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The recent news that St. Lawrence Church of Tampa won permission from the Cuban government to start building the first new Catholic Church in Cuba since it embraced Communism in 1959 has many hoping for more religious freedom in the island nation.

But in a visit to Tampa this week, an outspoken religious leader who lives in Cuba advised people against getting their hopes up.

Cuba uses religion to further politics, said Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso, a Baptist pastor of Ebenezer Church in Taguayabon, Cuba.

The Cuban government, Lleonart Barroso said, forces religious leaders to propagate its own message that Communism works in the best interests of the people along with the word of God. Religious leaders who say otherwise risk losing their churches.

So the new Catholic Church to be located in Sandino, he said, amounts to a new weapon for the Cuban government.

The Rev. Ramon Hernandez of St. Lawrence Church, who spoke with the Tribune recently about the drive to raise money for the church and his own upbringing in Cuba, could not be reached for comment Wednesday on this view of the governments motives in allowing him to proceed.

Lleonart Barroso was in Tampa as keynote speaker at a luncheon hosted by United for Human Rights, a Los Angeles-based education group.

The luncheon celebrated the 66th anniversary of the signing at the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The event was held inside the Church of Scientologys Ybor City headquarters.

Gracia Bennish, United for Human Rights president and a member of the Church of Scientology, said the church publishes her organizations materials but has no other link to it.

Link:
Pastor: Cuba will use new church as a tool

Workers, Workers Movements, and 21ST Century Socialism: Where We Are At and Where to Go
Moving Beyond Capitalism conference San Miguel de Allende, Mexico July, 29 - August, 3 2014 http://www.globaljusticecenter.org/moving_beyond_capitalism1.

By: Center for Global Justice

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Workers, Workers Movements, and 21ST Century Socialism: Where We Are At and Where to Go - Video

Pyongyang, December 10 (KCNA) -- British and Peruvian organizations posted special write-ups on their websites on Dec. 2 on the occasion of the third anniversary of demise of leader Kim Jong Il.

The British Association for the Study of Songun Policy posted an article titled "Leader Kim Jong Il Maintained Socialist Principle" with his photo.

The article said:

Kim Jong Il was a great leader who inherited the revolutionary cause of Juche pioneered by President Kim Il Sung and defended socialism despite adversities.

He was the only person in the world who held fast to the banner of socialism in such difficult situation.

He authored many works including "Socialism Is a Science" and "Abuses of Socialism Are Intolerable" to clarify not only the cause and lesson from the frustration of socialism in some countries but scientific accuracy and lawfulness of the victory of socialism.

His works serve as guidelines most valuable for the revolutionary people following socialism.

He beat back the imperialists' ever-increasing moves to stifle the DPRK and provided a turning point for building a thriving socialist country. He turned the DPRK into a fortress of human cause of independence.

The Peruvian-Korean Institute of Culture and Friendship posted articles titled "Third Anniversary of Demise of Chairman of the National Defence Commission Kim Jong Il" and "Mt. Paektu and Kim Jong Il".

The articles praised his noble revolutionary career in which he made undying exploits for the country, people and times and history under the banner of Juche and Songun.

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Kim Jong Il Praised in UK and Peru

Pyongyang, December 10 (KCNA) -- Foreign media carried special write-ups illustrated with portraits of smiling leader Kim Jong Il on the occasion of the third anniversary of his demise.

The December issue of the German paper Rote Fahne carried articles under the headline "Comrade Kim Jong Il and development of Korea".

The paper referred in detail to the fact that Kim Jong Il performed immortal feats on behalf of the party and the revolution, the country and its people, regarding the accomplishment of the cause of President Kim Il Sung as his lifelong mission.

The November-December issue of the Bulgarian paper Iskra carried an article titled "Third anniversary of demise of great Comrade Kim Jong Il."

It said: Kim Jong Il led the Korean people in their struggle for building socialism for a long period since he started his work at the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.

He resolutely overcame all sorts of difficulties and challenges with his matchless courage and firmly defended socialism.

He clarified the truth that socialism is a science and the victory of socialism is an inevitability of history.

The DPRK had access to nuclear deterrence for self-defence to protect the sovereignty of the country, the dignity of the people and socialism from the evermore undisguised nuclear threat of the U.S.

A landmark event took place in the development of the north-south relations and the struggle for achieving the country's reunification thanks to Kim Jong Il's noble patriotism and his energetic leadership. As a result, historic north-south summits took place and the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration, a programme for implementing it, were adopted.

Under the title "Third anniversary of demise of leader Kim Jong Il", the Polish branch of the Association for Friendship with the Korean People on Dec. 3 posted articles praising his immortal feats for the cause of global independence on its internet homepage.

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Foreign Media Praise Kim Jong Il's Feats

By John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent

updated 9:18 AM EST, Mon December 8, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Washington (CNN) -- Listen to how loud tea party forces are this week and it will remind you of a valuable lesson: for some conservatives, the 2014 wins are likely to translate into more disappointment -- not more power.

The big issue -- and the last big act of the current Congress -- is whether lawmakers will pass a spending bill that keeps the government running well into 2015. Some tea party activists insist it is their duty to deny President Obama any funding that would help him implement what they call amnesty -- meaning the administration's recent executive actions on illegal immigration.

Related: Obama tells the undocumented to "come out of the shadows"

Transcript: President Obama's immigration address

In Monday's conservative Red State morning briefing, Item No. 1 is a complaint against the GOP leadership:

"They preemptively surrendered and now want to both nibble at Obamacare instead of end it and they want to fund the President's immigration plan. House Republicans, this week, are set to fund Barack Obama's amnesty plan with the help of House Democrats. If you want to stop amnesty, you must flood the offices of members of congress with phone calls. There's no other way. They need to hear from you and that you demand they keep their promises."

It's the kind of talk that in the past has put Speaker Boehner on thin ice -- and remember we did have a brief government shutdown not all that long ago because he could not corral -- and control -- the tea party forces.

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Spending shows tea party loses with GOP gains - CNN.com