The president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and rapporteur for Cuba, Stuardo Ralón, demanded that the Cuban regime put an end to the harassment of leaders and faith communities and release those who remain imprisoned for peacefully exercising their religious rights. This call was made on Tuesday, International Day of Religious Freedom, through his participation in a discussion hosted by the CD Defense Religious Freedom Observatory.
The Guatemalan jurist, elected president of the IACHR in March 2026, titled his speech "Faith is not monitored" and directed it with special emphasis towards the pastors, priests, and believers who connected to the meeting from the island.
"I respectfully and firmly ask the Cuban State to stop harassing leaders and faith communities, and to release those who are prisoners of conscience for exercising their rights peacefully," Ralón declared.
In addition to demanding an end to harassment and the release of political prisoners, the commissioner called for the regime to guarantee religious assistance to incarcerated individuals and to allow the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to conduct monitoring visits to the country, something that has so far been denied.
"The Commission has not been able to enter the island. But that doesn't make us blind or deaf. You, the civil society, are our eyes where the doors are closed to us," he stated.
In his speech, Ralón cited figures documented by the Defensa CD Observatory: between 87 and 140 violations of religious freedom per month in Cuba during 2026, with 139 cases in May, 122 in July, 140 in August, and 137 in September. He added data from the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, which recorded at least 873 incidents during 2025, and from Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which documented 667 cases between January 2025 and June 2026, affecting Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, practitioners of Afro-Cuban religions, and both registered and unregistered churches.
The commissioner also mentioned specific cases. One of them is that of pastor Alexis Padrón Lorenzo, from the Church of Communion in Faith in Regla, Havana, who was detained in June during a neighborhood protest over power outages and spent more than three months in prison before being released in September, although with an ongoing criminal process. Martí Noticias also highlighted the case of pastor Alián López Rodríguez, from the Tabernacle of the Promise in Cabaiguán, Sancti Spíritus, who was detained during a peaceful religious demonstration and has been harassed on multiple occasions throughout the year.
Ralón was particularly emphatic in pointing out that the most closely monitored communities are those that, guided by their faith, dare to feed the hungry, accompany the sick, or call for prayer for Cuba.
"When a state fears one who distributes bread and prays for its people, the issue lies not in faith. It lies in power," he emphasized.
The discussion also featured the participation of Father Mario Felix from Defensa CD and Dennis P. Petri from the Latin American Observatory on Religious Freedom (OLIRE). The meeting took place while the IACHR was holding its 197th Period of Sessions in Panama, where testimonies about religious persecution in Nicaragua were also addressed.
Ralón concluded his speech with a direct message to the Cuban believers who joined the conversation, acknowledging the risks involved: "Your voices matter. You are not alone."
According to data from Prisoners Defenders, Cuba had 1,351 political prisoners at the end of September 2026.
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