Cuban national with passport in order, and plane ticket not allowed to return home to Cuba by Castro regime

"Article 13.(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country."  - Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed by Cuba on December 10, 1948

Cuba, national home of all Cubans

Declaration of the Christian Liberation Movement.

Regis Iglesias Ramírez has been a spokesman for the Christian Liberation Movement for decades, a Cuban citizen by birth, he was unjustly condemned in the Spring of Cuba in 2003 and banished to Spain in August 2010.

In the early hours of January 1, Regis, in use of his right as a Cuban national carrying his valid passport and a ticket previously reserved in his name on American Airlines, appeared at the Miami International Airport to board a flight of said American airline bound for Havana.

When checking his documentation before the American Airlines officials, he was informed by them, that the Government of Cuba had notified the airline, that Regis Iglesias had a ban on entry to the island and therefore could not board his flight.

The Christian Liberation Movement

1-Strongly condemns the discriminatory practice of the island's regime against Cuban citizens, in frank violation of international law and in total disregard for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which Cuba is a signatory.

2-We urge all democratic governments and institutions, to join this condemnation and demand the Cuban military economic junta, cease immediately this sustained practice of banishing Cubans, which demonstrates the exclusionary, segregationist and disrespectful character of the Cuban rulers to the most elementary legal norms.

3-We denounce before world public opinion and in particular before the authorities of the United States of America, the complicit practice of American Airlines as a direct executor of said violations of individual rights, by abiding by and enforcing the arbitrary, illegitimate and illegal abuses of a dictatorship against their nationals who only claim, in the exercise of their inalienable right, to return to the land that saw them born.

Cuba is the national home of all Cubans, without distinction, of any kind.

On behalf of the M.C.L Coordinating Council

Regis Iglesias,
José Miguel Martínez,
Jesús Mustafá,
Ernesto Martini,
Carlos Payá,
Tony Díaz.

Cuba, hogar nacional de todos los cubanos

Declaración del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación.

¨Cuba, hogar nacional de todos los cubanos¨

Regis Iglesias Ramírez es Portavoz del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación desde hace décadas, ciudadano cubano por nacimiento, fue condenado injustamente en la Primavera de Cuba del 2003 y desterrado a España en Agosto 2010.

En la madrugada de este 1 de enero, Regis, en uso de su derecho como nacional cubano portando su pasaporte vigente y un boleto previamente reservado a su nombre en American Airlines, se personó en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami para abordar un vuelo de dicha aerolínea norteamericana con destino a la Habana.

Al chequear su documentación ante los funcionarios de American Airlines, fue informado por los mismos, que el Gobierno de Cuba había notificado a la aerolínea, que Regis Iglesias tiene una prohibición de entrada a la isla y que por tanto, no podía abordar su vuelo.

El Movimiento Cristiano Liberación

1-Condena enérgicamente la práctica discriminatoria del régimen de la isla contra ciudadanos cubanos, en franca violación del derecho internacional y en total desprecio por la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos de la cual Cuba es signataria.

2-Instamos a todos los gobiernos democráticos e instituciones, a sumarse a esta condena y a exigir a la junta económico militar cubana, el cese inmediato de la práctica sostenida de destierro a cubanos, la cual demuestra el carácter excluyente, segregacionista y de irrespeto de los gobernantes cubanos a las más elementales normas del derecho.

3-Denunciamos ante la opinión pública mundial y en particular ante las autoridades de los Estados Unidos de América, la práctica cómplice de American Airlines como ejecutor directo de dichas violaciones al derecho individual, al acatar y hacer cumplir los arbitrarios, ilegítimos e ilegales abusos de una dictadura contra sus nacionales que únicamente pretenden, en el ejercicio de su derecho inalienable, regresar a la tierra que los vio nacer.

Cuba es hogar nacional de todos los cubanos, sin ninguna distinción, de ninguna índole.

A nombre del Consejo Coordinador del M.C.L

Regis Iglesias,
José Miguel Martínez,
Jesús Mustafá,
Ernesto Martini,
Carlos Payá,
Tony Díaz.

Source: http://www.oswaldopaya.org/es/2020/01/02/cuba-hogar-nacional-de-todos-los-cubanos/

Political exiles and the right to return

Defending a fundamental right

Blanca Reyes: Denied entry to Cuba in 2013 to visit her dying dad

The premise made by the Castro regime in its effort to assassinate the character of Rosa María Payá Acevedo recently when she returned to Cuba is both self serving and false. Here is what they said in the Castro regime's website Yoanislandia:

"In the case that a person has the condition of a refugee  or a political exile in any country in the world they are not permitted to enter the country that they fled for mistreatment, threats, persecution, etc ..."

The trouble is that the claim is not true. Chinese pro-democracy activist Yang Jianli in 2004 was sentenced to five years in prison after having been detained in 2002 and this is a more detailed account of what happened:

In 2002, after completing his Doctorate in Political Economy at Harvard, Dr. Yang returned to China to help the labor movement with non-violent struggle strategies. He was arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment for “spying”.  Following an international outcry for his release, including a UN Resolution and a unanimous vote of both houses of the United States Congress, Dr. Yang was freed in April of 2007.

Jianli was a long time US resident. Another example, former Chinese political prisoner and current political exile Harry Wu has returned a total of five times to continue his struggle for a free China on the mainland. He succeeded in entering and exiting the country while on other occasions he has also been caught and imprisoned by Chinese authorities. Others are trying to get in but have been denied entrance to their country, even if willing to risk prison.

In the case of Burma (Myanmar) the military junta denied Aung San Suu Kyi the right to leave and return to her own country or allowed her dying husband to enter the country to say goodbye to his wife. They had not been able to see each other for the three years prior to his death.Her children were also denied visas to visit their mother. Suu Kyi understood that if she traveled outside of Burma to visit her family that she would not be allowed back in.

What Rosa María Payá, Yang Jianli, Harry Wu and other activists claim is that they have a fundamental right to enter and exit their own homeland. Their claim is backed under Article 13 subsection 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:  "(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country."

Unfortunately, regimes such as Burma, Cuba, China, Iran, North Korea, and Vietnam ignore this right and determine who can or cannot enter their own country based on arbitrary decisions of the dictatorships in those countries. The claim made by the Castro agent that political refugees and exiles "are not permitted" to enter the country they fled under threat is just not true. Rights are not existent in those countries and are subject to political whims.

Furthermore, if people of good will fell into the trap of believing this argument, they would only be serving the interests of these dictatorships in permanently keeping dissenters, who had to flee for their safety at a particular moment, from exercising their right to return.

In August of 2013, Blanca Reyes made public that she was denied the right to enter her country, Cuba, to visit her 93-year old dying father. On October 15, 2013 over twitter Blanca reported that father and daughter were never again to be reunited in life:

"My father died today in Cuba. I did not see him for nine years, the Cuban government stopped me. HOW MUCH LONGER MY GOD?"