Yesterday, on September 30, 2020, two Cuban women who are members of the Association of Free Yorubas executive committee were arrested, held overnight, and beaten by State Security. 

On Wednesday, September 2, the Global Liberty Alliance (GLA) sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging the U.S. Government to issue sanctions for the Cuban Communist Party officials and others who are complicit in blocking humanitarian aid from U.S.-based charitable and civil society organizations.

On July 30, the Global Liberty Alliance joined a coalition of friends and advocates of fundamental rights committed to upholding human rights and human dignity in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of State’s Commission on Unalienable Rights, which recently released a Draft Report. 

​Alexandria, VA - The Global Liberty Alliance (GLA) has received word that several members of the Association of Free Yorubas of Cuba (Asociación de Yorubas Libres de Cuba), including an underage boy, were just released from police custody after being separately summoned to the police station in Placetas, Villa Clara this afternoon. They were in police custody for 3 hours.
 

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.

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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:

Alexandria, Virginia – On March 11, the Association of Free Yorubas of Cuba (Asociación de Yorubas Libres de Cuba, or “Free Yorubas”) was again targeted by Cuban State Security. During the past few months, the Global Liberty Alliance has noticed an intimidation uptick aimed at the Free Yorubas.

GLA Urges the United States to Impose Economic Sanctions on the Office of Religious Affairs

(Washington, D.C.) On February 24, under the color of law, Cuban security services harassed Ms. Eliaisys Almeida Pavón, Head of Public Relations of the Association of Free Yorubas of Cuba (Asociación de Yorubas Libres de Cuba, or “Free Yorubas”), for allegedly frequenting the home of a known Cuban dissident. Using police citations to harass people of faith is consistent with the regime’s ongoing campaign of intimidation against the Free Yorubas and other belief traditions that are independent of the state. See Press Releases and the attached August 19, 2019 letter to Secretary Pompeo on this matter in Read More.