Evangelical pastor Alain Toledano Valiente and his family arrived in the United States on Monday. The religious, according to the organization Outreach Aid to the Americas, was forced to leave the island under threats from the Cuban authorities: “Leave the country within 30 days or you and your family will face the consequences,” they warned.
The arrival in the United States was possible thanks to the intervention of the US Ambassador General for International Religious Freedom, Rashad Hussein, and the Department of State’s Office of Consular Affairs, which allowed the pastor “to obtain emergency parole.” that provided “a secure entry,” the organization said.
The Cuban government’s hate campaign against the cleric, noted Outreach Aid to the Americas, was carried out “only for running an unregistered church and speaking tirelessly for the rights of other religious and church leaders.”
The leader of the Sendas de Justicia network denounced in November that a man broke into his home, when his wife and daughter were alone, in an act of intimidation since this subject tried to rip the door off.
The Cuban government’s hate campaign against the cleric, noted Outreach Aid to the Americas, was carried out “only for leading an unregistered church and speaking tirelessly for the rights of other religious and church leaders.”
During the recovery stage of the covid-19 pandemic, Toledano and his family suffered harassment from the regime by restoring religious service in their church. In August of last year, the leader of the Sendas de Justicia network was arrested at his home in Santiago de Cuba, charged with “propagation of an epidemic.” The accusation was unfounded, since since the first week of June 2021 the Government had authorized the churches to resume their activities normally and moderately.
In September of that same year, he was summoned to the Third Unit of the Police, again accused of spreading the virus. As the shepherd said a Radio and Television Marti:”They booked me like a complete bandit, like a complete criminal”.
The US Government through the campaign #JailedForWhat? demanded the release of Alain Toledano, “detained for religious practices,” and questioned Cuba because “instead of promoting and protecting religious freedom,” the government on the island denied religious leaders the right to exercise their beliefs.
In 2016, Toledano suffered the unfair expropriation of land and they demolished his temple in Santiago de Cuba. Despite the fact that he met with the first secretary of the Communist Party in the province, Lázaro Expósito, to claim the property confiscated by the police during the raid and demolition of the place of worship, the only thing that was returned to him were some records and mouses.
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