Dictatorships are sustained not only by internal brutality but also by those who support them from the outside. Castroism — the longest-running dictatorship in the hemisphere — still counts sympathizers and friends across the globe today, including in North America. This is particularly true within denominations that have shifted toward progressivism.

Within these groups, a form of “toxic empathy” takes root among individuals or institutions that use compassion to manipulate people, leading them to justify lies, condone sin, or support destructive policies like those of Havana. They call for empathy toward Castroism today, perhaps because the regime is “collapsing,” as Christopher Landau stated at the recent General Assembly of the Organization of American States.

This phenomenon is occurring within the United Church of Canada (UCC), the World Council of Churches (WCC), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

They organize demonstrations outside U.S. diplomatic missions and arrange “Solidarity Brigade” trips to Cuba — taking Canadians to see only the parts of the island the regime wants them to see — while lobbying labor unions and civil society alliances to steer Canadian foreign policy in a direction favorable to Castroism and pushing Havana’s narrative in the international press.

In contrast, 92% of Cuban evangelicals belong to churches unaffiliated with parastatal entities like the Council of Churches of Cuba — bodies with which the UCC, WCC, ELCA, and others have aligned themselves.

Spreading Havana’s Message

The United Church of Canada (UCC) serves as a key ally in this admiration, acting on Havana’s behalf in various ways within the Canadian public sphere.

In March 2026, the UCC stated in a Toronto Star article that the island is facing the worst crisis in its history. That is true. Electricity generation, hospitals, health services, sanitation, public transport, food distribution, and access to potable water are at a standstill, and blackouts occur more frequently than periods of electricity supply.

What Christie Neufeldt — Global Partnerships coordinator for the UCC and a member of the Americas Policy Group — failed to mention is that the crisis predates the Trump administration; furthermore, according to an investigation by The Miami Herald, before the cessation of discounted fuel shipments from Venezuela, the Castro family sold the majority of that oil on the black market and pocketed the proceeds.

Neufeldt moved straight to calling for an end to the U.S. “blockade” (embargo) on Cuba, blaming it for the harsh conditions faced by women, children, and the elderly on the ground; however, she avoided mentioning the more than one thousand political prisoners held in Castro-era jails.

Framing the conversation about Cuba within a narrative where the island is David and “Yankee imperialism” is Goliath is a long-standing propaganda tactic initiated by Fidel Castro — one that continues to bear fruit internationally to this day through the rhetoric and actions of the UCC.

The Canadian denomination announced that its General Secretary, Michael Blair, would visit Cuba in late March. He did so as part of an international ecumenical delegation — led by Jerry Pillay, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches — that visited the island from March 28 to 31, 2026.

The visit was criticized by the Patmos Institute in a public statement, primarily for ignoring the persecution of independent churches and religious leaders in Cuba and for meeting only with religious bodies aligned with the state. The Institute maintained that the delegation was used by Havana to legitimize its international narrative and that the statements issued by Pillay regarding religious freedom did not reflect the reality documented by independent organizations.

During a meeting with Miguel Díaz-Canel, the dictator asked them to “demonstrate this reality; to tell of this reality.” And that is what more than one pro-Castro religious institution in North America has done since then: propagate a narrative tailored to Castroism.

Mobilization and Political Lobbying

To bolster the international defense of Castroism, the UCC mobilizes Canadian political coalitions of which it is a member. One such example is Common Frontiers — comprising “labor, environmental, faith-based, and social justice organizations” — which seeks to prevent Canadian foreign policy from aligning with Washington’s regarding Cuba.

In a recent petition drive, the coalition sought “Canada’s commitment to an independent foreign policy regarding Cuba that respects self-determination.”

It called on potential signatories to join in urging “Canadian elected officials to increase humanitarian aid, oppose the U.S. oil embargo, and uphold Canada’s commitment to Cuba’s self-determination.” It also asked Mark Carney’s government to “adopt a firm stance against U.S. aggression.”

The coalition garners support from unions such as the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the United Steelworkers (with over 850,000 members across Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean) for fundraising and shipping containers of goods to the State — a process that precludes oversight regarding their actual delivery to the population.