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The Cuban pastor Alain Toledano Valiente reported on Thursday that he has been exiled for the second time from his own country, after attempting to enter Cuba to be with his eldest daughter, Susana, who has been diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.
“Those tyrants were waiting for me, the entire show staged for my arrival, they held me up at immigration and did not allow me to enter. I am being exiled for the second time from my own country,” wrote Toledano on his Facebook profile, along with several photos taken at the Santiago de Cuba airport.
The religious leader, exiled in the United States since 2022, explained that he decided to travel to the island to spend a few days with his family and be with his daughter, whose health has deteriorated in recent months. However, upon landing in Santiago de Cuba, immigration authorities prevented him from entering and forced him to return, in a new episode of repression against critical voices.
"Tyrants in Cuba take pleasure in harming the Cuban family; they commit all kinds of crimes to preserve their power. I am exiled once again, but I will soon return to a Cuba free of murderous tyrants," wrote the pastor.
Toledano, known for his leadership at the Emanuel church and his role within the Apostolic Movement, an unrecognized Protestant Christian network by the Cuban State, has been a constant target of harassment by State Security for holding services without authorization and for his defense of religious freedom.
In 2022, after receiving threats that he would be imprisoned if he did not leave the country, the pastor headed to the United States with the support of the organization Outreach Aid to the Americas (OAA), which intervened with U.S. authorities to facilitate his departure. Since then, he has denounced the harassment faced by independent religious leaders and the use of exile as a political punishment.
This year, in May, he had already been denied entry to Cuba when he tried to travel to see his sick daughter. On that occasion, the regime declared him a “threat to State Security,” preventing him from boarding his flight.
Organizations such as Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and human rights activists condemned the measure, describing it as "unlimited cruelty."
The case of Pastor Toledano adds to a long list of Cubans whom the regime has prohibited from returning to their country, including activists Anamely Ramos and siblings Omara and Ariel Ruiz Urquiola, victims of what international legal experts describe as a practice of “forced exile,” contrary to Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Beyond the political dimension, the episode has a strong human component, featuring a father unable to embrace his sick daughter, and a citizen whose country shuts its doors on him for thinking differently.
"Every Cuban has the right to be in their land," the pastor had said months ago. Today, his denunciation brings to light a painful question that many Cubans both inside and outside the island continue to ask: who decides who can return to Cuba?
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