The evangelical pastor Maikel Pupo Velázquez, from the Church of the Sacred Blessing Fire Word in Camagüey, was detained for calling on Cuban churches to a public prayer for the nation.
The complaint was made on Facebook by Darlon Bermúdez, leader of the San Juan Methodist Church in Santiago de Cuba, who requested prayers for his brother in faith.
"His wife is desperate, and they have their eldest daughter hospitalized in Cardiology," Bermúdez specified.
It would not be the first arrest of Pupo Velázquez. In July 2025, he was detained after attempting to visit and bring medication to the family of two political prisoners from the 11J. Subsequently, sources from Christian Solidarity Worldwide confirmed that he had been interrogated and threatened.
His arrest is part of a wave of religious repression that has intensified in Cuba in recent weeks.
On October 1, Pastor Rolando Pérez Lora, known as "Pregonero de Cristo", was arrested while heading to the People's Municipal Court of East Havana to support activist Anna Bensi and her mother Caridad Silvente during their trial.
The next day, the Pentecostal pastor Ariel Limias Leiva was arrested at the National Capitol and taken to Villa Marista, where he remains incommunicado.
In Camagüey, the province where Pupo Velázquez is from, there has been a recurring scenario of religious repression. Last January, the State Security summoned and interrogated the priests Alberto Reyes Pías and Castor José Álvarez Devesa, who received warning notices for their public criticisms. In September, the authorities prohibited a church in Minas from delivering breakfast to the elderly and sick at home.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide recorded 667 cases of violations of religious freedom in Cuba between January 2025 and June 2026, including 94 "warning acts" against religious leaders used to intimidate and justify future arrests.
On October 6, 21 priests from the Episcopal Church of Cuba, led by Bishop Ángel Roberto Rivera Rodríguez, published a letter in which they denounced "violence, intimidation, and police harassment" against citizens demanding rights recognized by the Cuban Constitution itself, and described a crisis characterized by "shortages of food, medicine, and water, irregular power outages, and the deterioration of healthcare and education systems."
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