{"id":29445,"date":"2021-07-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/protestant-pastors-remain-in-prison-catholic-priest-released-5347\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:03:12","slug":"protestant-pastors-remain-in-prison-catholic-priest-released-5347","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/press\/protestant-pastors-remain-in-prison-catholic-priest-released-5347\/","title":{"rendered":"Protestant pastors remain in prison, Catholic priest released"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The leader of a Cuban seminary has made an urgent call for the immediate release of two pastors who were detained on the evening of 11 July following massive protests across Cuba. According to Reverend Jatniel Per\u00e9z, president of the William Carey Biblical Seminary, pastors Y\u00e9remi Blanco Ram\u00edrez and Yarian Sierra are being held in a wing of the women\u2019s prison in poor conditions in Matanzas.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reverend Per\u00e9z, who has been blocked from leaving his home by the police, reported that the men were warned that they will be held for at least a week. The wives of the two men were able to visit them on 12 July to bring them basic hygiene items, but Reverend Per\u00e9z said it would not be enough to last for seven days. Reverend Per\u00e9z also expressed grave concern for the health of the two men, especially Pastor Blanco Ram\u00edrez, who suffers from asthma, given the spiking numbers of COVID-19 infections in Matanzas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a post on Facebook<\/a>, Reverend Per\u00e9z stated \u201cI only ask one question: why have two pastors been imprisoned as if they were criminals for the simple act of watching a peaceful demonstration? I hold the government of Cuba and its president, Miguel D\u00edaz Canel, responsible for the health of pastor Y\u00e9remi Blanco, who suffers from bronchial asthma and for any chance of catching the covid in that unhygienic place \u2026 I urgently demand the release of Y\u00e9remi Blanco and Yarian Sierra. We ask all international organizations to please support us in calling for the urgent release of these two pastors. We fear for their lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least two other religious leaders were detained on 11 July including Father Castor Jos\u00e9 \u00c1lvarez Devesa, a Catholic priest who was beaten and detained in the Montecarlo Prison in Camag\u00fcey, and Reverend Yusniel P\u00e9rez Montejo, a member of the Eastern Baptist Convention of Cuba who was detained in the province of Santiago. Reverend P\u00e9rez Montejo\u2019s whereabouts are still unknown. Father Castor was released on the afternoon of 12 July and is recovering in his home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The detentions of the church leaders come amid a heavy-handed response<\/a> from Cuban State Security after protests erupted across the country on 11 July. A number of protesters and religious leaders have been arrested and some have been beaten. Many areas continue to be without electricity or internet after the government cut access as part of the crackdown. Some protests reportedly continued on 12 July, including in the central city of G\u00fcines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Head of Advocacy Anna-Lee Stangl said: \u201cCSW calls on the Cuban government to immediately release Pastor Sierra, Pastor Blanco Ram\u00edrez and Pastor Montejo P\u00e9rez and to cease its harassment of Reverend Per\u00e9z. We welcome news of the release of Father Castor, though we note that he never should have been detained as none of these men have committed any crime. We call on the Cuban authorities to hold those responsible for the assault on Father Castor to account, and to release all others who were detained in relation to the exercise of their fundamental rights immediately and without conditions. CSW condemns the Cuban government\u2019s explicit call to violence in the streets and urges President D\u00edaz Canel and other leaders of the Cuba Communist Party to take seriously and respond humanely and responsibly to the calls of the demonstrators.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The leader of a Cuban seminary has made an urgent call for the immediate release of two pastors who were detained on the evening of 11 July following massive protests across Cuba.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43582,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[140,137],"class_list":["post-29445","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-cuba","regions-latin-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40029,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29445\/revisions\/40029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29445"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}