An independent Protestant pastor was arrested by political police in Matanzas, Cuba for allegedly recording a Bible teaching video and uploading it to his YouTube channel on the morning of 15 March.
Pastor Rolando Pérez Lora was arrested in a park in Peñas Altas, Matanzas, one of only two locations in the area with access to public wifi, almost immediately after he had finished uploading the clip to his Pregonero de Cristo (Christ’s Herald) channel. The pastor told CSW that this is a weekly practice, and that while he is recording people often gather to listen and some request prayer, which his wife, Gelayne Rodríguez Ávila, provides.
The pastor’s wife uploaded video of his arrest to social media, in which she explains: ‘We were making a video in the park, and they are taking Pastor Rolando away because he uploaded a video reading the Bible to his YouTube channel.’
In the video, two police officers can be seen forcing the pastor into a patrol car. He tells them: ‘You're mistreating me for no reason; I haven't done anything wrong; this man is mistreating me.’ He is eventually forced into the patrol car as the cries of his young children can be heard.
Dozens of internet users quickly shared the video on other Facebook accounts, causing it to garner over 300,000 views in less than 24 hours and sparking demands to know the pastor's whereabouts and condition. The pastor was taken to the Playa Police Station and held there for three hours before being released.
Pastor Rolando told CSW that he has been a target of the authorities since he became a pastor in 2011. Before moving to Matanzas, he led a church associated with the registered Evangelical League in the eastern province of Las Tunas. ‘In the East we were always persecuted. It was very serious... I always made it clear I wanted to serve all the people, I shared as much as I could, the majority of times all by myself and the authorities looked badly upon this work. State Security in Las Tunas summoned me many times, they harassed me, sending [police] patrols to my house ... every time we went out to do a spiritual walk, to pray for the town, we were followed constantly by the police... there are many stories... I know that we are not alone, that there are many people who want to help, especially in this moment when it is so needed’.
The pastor’s detention came with a context of civil unrest, with protests taking place across the island following seven consecutive nights of black outs and extreme shortages of food and medicine in many parts of the country. In the very early hours of Saturday 14 March protesters sacked and then set on fire the Cuban Communist Party offices in the city of Moron, in Ciego de Ávila Province. One protester was reportedly shot. The government shut off the internet to the city and surrounding areas, in an apparent effort to stop news of the protests from spreading.
A Cuban lawyer told CSW that the authorities detained some activists and influencers across the island and effectively put many others under house arrest over the weekend. ‘The truth is [the authorities] don’t know [how to act] differently and this is dangerous because they can easily fall into fanaticism which can lead them set themselves on fire, and this is dangerous. Cuba is not Venezuela, [they’ve been in power] for more than 70 years.’
CSW’s Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said: ‘CSW condemns the arrest of Pastor Rolando Pérez Lora, who has clearly been targeted simply because he shared his faith publicly and because of his influence in his community. While we are relieved that he was released within hours, he never should have been detained in the first place. The authorities must immediately cease their harassment of him and all other religious leaders and others who are simply seeking to address the urgent needs across the island. Members of the international community must also communicate, as a matter of urgency, to the Cuban Communist Party that its harassment and illegal detention of members of independent civil society exercising their basic right to freedom of expression must stop.’