On December 21, the Global Liberty Alliance was informed that the Organization of American States's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued Precautionary Measures to protect the persecuted Cuban independent journalist Niober García Fournier. Mr. García Fournier has undergone near constant surveillance, harassment, and threats by Cuban police in the last few months. In September, he was even beaten.

Read the press release below.

In a letter to Uruguay's Ambassador to Washington, D.C., Dr. Andres Duran, the Global Liberty Alliance stressed that "[c]ontracts for Cuban medical workers must be transparent, public and carried out with the full consent of the non-State worker. It must also be done in accordance with the laws of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay." The letter is embedded at the end of this post.

In a letter to Panama's Ambassador to the United States, the Global Liberty Alliance reminded Ambassador Juan De Dianous that fundamental and human rights must be respected during the pandemic. Panama may have signed an agreement with Communist Cuba to retain the services of medical workers but this does not change the fact that it is forced labor. 

"Rather than enable the Cuban government in human trafficking, Panama should help bring an end to this inhumane practice. As a strong U.S. ally with a record of defending human rights and the rule of law, Panama should press the Cuban regime to stop abusing Cuban medical workers, allow workers to contract and travel freely, and practice their profession without violating their fundamental rights," said GLA President Jason Poblete. The letter is available at the end of this post. 

GLA received word that yesterday, December 10, on International Human Rights Day, Association of Free Yorubas members Yolexi Sánchez was detained by State Security, and threatened with 3 years' jail time and loss of his job.
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The reason? He belonged to the Association of Free Yorubas and to civil society organization Julio Machado Academy. Cuban State Security assured Mr. Sánchez that if he didn't quit both the Free Yorubas and the Julio Machado Academy, the father of 3 would be fired from his job and given 3 years of prison for "endangerment." Mr. Sánchez of course refused to abandon his beliefs and friends. Listen to testimony from Free Yoruba leadership below.

GLA denounces all state attempts to control freedom of worship and assembly, and is defending Mr. Sánchez and all those repressed under totalitarian regimes like Cuba's.

Yesterday, December 8, marked one week since Cuban political prisoner Silverio Portal Contreras was announced as released from prison. Two years into a four-year sentence for "public disorder" and suffering from cardiovascular ailments and a prison injury, Mr. Portal was granted medical release.

A GLA network lawyer (whose name is withheld for security reasons) filed several appeals of Mr. Portal's sentence and applications for parole in 2020, which were instrumental in his release. See the press release below.

On Monday, December 7, GLA advisor Fr. Fernando Hería, Rector of Our Lady of Charity National Shrine in Miami, was featured in an interview with Breitbart reporter Frances Martel. In their conversation, Fr. Hería stressed that Catholics can fight Communism. He especially called on priests of the Cuban-American diaspora to speak out against Communism. 

Read more on Breitbart's website.

On December 2, 2020, the Global Liberty Alliance wrote the Vatican's Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, His Excellency Archbishop Christophe Pierre, pleading his intercession on behalf of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish national sentenced to death in Iran's Raja'i Shahr Prison. As of today, the status of Dr. Djalali is unknown.

The Global Liberty Alliance has learned that earlier today, Association of Free Yorubas and San Isidro Movement member, the young Jovián Díaz Batista, suffered from an "act of repudiation" at his home.  This time, the "repudiation" included people throwing stones at the home where he lives with his wife; the couple sheltered in place for fear of further violence.
"Acts of repudiation," a common occurrence in Cuba, are acts of intimidation, concocted by authorities and made to look like spontaneous protests against dissidents, 
For more information, listen to the below testimony by the Association of Free Yorubas leader Loreto Hernández García, and see the below footage of the repression filmed by Mr. Díaz Batista himself, courtesy of ADN Cuba News. 

​On November 24, GLA network attorneys published a legal Opinion (Dictamen) that discusses how the National Revolutionary Police of Cuba are criminally responsible for violating the human rights of San Isidro Movement member Denis Solís González (pictured at left).

Cuba is a totalitarian police state that uses the color of law to project political legitimacy, yet Cuban officials systemically violate Cuban "laws and regulations." In this Dictamen, for example, lawyers working outside the state legal system detail violations of the fundamental rights of San Isidro Movement group member, Denis Solís González.