At the La Milagrosa church in Santos Suárez, José Ramírez provided food to a group of senior citizens and other social services.
14ymedio, Havana, December 11, 2025 / The Cuban government has expelled Mexican priest José Ramírez, a member of the Congregation of the Mission, for ringing the bells of the Parish of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal –- known as La Milagrosa –- in the Havana neighborhood of Santos Suárez, during a pot-banging protest against the incessant blackouts on December 9.
Church sources confirmed to Martí Noticias that the Government decided not to renew the priest’s temporary stay permit and urged him to leave the Island this Thursday.
Activist Adelth Bonne, a neighbor of the church, denounced in a Facebook video that this situation has caused alarm and shock in the neighborhood, where the parish priest led one of the most active social projects in the capital.
According to Bonne’s testimony, several people confirmed that police officers went to the church after the pot-banging protest. Some internal sources told parishioners that it was all a “misunderstanding,” but the order to leave suggests it was a direct punishment for the bell incident.
The expulsion has generated concern among hundreds of residents who depend daily on the social services provided by La Milagrosa. The church maintains a senior citizens’ group that offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner; makes home visits to bedridden individuals; distributes school supplies; and runs a free school for children with Down syndrome, which operates using its own resources. Many of these programs were coordinated by the parish priest, who is now forced to leave the island.
“It would be one of the greatest injustices of the year,” said Bonne, who has documented the church’s impact on neighborhood life for decades. “If they close or limit that work, many elderly people will have no way to survive.”
The incident involving the priest took place amidst a wave of demonstrations that erupted Monday night and into Tuesday morning — among the largest in recent months — in Havana and other provinces affected by power outages lasting between 12 and more than 20 hours. According to the government, the ringing of the church bells was interpreted as direct participation in a popular protest.
So far, neither the Archdiocese of Havana nor the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba has issued a public statement on the departure of the priest, who is already in Mexico.
This is not the first time that friction between the regime and the Church has led to expulsion, as happened in 2022 with the Dominican Jesuit priest David Pantaleón. Now, José Ramírez’s forced departure comes at a time of growing tension between the Cuban government and members of the Catholic Church who have taken critical stances on the crisis in the country.
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