In addition to beginning joint global actions for peace, social justice, and the empowering of the ecumenical community, an agreement signed last week by the Cuban Council of Churches (CIC) and the U.S. Rainbow Coalition PUSH will seek to have Cuba removed from the list of “countries that support terrorism,” as categorized by the U.S. government.

The agreement was signed here by CIC President Joel Ortega Dopico, pastor of Varadero Presbyterian Church and stated clerk of Matanzas Presbytery of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder of the Rainbow Coalition, during a recent visit by Jackson to Cuba.

CIC and PUSH said they will carry out joint theological conferences and pastoral programs.   

Those efforts will include analyzing of the role of the church as a force for social change, the freeing of U.S. prisoners in Guantánamo, motivating dialogue between the leaders of the two countries, and seeking an end to the more than 50-year-old U.S. economic blockade of Cuba.  

The agreement certifies that CIC ― which gathers together some 45 ecumenical institutions, churches and religious groups representing 1 million Christians in Cuba ― becomes an affiliate organization of the Rainbow Coalition.

Among its objectives, the Chicago-based Rainbow Coalition fosters human rights and actions for economic justice and peace in the U.S. and worldwide.