Cuba protests: Christian leaders beaten, imprisoned in government crackdown; Call for Christians worldwide to pray; “Help us!”
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Christian pastors are among at least 100 people who have been beaten and imprisoned by the Cuban government amid nationwide protests against systemic rights violations, the severe economic crisis, and the surge in COVID-19 cases, the Christian Post reports. Pleading for help from the international community, the wife of an imprisoned pastor has called on Christians worldwide to pray for Cubans suffering government violence.
Multiple religious freedom advocates and Christian organizations have condemned the actions of the Cuban government in suppressing the protests and in arresting, beating, and detaining innocent people who are peacefully protesting, the Christian Post reports.
“Cuban authorities are detaining religious leaders merely for peacefully protesting and calling for greater respect for human rights,” James W. Carr, a commissioner with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said in a statement. “Principal among human rights concerns in Cuba are the ongoing and systematic violations of religious freedom, which include the persistent intimidation and harassment of religious leaders,” Carr added.
Human rights activist and pastor Rev. Mario Félix Lleonart Barroso has reported that, among others, Berean Baptist pastors Yeremi Blanco Ramírez and Yarian Sierra, who tutor at the William Carey Biblical Seminary, have both been imprisoned.
“I am making a call to the world please, they are killing people, disappearing people, beating them, murdering parents in front of their children, Ramírez’s wife, Adelys Rodríguez Reyes, told Christian Solidarity Worldwide on Thursday. “Help us!!!! Our families are suffering. I call on Christians in Cuba and in the world to pray and intercede for all the disappeared,” Ms. Ramirez pleaded.
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