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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Veronica Mayer
Wednesday, March 11, 2020 (703) 566-3037

CUBA’S STATE SECURITY CONTINUES TO TARGET CUBAN YORUBAS

Security Officials Threaten Leaders, Say Their Only God is Fidel Castro

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. Wife and
husband Ms. Donaida Pérez Paseiro and Mr. Loreto Hernández García, Executive Secretary and Vice
President of the Free Yorubas, were detained in Placetas. In two hours of interrogation, State Security
threatened desecration of ceremonial objects and imprisonment for alleged visits to the home of a
known dissident to recruit for the Association. At one point, Ms. Pérez alleges, the officials mocked
all faiths, professing that “there is only one god, Fidel Castro,” and saying something unprintable
about what they would do to God, the saints, and orishas. This is another instance of the regime using
police citations to harass and intimidate Free Yorubas and other believers independent of the state.

Dissident Jorge Luis García Pérez, known as Antúnez, reports that the Free Yorubas’ Executive Board
has issued an alert to international faith organizations. They state: “we ask for close monitoring of the
physical well-being of this husband and wife, members of the Association’s Executive Board, who are
only trying to act on their beliefs and are victims of persecution.”

Free Yorubas leader Ms. Eliaisys Almeida Pavón was also detained on February 24. The association
was founded in 2012 by Yorubas who disagreed with the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba,
controlled by the government watchdog Office of Religious Affairs (ORA). Free Yorubas have been
subject to arbitrary detentions and beatings, destruction of ceremonial objects, police monitoring,
and ransackings without probable cause. In early February 2020, the Free Yorubas challenged Ms.
Caridad Diego, head of the ORA, to a public debate on freedom of conscience. The request was
ignored, but state hostility appears to have escalated since.

The Global Liberty Alliance is committed to defending fundamental rights and the rule of law,
including the fundamental right to worship freely and follow his or her personal belief about faith or
conscience matters. You can find more information about the work that GLA is doing for people of
different faith traditions on our blog, our Facebook page, or our Twitter account.

This press release will also be posted in Spanish.

A part of The Global Rule of Law & Liberty Legal Defense Fund
globallibertyalliance.org
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