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The Supreme Court of Spain upheld the conviction of a man who acted as a spiritual guide within the Yoruba religion in Gran Canaria and who embezzled 11,000 euros given by a Cuban woman to fund a religious ceremony that was supposedly to take place in Cuba to save her life.
According to information published by the local newspaper Canarias7, the ruling indicates that the accused convinced the woman that she needed to travel to the island to undergo a religious coronation ceremony. The message was alarming: if she did not do it, she could die.
"If I wasn't going to Cuba to save myself, I was going to die," the victim declared during the judicial process.
Convinced by whom she considered her spiritual guide, the woman handed over various amounts of money between January and February 2020. To gather the total, she even applied for a bank loan.
The Provincial Court of Las Palmas concluded that there was a relationship of absolute trust and spiritual dependence between them, a circumstance that was crucial for evaluating the case.
The judges granted "full credibility" to the testimony of the complainant, which was also supported by other witnesses who confirmed both the delivery of the money and the influence the accused had over her.
The situation changed with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. The restrictions prevented the trip to Cuba from taking place, and the ceremony never occurred. However, the man also did not return the money.
"She never returned a single euro," concluded the Provincial Court.
During the trial, the defendant acknowledged having received the 11,000 euros, although he claimed that part of the amount had been used for preparatory rituals and other expenses related to the upcoming ceremony. He did not present any evidence to support that version.
The initial ruling was issued in November 2022 by the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas. Subsequently, both the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands and the Supreme Court rejected the appeals presented by the defense, upholding the conviction.
The high court emphasized that the crime was made possible by the "moral and spiritual superiority" that the defendant held over the victim within the Yoruba religion.
The judges dismissed the idea that it was merely a civil dispute or a disagreement over religious expenses. In their view, there was an aggravated misappropriation due to a breach of trust.
The sentence includes two years in prison, a fine of 3,000 euros, special disqualification from exercising the right to passive suffrage for the duration of the sentence, and the obligation to repay the 11,000 euros to the victim.
The case has once again brought attention to allegations of abuse related to religious practices in the Canary Islands, where a significant Cuban community resides.
According to data from the Canarian Institute of Statistics, almost 64,000 people born in Cuba currently live in the archipelago, making them the second largest migrant group in the region.
Concerns about this type of practice increased following the police operation conducted in December 2025 in Tenerife and Gran Canaria against the so-called "Templo Onise Iyanu," regarded by authorities as the largest santería network dismantled in Spain. The investigation concluded that its members used rituals and supposed spiritual powers to exert psychological control over their followers and obtain large sums of money.
Even recognized figures within the Yoruba religion have raised concerns in recent years about the proliferation of false religious leaders and fraudulent ceremonies that exploit people's emotional vulnerability to profit from their faith.
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