The government in Havana is slowly seeing the light:
Cuban government restrictions on religion remain severe although they have been eased on several fronts over the past year, according to the U.S. State Department’s annual report on freedom of religion around the world. ‘In China, Cuba, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, religious activity was only lawful if explicitly authorized by the state,’ said the executive summary of the country-by-country report, made public on Monday. The report confirmed a recent trend toward expanded freedom on the practice of religion in Cuba — officially atheist from 1962 to 1992 — alongside continued tight controls in those places where religion intersects with politics.