This is a rare look at one aspect of civil society in Communist Cuba--the Protestant experience--and at continuing links between Cuba and the United States that do not focus on diplomatic issues.
ย
After the 1959 Cuban revolution, Protestant churches on the island suffered the repression, economic hardship, and isolation that the rest of the country experienced. Even so--and contrary to conventional thought about the relationship between the United States and Cuba--Cuban Protestant churches continued to maintain most of their ties with U.S. churches and have preserved an high degree of independence from the Cuban government.
ย
By 1961 most U.S. missionaries had left Cuba, and throughout the decade many young Cuban pastors and seminarians were conscripted into semi-military work brigades. Despite these events, most Protestants sought to maintain their pre-revolution identity, which included a rejection of atheistic Marxism. In addition, economic and political changes in Cuba since the fall of the Soviet Union have brought about a renewal of bonds between Cuba and the United States in many denominations. The author follows the story of church-state relations to the present, including the explosive growth of Pentecostalism since the 1990s.
ย