The Revd Yiorvis Bravo, a national leader of the Apostolic Movement in Cuba, was noti-fied on 28 June that he is banned from travelling outside the country because he refuses to pay the government rent on a property that the authorities arbitrarily confiscated from him in 2013.
An official letter, which Mr Bravo received on 28 June, the day before he was due to travel to Peru to participate in a course on Leadership, Democracy and Multi-media Communications, states that his refusal to acknowledge the government as rightful owner of his property and his failure to pay rent to the authorities has resulted in debts that prevent his leaving Cuba for any reason. The letter refers to Mr Bravo’s status as ‘a permanent tenant of the state’.
The Revd Omar Gude Perez, a former prisoner of conscience, transferred the property, which functions as a family home, the national centre for the Apostolic Movement and a church, to Mr Bravo when Mr Perez and his family accepted asylum in the United States in 2013. In September 2013, a court summarily nullified the transfer.
