Cuban Christians Risk Everything to Proclaim "Jesus Is Lord" Under Communist Rule

A generation of faith-fueled voices is rising up against oppression — and paying a steep price for it.

From a small room in Holguín, Cuba, a young man named Ernesto Ricardo Medina began filming short videos with friends in early 2024. Armed with nothing more than a chalkboard bearing the words Dios es el Señor — "God is the Lord" — and an unshakeable conviction that truth must be spoken, Medina built one of the most influential Christian voices on the island.

"Jesus is Lord, not the Communist Party of Cuba," he declared in a January 2026 video that drew nearly 70,000 likes. "They've taken everything from us — food, health, hope. They've even taken our own self-respect."

Eleven days later, Cuban authorities arrested 32-year-old Medina and his filming partner on charges of "propaganda against the constitutional order." He remains behind bars.

But his spirit is not.

In early April, Medina managed to smuggle a message to his fellow believers — written on sheets of toilet paper. "I deeply long for my freedom," he wrote, "but I know that this is an opportunity the Father has given me so that he may be glorified in me. He is the God of all comfort, and although the pain has been greater than I ever imagined, his presence has been even greater."

A Movement Born of Faith and Courage

Medina is not alone. A growing wave of young Cuban evangelicals is using social media — YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X — to simultaneously proclaim the gospel and denounce the oppression of Cuba's Communist regime. Combined, influencers Ivan Daniel Navarro, David Espinosa, and Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente (known as Anna Bensi) have hundreds of thousands of followers.

Yoe Suárez, a Christian Cuban journalist now in exile in the United States and an analyst at the Family Research Council, has watched this movement grow firsthand. He pioneered independent journalism in Cuba before government harassment forced him to flee to the US. "These evangelical influencers are the most influential independent political voices in Cuba today," Suárez said.

The movement has deep roots. When Cuba authorized home internet in 2017 and mobile 3G in 2018, the regime saw a financial opportunity — not realizing it was handing its citizens a megaphone. Evangelical Christians began stepping into political activism, from the Evangelical Civic Movement in 2018 to the mass "11J" protests of 2021, where thousands marched peacefully for freedom — and more than 700 were arrested, including pastors and church members.

For generations, the phrase Los Cristianos no se meten en política — "Christians don't get involved in politics" — kept the Cuban church politically silent. Suárez believes this was by design: a tool the regime uses to keep "the sleeping giant" of the church from waking up. That giant is now awake.

Faithful Under Fire

David Espinosa, 38, an audiovisual producer at Havana's Calvary Baptist Church, began posting evangelical content on Facebook in 2014. Like many, he found he could not stay silent about the injustices surrounding him. "I've had to use whatever I have on hand to somehow speak out," he said. "The truth is Jesus Christ, the truth of the gospel, the truth of the Bible — and the wrongs our leaders are doing."

His faithfulness has come at a price. On April 13, police interrogated him for nearly two and a half hours, fined him $125 USD, threatened him with prison, warned him his children's safety was at risk, and told him his filming equipment would be confiscated — all in an attempt to silence him. Some in the church have called him a zelote (zealot) or even a false Christian. But far more have rallied around him, sending messages of solidarity and prayer from across Cuba.

"God has given us the responsibility to speak the truth and share his Word," Espinosa said. "It's been hard and it's dangerous, but we know that God is with us, and that's why we're doing it."

Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente became an overnight sensation in October 2025 when a video she posted citing Cuba's own constitution went viral. Now 20 years old, she has since called openly for the dismantling of the dictatorship. Cuban state security responded by placing both her and her mother under house arrest, threatening her mother with five years in prison, and accusing Anna of being a foreign-funded mercenary. Through it all, Anna's faith has not wavered. "No matter what happens," she told her followers, "everything will be for our good. Amen."

She continues to upload content from home.

A Church Scattered — and Standing Firm

Not every Cuban Christian can remain. Many have been forced to flee. Ivan Daniel Navarro, a 22-year-old who founded a YouTube channel called Voz de Verdad (Voice of Truth) to share the gospel with Cuban young people, was summoned by police in 2023 and threatened with imprisonment. In late March of this year, he and his wife left Cuba and sought political refuge in Spain.

Suárez himself had to flee to the United States after years of government harassment. He is one of many Cuban Christians who have sought safety and refuge in the US and elsewhere, driven out by a government that treats the proclamation of truth as a criminal act. Those who remain in Cuba do so either out of a deep sense of divine calling or because a legal path out does not exist — both groups facing constant surveillance, intimidation, and the ever-present threat of imprisonment.

"Our mission is to preach the gospel and make disciples," Navarro said before leaving. "Remaining silent and turning a blind eye to injustice is the very opposite of the gospel."

Darkness Cannot Silence the Light

The Cuban government has worked hard to suppress these voices. In addition to arrests, interrogations, and threats, authorities weaponize communication itself — cutting off WhatsApp accounts, disrupting cell service, and causing rolling blackouts. Amnesty International has noted that Cuban authorities deliberately cause outages to prevent citizens from organizing or documenting human rights abuses. An already dire situation has been worsened by a US oil blockade that has left Cubans without fuel, reliable power, or adequate food.

Yet the message keeps getting out.

"I know even more surely that the truth doesn't need mobile data to make its way," Espinosa wrote to his followers. "And when a child of God is blocked, the Lord himself often opens up paths in ways that no one can even begin to understand. I won't stop speaking out about what I've seen and heard. My loyalty is to the Lord, not to men."

How to Pray: Lift up Ernesto Medina and all Cuban Christians imprisoned for their faith. Pray for courage for those who remain, safe refuge for those who have fled, and open doors for the gospel to continue spreading across Cuba — no blackout, no arrest, and no government powerful enough to stop it.