Cuba: Pastor Released After 3.5 Years in Jail for Protesting Rights Violations

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A pastor who was tortured and imprisoned in Cuba for protesting the government’s violation of human rights was released last week after serving three and half years in jail, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Communist Cuba ranks 26 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2025 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

Pastor of Monte de Sion Independent Church in Palma Soriano, Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo was freed on January 17 as part of a mass pardon deal negotiated by the Vatican part of a mass pardon agreement involving the phased release of 553 prisoners, ICC said.

Fajardo was released mid-way through a seven-year sentence he received in May 2022 on charges of criminal incitement, assault, public disorder, and disrespect, ICC reports. The pastor had participated in mass protests against the government’s handling of food and medicine distribution, electricity blackouts, and its restrictions on human rights.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reported last year that Fajardo was tortured in prison. “On one occasion, prison authorities beat Fajardo so severely that he lost a tooth. They then urinated on him,” the USCIRF said.

ICC notes in its report: “Communist governments, like that of Cuba, often restrict protests and levy spurious charges against demonstrators as a way of instilling fear in their citizens and deterring further opposition. Christians are frequent targets of communist governmental attacks due to their criticism and defense of human rights abuses.”

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