ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, looks at the plight of Protestant pastors in Cuba who were detained in relation to ongoing protests in the country…
New Malden, Surrey, UK
Last month, unprecedented protests erupted across Cuba in response to the country’s ongoing and severe economic crisis and a record surge in coronavirus cases. Calls soon moved to criticisms of the Cuban Communist Party’s decades-long crackdown on human rights and democracy, as well as of their general handling of the pandemic.
Protests have continued to date, with police and state security forces responding violently and heavy-handedly after Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel gave a televised ‘military order’ for revolutionaries to retake the streets by force. The number of those reportedly detained has continued to climb ever since, with many detainees held incommunicado for days or weeks at a time.
Protestant Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo and his wife Maridilegnis. PICTURE: Courtesy of CSW.
“Until 7th August, Pastor Rosales Fajardo was held incommunicado, with his family repeatedly denied contact with him and prevented from bringing him food and personal hygiene items on multiple occasions. His lawyer has also reportedly only been able to meet with him on one occasion.”
Among those currently detained in relation to the protests is Protestant Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo. On 11th July, the day the protests began, Pastor Rosales Fajardo, accompanied by his 17-year-old son and other members of his church, joined in peaceful demonstrations in the town of Palma Soriano in the province of Santiago de Cuba.
Both Pastor Rosales Fajardo and his son were arrested at the same time, although the two were swiftly separated. The pastor later told his lawyer that he was handcuffed, thrown to the ground and repeatedly kicked with force in his abdomen and face, resulting in the loss of a tooth.
Pastor Rosales Fajardo’s son was released nearly a week later, on 17th July, having been considered ‘disappeared’ for the six days in which he was detained. He reported that he had been blindfolded and transported in a blacked-out truck, so did not know where he had been held. The pastor has remained imprisoned ever since, with CSW sources reporting that the government plans to charge him with ‘disrespect’, ‘public disorder,’ and ‘attacks.’
Until 7th August, Pastor Rosales Fajardo was held incommunicado, with his family repeatedly denied contact with him and prevented from bringing him food and personal hygiene items on multiple occasions. His lawyer has also reportedly only been able to meet with him on one occasion.
The pastor’s wife, Maridilegnis Carballo, was finally permitted to speak to him in a three-minute phone call on 7th August. She described the call to CSW as “a ray of Light”, saying: “Today I spoke to my husband, only for three minutes, but they were three minutes of weeping, of happiness, of encouragement; it was very special and to be able to hear his voice, I give thanks to God for this gift.”
Pastor Rosales Fajardo is reportedly now being held in the Boniato Maximum Security Prison outside Santiago de Cuba. The prison, built in 1945, is notorious for its terrible conditions, particularly at the height of summer. It is also usually a prison where convicted criminals already serving sentences are sent, but Pastor Rosales Fajardo has not yet been tried or sentenced. There are concerns that the Cuban Government may actively encourage other prisoners to mistreat the pastor – a technique which the authorities have used in the past.
The pastor’s continued detention, and the Cuban Government’s cruel treatment of his wife and family, is a stark reminder of the ongoing and severe violations of human rights taking place in the country today – one of the reasons protests sprang up in the first place.
Cuban Pastors Yarian Sierra and Yeremi Rodriguez. PICTURE: Courtesy of CSW.
He is also not the only religious leader to have been detained in this latest crackdown, with Protestant pastors Yéremi Blanco Ramírez and Yarian Sierra Madrigal also held incommunicado for two weeks in Matanzas after being detained on 11th July.
While both men were released into house arrest on 24th July, they continue to face charges, and Pastor Sierra and his family remain homeless having been evicted from their home after their landlord faced pressure to do so from Cuban State Security. A Catholic priest, Father Castor José Álvarez Devesa, was also reportedly beaten and detained incommunicado by Cuban authorities in Camagüey in central Cuba on 11th July. He was released the following afternoon.
It is essential that the international community holds the Cuban Communist Party to account for its violent response to protests, and for its unjust treatment of protesters like Pastor Rosales Fajardo. We too can play a part in this, specifically by encouraging our own governments to raise these issues with Cuba at every opportunity.
We can also continue to pray for Cuba, calling on God with these words from Psalm 82 to defend the weak and the fatherless, uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed, and to rescue the weak and the needy, delivering them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 82:3-4).
Ellis Heasley is public affairs officer at UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW.
