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By Meredith Amor
Director of Communications, Barry University

July 29, 2021, Miami, Florida — Members of the Barry University community gathered in front of the university’s Peace Pole on the main campus for a moment of prayer and reflection in solidarity with the Cuban people. Against the backdrop of a Cuban flag, University Chaplain Father Cristóbal Torres spoke of peace and freedom and the right to human dignity for all.

The prayer service in solidarity with the people of Cuba took place around the Peace Pole on the main campus of Barry University.

“We wanted to make sure that we stood in solidarity with Cuba with our prayers and at the same time we prayed for Haiti and we prayed with all of the people right now who are in need of peace, who are looking for freedom, who are looking for a more dignified life, in so many ways,” Father Cristóbal said. “But in a special way to stand with the Cuban people as they call for freedom and for a renewed homeland.”

The event was sponsored by Barry University Campus Ministry and the Barry University Institute for Immigration Studies, which was founded this year to promote education and understanding of the South Florida immigrant experience.

With that experience so deeply tied to Cuba for so many in our South Florida community, Dr. Giselle Elgarresta Rios, Founding Director of the Institute, underscored the significance of the event. “Today was to show prayer, to show peace, to show that we support libertad on the island and that we are against dictatorship,” he said.

Barry University’s Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law hosted a simultaneous event on its Orlando campus.

 

Feature photo: Father Cristóbal Torres, Chaplain at Barry University, speaks at the main campus prayer service in solidarity with the people of Cuba. Photos Courtesy of the Barry University Communications Office