Santa Marta, November 8, 2025 — Race and Equality denounces the censorship exercised by the local authorities of Santa Marta, who on Friday, November 7, ordered the removal of a billboard installed by our organization outside Simón Bolívar International Airport. The billboard demanded the release of political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, in the context of the IV CELAC-EU Summit.

The billboard bore the message: “Every person imprisoned for defending human rights in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela represents a broken promise of democracy. How long will this continue?”

Accompanied by the image of an imprisoned man and the flags of the three countries, the billboard sought to remind representatives of the member states of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU) meeting in Santa Marta of the urgent need to address the lack of democracy in the region. However, it was dismantled in less than 24 hours by order of the Mayor’s Office of Santa Marta, in compliance with supposed guidelines prohibiting the display of messages “of political content” during the summit.

This decision violates our right to freedom of expression and limits the possibility of denouncing human rights violations in these three countries, precisely in a space that presents itself as a forum for dialogue on democracy, cooperation, and human rights.

In 2023, a similar incident occurred in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when, on the eve of the CELAC Summit, a billboard installed by our organization demanding the restoration of democracy in Cuba and Nicaragua was also removed.

The IV CELAC-EU Summit, held from November 7 to 10 in Santa Marta, addresses key issues such as the triple transition (energy, digital, and environmental), gender equality, food security, and the strengthening of bi-regional cooperation. All this is happening while Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela continue to be marked by repression and the imprisonment of those who defend human rights.

Until the end of October 2025 alone, civil society organizations had documented 749 political prisoners in Cuba (according to Justicia 11J), 77 in Nicaragua (Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners), and 875 in Venezuela (Foro Penal). These figures reflect the magnitude of the closure of democratic spaces and the persistence of serious human rights violations.

Similarly, in a recent resolution on the Union’s political strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean, the European Parliament reaffirmed the importance of bi-regional cooperation and condemned the weakening of democracy in these three countries, which it described as some of the most authoritarian regimes in the world.

At Race and Equality, we denounce this censorship and reaffirm our commitment to freedom of expression, justice, and democracy. We will continue to call on the international community to denounce human rights violations in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and to ensure the restoration of democracy in these countries.