A Protestant pastor in Cuba has been arrested and imprisoned after attempting to organise a public prayer gathering, despite reportedly cancelling the event following warnings from the authorities.
Pastor Maikel Pupo Velázquez, who leads the unregistered Sacred Blessing Word of Fire Church in Camagüey, was detained by officers from Cuba's Department of State Security (DSE) on 26 September.
According to Christian human rights organisation CSW, he has been charged with "disobedience" and is being held at La Cerámica Roja Prison on the outskirts of Camagüey City.
The pastor had planned to hold a public prayer event at Cándido González Morales Stadium but was summoned by security officials on 25 September and warned not to proceed.
CSW reports that he was threatened with imprisonment if people gathered at the stadium.
The organisation says Pastor Pupo Velázquez complied with the warning and cancelled the event. However, concerned that some young people might not have received the message, he went to the stadium to encourage anyone arriving to leave.
According to sources who spoke to CSW, officers from the Technical Investigations Department arrived on a motorcycle and arrested him as he approached the venue.
The pastor was subsequently held without communication with the outside world for nine days at the local state security headquarters before being transferred to prison.
CSW says his wife was not informed of his detention and only discovered where he was being held after the pastor's stepfather visited the facility.
His imprisonment comes at a particularly difficult time for his family, with his 16-year-old daughter receiving treatment in the cardiac ward of Eduardo Agramonte Piña Paediatric Hospital.
CSW's director of advocacy and Americas team leader, Anna Lee Stangl, has called for his immediate release.
She said: "There is no rational justification for the decision of the Department of State Security to detain him for simply encouraging others of his faith to pray for Cuba. To prevent any communication with his wife, even as their teenage daughter is in hospital, is inhumane. We call on the international community to join us in urging the Cuban government to free him and drop all charges against him.’
This isn't the pastor's first time being detained for this faith. He was arrested in July 2025 after attempting to deliver medicine and other assistance to the families of two political prisoners.
