A bi-vocational pastor was released from jail in Cuba last Friday after authorities accused him under false pretenses of “hoarding” tools for his bicycle repair shop.
Authorities held Pastor Karel Parra Rosabal in prison for 10 days before his release according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a nonprofit that serves persecuted believers in over 20 countries.
The prosecutor’s office dropped the charges and allowed the pastor of the Fuego y Dinámica Apostolic Church in Jobabo to present proof-of-purchase documents for his work tools. The government didn’t return the tools he needed to make a livelihood, however.
Anna Stangl of CSW told The Christian Post: “The economic situation in Cuba is really bad right now. For someone like [Rosabal], this business would have been his only or main source of income. This puts him at serious risk of not being able to feed his own family. Cubans do receive rations from the government but it’s not enough to survive on.”
And she contends Cuba likely let Rosabal free while still intending to destroy his ministry.
Stangl believes the government released the pastor so that the world could believe the fight for his freedom was over. Once people stop paying attention, it will likely keep the tools Rosabal needs to make a living.
He will either give up pastoring for a job, or his family will go hungry, warned Stangl. Most Cuban pastors persecuted by the government in similar ways continue to preach the Gospel.
“In the words he used, he was ‘kicked out of his cell and told to go home,’” she recalled. “Once the harassment starts, it will continue. It looks good on paper. He’s out of jail. But he can’t support his own family.”