Cuban pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo was released from prison before completing his eight-year sentence for peacefully protesting in 2021, joining several others who were freed after the United States government removed Cuba from a key terror list.
Rosales Fajardo, who had been serving a sentence linked to Cuba’s 2021 protests, was released on Friday from Mar Verde prison as part of a mass amnesty, the United Kingdom-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide announced.
He was one of 553 political prisoners chosen to be released, alongside Afro-Cuban Yoruba religious leader Donaida Pérez Paseiro, who had also been behind bars. Pérez Paseiro’s husband, ethnic Yoruba leader Loreto Hernández García, was not freed.
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The mass amnesty occurred after the U.S. announced it would remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move criticized by both Democrats and Republicans who allege that Cuba is complicit in enabling Hamas, Hezbollah and other “terrorist enemies” of the U.S.
Pastor Rosales Fajardo was first taken into custody on July 11, 2021, in Palma Soriano, along with hundreds of others who participated in peaceful demonstrations across the island. In a June 2024 statement, the eight-country International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance said authorities “beat him and treated him in a violent and humiliating manner” following his arrest.
His detention, due to his religious leadership and involvement in nonviolent gatherings, was seen as politically motivated. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention deemed his detention “arbitrary.”
The pastor was prosecuted in December 2021 on charges that included disrespect, assault, criminal incitement and public disorder. The number of political prisoners in Cuba increased five-fold in 2021 as the government cracked down on protesters demonstrating for various reasons, including a shortage of medicine and food during the pandemic, according to the Madrid-based watchdog Prisoners Defenders.
The demonstrations represented the largest protest against Cuba’s Communist dictatorship since 1959, the year Fidel Castro took power.
The pastor was initially placed in Boniato Maximum Security Prison. In early 2023, his relatives confirmed that he was transferred to a lower-security facility closer to home.
Pastor Rosales Fajardo was “singled out for humiliation” in detention, according to The IRFBA, with prison guards speaking disparagingly about his faith. He was placed in a “punishment cell” in 2022 when he refused to halt sharing his religious teachings inside the prison.
Family members had repeatedly expressed concern over his treatment and the conditions of confinement.
During appellate proceedings, only prosecutors were permitted to introduce evidence, which included the testimony of a dozen police officers, while the pastor’s lawyer allegedly faced restrictions in accessing case files.
CSW cites a document from the Permanent Mission of Cuba in Geneva to the United Nations that first referred to an eight-year sentence, then mentioned a revised term of seven years without a clear explanation.
CSW’s Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl says the pastor and Yoruba leader have endured “abusive treatment.”
“We call on the Cuban government to immediately release Loreto Hernández García, and to ensure that Pastor Rosales Fajardo and all political prisoners and their families are free to enjoy their freedom without any further harassment,” Strangl said.
