{"id":29978,"date":"2025-07-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/pastor-forcibly-disappeared-for-14-hours-6568\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:14:15","slug":"pastor-forcibly-disappeared-for-14-hours-6568","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/press\/pastor-forcibly-disappeared-for-14-hours-6568\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor forcibly disappeared for 14 hours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A pastor and member of the Alliance of Christians of Cuba (ACC) was disappeared for approximately 14 hours from midday on 9 July after he attempted to make a pastoral visit to the mother of two political prisoners in San Jos\u00e9 de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Maikel Pupo Vel\u00e1zquez, who leads Ministerio Palabra de Fuego Bendici\u00f3n Sagrada Church in Camag\u00fcey, was intercepted as he was delivering epilepsy medication for the granddaughter of Marta Perdomo Benites, the mother of brothers Jorge and Nadir Mart\u00edn Perdomo<\/a> who have been imprisoned for four years for their participation in the unprecedented peaceful protests that swept across the island on 11 July 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the pastor was successfully able to deliver the medication, he was prevented from entering Ms Perdomo\u2019s house and was disappeared immediately afterwards whilst on the phone to another pastor at approximately 12 noon. His phone was switched off and neither his family nor his fellow pastors were able to contact him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group of pastors from the ACC who made enquiries at hospitals, police stations and provisional detention centres were repeatedly informed that Pastor Pupo was not detained and that they would need to wait 72 hours in order to file a complaint. At approximately 2am on 10 July, Pastor Pupo appeared outside his house in Camag\u00fcey. CSW sources have since confirmed that he had been detained, interrogated and threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reverend Enrique Fundora Perez, an exiled Cuban pastor and freedom of religion or belief advocate, said: \u2018Pastor Maikel is under police control for three days, unable to move from his home. His wife told me that although he is physically okay, he is visibly affected, sometimes shouting, sometimes silent, not wanting to mention the details of what happened to him.\u2019<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pastor\u2019s disappearance follows a wave increased restrictions<\/a> on religious leaders and independent civil society in the lead-up to the fourth anniversary of the protests of 11 July 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Church leaders from different denominations across the country have been told not to allow the families of political prisoners to take part in any religious activities occurring on the dates surrounding the anniversary. In addition, some leaders of unregistered churches have been warned that they are not permitted to hold services if more than a certain number of people \u2013 the number varies \u2013 are expected to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 29 June to 3 July Henry Constant\u00edn Ferreiro, director of La Hora de Cuba, was subjected to four days of arbitrary detention in the Garrido State Security jail in Camag\u00fcey after he was arrested whilst accompanying a colleague who was complying with a police summons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement<\/a> posted to Instagram on 3 July, Mr Constant\u00edn confirmed his release and described his detention as \u2018four difficult, uncomfortable days\u2019 during which he was subjected to \u2018threats that will continue to weigh on [him] in the time to come\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s CEO Scot Bower said: \u2018Tomorrow Cuba marks the fourth anniversary of unprecedented nationwide protests that saw people of all walks of life come together and call for justice, freedom, human rights and democracy. The Cuban Communist Party continues to stand in the way of these legitimate requests. We are highly concerned at its ongoing efforts to silence and punish independent voices in the country, and particularly at the detentions and mistreatment of Pastor Maikel Pupo Vel\u00e1zquez and Henry Constant\u00edn Ferreiro as they were simply being of assistance to others. We continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining political prisoners, and insist that the Cuban authorities must cease their efforts to restrict the fundamental rights of all citizens to freedom of expression, assembly and religion or belief.\u2019<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pastor was disappeared for approximately 14 hours from midday on 9 July after he attempted to make a pastoral visit to the mother of two political prisoners in San Jos\u00e9 de las Lajas.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44114,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[140,137],"class_list":["post-29978","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-cuba","regions-latin-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40564,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29978\/revisions\/40564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29978"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}