Kristina Arriaga

Kristina Arriaga de Bucholz developed her lifelong passion for freedom from her exiled Cuban American parents. Executive Director since 2010, she leads a team of lawyers and communications professionals who defend our first freedom in the US and abroad. Kristina first joined the Becket Fund in 1995, bringing many years of experience in the fight for liberty. After starting her career in DC working for US Ambassador José Sorzano at the Cuban American National Foundation, she became an advisor to the US delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC). Splitting her time between the seat of the UNHRC in Geneva and Washington, D.C., Kristina worked on raising awareness of the plight of political prisoners in Cuba. For ten years she worked for New York Times bestselling author, former political prisoner, Armando Valladares who was named Ambassador to the UN. The delegation won recognition for its achievements on human rights advocacy including State Department’s Superior Honor Award. After returning permanently to the US, Kristina continued to work on behalf of defectors and refugees. Her work orchestrating the spectacular airplane rescue of a defector's family from Cuba earned her recognition in media all over the world including Reader's Digest and Vanity Fair. No less adventurous was her time working on domestic affairs as an Intergovernmental Relations Officer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development where she reported to former Ohio Secretary of State, J. Kenneth Blackwell and Secretary Jack Kemp and then later as a four-year appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Kristina obtained her undergraduate degree at Marquette University and her Master’s Degree at Georgetown University where she graduated summa cum laude.