Cuban Pastor and Family Blocked From Leaving Despite US Asylum Being Granted
A Cuban pastor and his family are pleading with the Cuban government to allow them to leave the country. Pastor Omar Gude Perez, his wife and two children were granted asylum from the United States but have yet been allowed to leave Cuba.
The family was granted asylum in July, but the Cuban government told the family that they would not be issued exit visas. After much negative press and tremendous support from various sources, the Cuban government told the family that they would actually be leaving soon. It is now November and the family is still in limbo.
Pastor Perez, a leader in a growing network of independent churches called the Apostolic Movement, served almost three years of a six-and-a-half year prison sentence. The charges that led to his prison sentence were reportedly increased. He was released earlier this year on conditional liberty. A provision of that conditional liberty stated that he is prohibited from preaching or travelling outside the city of Camaguey.
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There is also increasing pressure on other pastors in Cuba. Others in the same religious network as Perez and his family have been repeatedly cited by government officials. They have also been threatened with imprisonment and with the possibility of the forcible closure of their church. One of the more recent incidents, Benito Rodríguez and Bárbara Guzmán were ordered to appear at the local Ministry of Justice in October and fined approximately one month’s salary.
Last month a Baptist pastor in the province of Santa Clara, Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso, was put under house arrest on multiple occasions. Officials warned the family that they could be a target of an “act of repudiation.” Government mobs often are organized by officials to intimidate and attack human rights and democracy activists.
Christians Solidarity Worldwide Special ambassador Stuart Windsor said, “[We] call on Cuba once again, to uphold its commitments as a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to cease harassment of religious leaders.”
