‘Illegal to Mention God’: Cuban Pastor and Wife Detained, Facing 8 Years in Prison

Cuban authorities are seeking to imprison a pastor and his wife for eight years simply because they invoked their religious beliefs during a military tribunal, according to a religious freedom watchdog group.

Pastor Luis Guillermo Borjas and his wife, Roxana Rojas, were detained last week in a Cuban jail after they were charged with the crimes of disrespect and disobeying the authorities, according to the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

The couple, who are affiliated with the Assemblies of God denomination which has legal approval to operate in Cuba, initially appeared in court after being summoned for a military tribunal for their son.

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Kevin Laureido Rojas had run away from a military facility after having been taken by force to perform the military service that is required of all Cuban males at the age of 18, despite having a medical exemption. 

The couple had presented court documents from a medical commission that outlined that their son had a psychiatric condition that made him unfit to join the military. 

“When the military prosecutor accused the couple of lying and presenting false evidence, Pastor Borjas protested, stating that the officials in the court would be accountable to ‘God’s justice’. The prosecutor then ordered the couple to be detained and charged, claiming that it is illegal to mention God or God’s justice in a military tribunal,” explained CSW in a press release.

The prosecutor has requested that they be sentenced to eight years in prison. 

A trial for the couple is set for June 9th, but CSW is pleading with Cuban authorities for their release.

The group reports that Rojas has a heart condition and was taken to hospital, unconscious, on the same night he was detained. Additionally, hospital reports reveal that Rojas was harassed by a young man in civilian clothes who falsely claimed to be a nurse. 

“CSW calls on the Cuban authorities to immediately drop the criminal charges against Pastors Luis Guillermo Borjas and Roxana Rojas, and to release Pastor Borjas from detention,” CSW’s Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said.

“It is unacceptable that a simple reference to their religious beliefs in response to the military’s unjust treatment of their family should be criminalized, and even more unconscionable that the government would seek an eight-year prison sentence. CSW urges the international community to press the Cuban government to uphold the often intersecting rights to freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief for all,” she continued. 

The communist country is number 26 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2025, which ranks the countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.

Cuba has ranked higher on the list in the past, and Open Doors cites the only reason it has lowered is because persecution has worsened in other countries.

“Cuba’s humanitarian crisis grew worse this year, as mass protests against the government’s repressive regime continued and action against dissidents increased. Church leaders and Christian activists who speak out against human rights abuses and support protestors are still targeted. These leaders often face hostility, including arbitrary arrest,” World Watch List explains on their website.

Cuban Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo spent more than three years in prison for protesting the communist nation’s human rights violations, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

Cuban authorities detained Rosales Fajardo after he joined thousands of Cubans protesting the Communist regime’s treatment of its citizens. 

The pastor of Monte de Sion Independent Church in Palma Soriano, Cuba, was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted on charges of criminal incitement, assault, public disorder, and disrespect. 

Rosales Fajardo was released along with 553 political prisoners after the Biden administration agreed to remove Cuba from the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

Last September, The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reported that authorities “beat him and treated him in a violent and humiliating manner” following his arrest.