Yesterday, on June 25, 2020, evangelical Pastor Ramón Rigal Rodríguez, of Guantánamo, Cuba, was released after over a year of unlawful imprisonment. Pastor Rigal and his wife, Adya Expósito, were sentenced in May 2019 to two and one-and-a-half years of prison for homeschooling their children.

In close collaboration with the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) in Purcellville, Virginia, and with Cuban religious leaders, the Global Liberty Alliance (GLA) has been advocating for the release of the Rigal parents since their trial. In late April 2019, the GLA and the HSLDA petitioned the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for precautionary measures to protect the Rigal family and press Cuba to release them.

While the Rigal family is finally reunited, as Radio Televisión Martí has said, the reporter who covered their trial, GLA client Roberto Quiñones, is still unjustly imprisoned. You can find more information about GLA’s advocacy for the Rigal-Expósito family here. GLA is committed to defending fundamental rights, such as freedom of religion and of belief.

​You can learn more about GLA’s work on our Facebook page or our Twitter account.

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​On June 17, GLA addressed Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Martha Bárcena Coqui in a letter, requesting that Mexico answer Mexican Senator Alejandra Noemi Reynoso Sánchez’s request for more details about the role of Cuban medical professionals in Mexico. While the Mexican government repeatedly denied having contracted Cuba’s “medical missions” in 2019 and 2020, GLA and Sen. Reynoso received credible information about the presence of Cuban health workers.

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of State's Report on International Religious Freedom for 2019 was released. The Report cited the Global Liberty Alliance as providing information about religious freedom violations against the Association of Free Yorubas of Cuba. Here is the quote: