Cuba: Followers of Santeria lay out predictions for 2025

During a ceremony in Cuba to mark the beginning of 2025, followers of Santeria, an Afro-Caribbean religion, set out their predictions for the coming year.

Some fear that Cuba is fated to grapple with problems unless authorities take action.

"What we are seeing (in Cuban society) is prostitution day and night. We are seeing drug trafficking, alcohol and drug consumption is on the rise in the country. What are we doing to clean up and take care of our youth? What are we doing? We have to work from the religious point of view," says priest Rancell Montero.

The communist-run island is facing an economic crisis that has triggered food shortages and blackouts .

Some at the event thought that US support is necessary to put the country back on its feet.

“The only hope that exists is the consensus between Cuba and the United States that is achieved, I think that we must do it. Yes, we have to change things here, we have to change the way we are seen from the U.S. side. Cuba needs many changes and for that we have to listen to the Cuban people,” Montero insists.

Stemming from traditions of African slaves and their syncretism with Catholicism, Santeria is the most widespread religion on the island.

It has spread to several other countries including the US, Colombia, and Spain, where communities also make yearly predictions.

According to some estimates, Santeria has some 100 million followers across the world.