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Diario de Cuba: activists alert the pope to nearly 1,000 religious freedom violations in Cuba
The organizations Defensa Cuba Decide and OLIRE asked Pope Leo XIV to keep the island's situation within the debate on religious freedom during his trip to Latin America, Diario de Cuba reported.
The complaints center Defensa Cuba Decide and the Latin American Observatory for Religious Freedom (OLIRE) alerted Pope Leo XIV to nearly 1,000 violations of religious freedom in Cuba and asked him to keep the island's situation within the debate on that right during his trip to Latin America, Diario de Cuba reported.
Defensa Cuba Decide documented 137 violations of religious freedom in September 2026, involving 90 people persecuted, harassed or arbitrarily detained on religious grounds, 35 women and 55 men; 50 of those cases were in Havana, 24 in Villa Clara and 16 in Pinar del Río, according to Infobae. The report highlighted the case of pastor Alián López Rodríguez, who faced summonses, detentions, surveillance and restrictions on visiting prisoners in Cabaiguán, Sancti Spíritus.
Pope Leo XIV arrived in Argentina for a visit scheduled between November 8 and 11, according to Cubadebate. Yamacoa has not been able to consult the document sent to the pontiff, nor the period covered by the figure of nearly 1,000 violations.
Sources: Diario de Cuba · Infobae · Cubadebate
Data updated: 2026-11-09T16:15:00.000Z