Jailed Cuban Baptists accused of illegal economic activity

Jailed Cuban Baptists accused of illegal economic activity
By Bob Allen
Thursday, October 15, 2009

MIAMI (ABP) -- Cuban authorities say two Baptist leaders held in jail
for 11 days in a city on the eastern end of the island are suspected of
illegal economic activities.

Associated Baptist Press first reported Oct. 13 that Rubén
Ortiz-Columbié, coordinator for special projects of the Eastern Cuba
Baptist Convention, and Francisco "Pancho" Garcia, director of the
convention's teen department, had been arrested Oct. 3 and held without
formal charge since then. They were being held in the city of Santiago
de Cuba.

The following day El Nuevo Herald, a Spanish-language sister paper to
The Miami Herald, reported that Ortiz, 68, and Ruiz, 46, were arrested
by agents of Cuba's National Revolutionary Police as they entered the
province of Guantanamo to deliver financial aid to churches.

A prosecutor's report obtained by the newspaper said authorities seized
the equivalent of about $4,000 from the men at the time of arrest. It
said the men were trying to aid a group of small agricultural producers
in the region -- without authorization from the appropriate government
body -- through an effort the document called the "Fishermen's Project,"
or "Proyecto de Pescadores."

Ortiz's son, Ruben Ortiz, pastor of First Hispanic Baptist Church in
Deltona, Fla., told El Nuevo Herald his church has been sending money to
Cuba to help buy food and support repairs of church buildings, many of
which were damaged by three hurricanes last year.

Cuban authorities said the men are being detained as a precautionary
measure while they complete the case file.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida is licensed to send funds
to the Eastern Cuba Baptist Convention and has transferred $7,000 since
October 2008. The younger Ortiz told the newspaper that he sent
paperwork documenting the transfer to Cuba Oct. 12.

Associated Baptist Press - Jailed Cuban Baptists accused of illegal
economic activity (16 October 2009)
http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4491&Itemid=53