“Deported for the second time,” denounces the religious leader, who was trying to visit his eldest daughter, who is sick with cancer.
MIAMI, United States. – Cuban Protestant pastor Alain Toledano Valiente reported this Thursday who was prevented from entering Cuba and deported for the second time after landing at the “Antonio Maceo Grajales” International Airport in Santiago de Cuba to visit his eldest daughter, who was sick with cancer.
In a post on his Facebook profile, Toledo Valiente stated: “Because of the situation (…) that I have with my eldest daughter, Susana, and the suffering of my family in Santiago de Cuba, I decided to try to get to Santiago to see them and spend a few days with them. Right now I am in Santiago, I was able to fly, but the tyrants were waiting for me, the whole show started and they detained me at Immigration and did not allow me to enter. I am being banished for the second time from my own country,” he assured.
In the same message, the religious leader held the Cuban authorities directly responsible for the effects on his family: “The tyrants in Cuba delight in harming the Cuban family, they commit any type of crime to preserve their power, they must be removed from power as soon as possible. I will soon return to Cuba, but free of murderous tyrants.”
Along with his text, the religious leader shared photographs taken during his itinerary and upon arrival at the airport. In the images you can see the façade with the sign “Santiago de Cuba”, runway areas and areas of the airport building, which confirms the attempt to enter the Island.
Toledano Valiente has reported since 2022 that the island’s regime prevents him from entering to visit his daughter, diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. On May 14 of this year, denounced who had been denied entry when trying to travel to the country. Toledano considered the ban “a political punishment” and publicly demanded his right to return to his country to be with his family.
At that time, the pastor posted a message on Facebook in which he asked the Cuban authorities to allow him to reunite with his daughter. His words were: “This morning I officially received the information that my daughter, Susana, has to return to the operating table. Her life is certainly at risk once again. I am making this video precisely so that it reaches all those who are in the seat of power in Cuba. They should stop playing politics, they must stop playing with the lives of Cubans and with the rights of Cubans… It is my right to demand to enter my country and be able to be with my family,” he cried.
In Cuba, Toledano belonged to the Apostolic Movement, a Protestant Christian network that the regime has never legalized. On June 25, 2022, after an ultimatum from State Security—leave the country in 30 days or face prolonged imprisonment—the pastor, his wife and his minor daughters were forced to leave Cuba.
In July 2022 they traveled to the United States. His two adult daughters could not accompany him for reasons of age and remain on the Island. Shortly after, in August, his daughter Susana Toledano Benítez was diagnosed with cancer. Previous treatments and operations have failed to contain the disease, aggravated by the chronic shortage of medicines in the country, according to Toledano Valiente himself.
“His condition, like that of many others, has been aggravated by the chronic shortage of medicines on the Island,” he indicated then.
Since his departure, Toledano has tried to return without success. Airlines in Miami have prevented him from boarding flights to Cuba since, according to the information he has received, there is a non-admission order issued by the Directorate of State Security, attached to the Ministry of the Interior.
That refusal, according to his testimony, also prevented him from attending the funeral of a close relative. “My family moves me,” he insisted, emphasizing that he has no pending criminal cases and that the ban responds solely to his status as an independent religious leader.
Last May, the international organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), through its Advocacy Director, Anna Lee Stangl, publicly condemned the restriction imposed on Toledano Valiente and requested its revocation for humanitarian reasons.
In a statement, Stangl stated: “The Cuban government is apparently not satisfied with having forced Alain Toledano Valiente, his wife and two minor daughters into exile. The authorities continue to punish him and his family for the crime of having led a religious group that the government refused to register, forcibly separating them even in times of crisis.”
The case of Toledano Valiente is not isolated. Recently, the island’s regime has also denied entry to the country to other critical figures, such as the curator Anamely Ramos González and the academic Omara Ruiz Urquiola.
