Protests in Morón, Cuba, erupted the night of March 13 and lasted through the next day in response to a week of blackouts and shortages of medical and food supplies. Protestors ransacked and set fire to the Cuban Communist Party’s headquarters. Among those arrested on March 16 were evangelical pastor Elier Muir Ávila and his son, Jonathan Muir Burgos. Though the pastor is now free, his 16-year-old son is still behind bars.
The adolescent is reportedly detained at the Department of Technical Investigations (DTI) in Ciego de Ávila. Authorities questioned him about his presence at the protests and his alleged calls for freedom.
His family is fighting for a quick release from jail, especially considering Jonathan’s fragile health. Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s Director of Advocacy, Anna Lee Stangl, also issued a statement, calling on the Cuban government to act immediately.
“The detention of a 16-year-old child, with a serious medical condition, simply because he attempted to exercise his freedom of expression is unconscionable,” Stangl said. “Despite the gravity of the situation on the island–with rampant hunger, scarcity of medicine, outbreaks of disease, and the failure of the power grid, the answer of President Miguel Canel Diaz and the Cuban Communist Party is to round up and imprison those who dare to call for change.”
Jonathan’s arrest is an indicator not only of the government’s crackdown on freedom activists but also on religion. According to a report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Cuban government is targeting the children of parents who are involved in religious activities not sanctioned by the Communist Party.
Jonathan’s arrest sends a message to the Muir family, reinstating a warning given to the pastor in 2024. Religious leaders and government officials visited Muir Ávila to tell him that “only churches that the CCP accepts exist, and only pastors who the CCP recognizes can minister, and so, neither he, nor his church were authorized to exist,” according to Patmos Institute.
Throughout the years, the family has received threats and harassment, ultimately culminating in the arrest of their son.
Still, the family stands for not only a free Cuba but a Cuba that believes in the true gospel. Cuban-born evangelical reverend Mario Félix Lleonart told Martí Noticias that they are holding fast to a “gospel that loves Cuba and is not at odds with reality, but on the contrary wants to transform it, which is the true gospel as we understand it. A gospel that frees from everything that oppresses and overwhelms.”
