: www.uscirf.gov - Voice of the Martyrs – Direct aid to persecuted Christians in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela
Website: www.persecution.com | Phone: 918-337-8015 - Alliance Defending Freedom International – Legal advocacy for religious freedom in Latin America
Website: www.adfinternational.org - Contact Your Senators – Demand enforcement of sanctions against Cuba and Nicaragua, and designation of Venezuela as a Country of Particular Concern
- Open Doors USA – Support for underground churches in communist countries
Website: www.opendoorsusa.org | Phone: 888-524-2535 - Pray – For Pastor Rudy Palacios Vargas in Nicaraguan custody, for Carlos José Correa Barros and Christian journalists under threat, for the 13,000 Venezuelan pastors being bribed to betray the gospel, and for regime change in all three nations
DEUS VULT
