At OAS Assembly: Race and Equality to Commemorate 10th Anniversary of CIRDI and Denounce Human Rights Violations in Cuba and Religious Persecution in Nicaragua

At OAS Assembly: Race and Equality to Commemorate 10th Anniversary of CIRDI and Denounce Human Rights Violations in Cuba and Religious Persecution in Nicaragua

Washington D.C., June 14, 2023 – On the occasion of the 53rd session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) will hold three parallel events. In the first event, the organization will commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerance (CIRDI) and promote its signature, ratification and implementation. The second event will denounce human rights violations in Cuba; and the third will demand that the Nicaraguan regime cease the persecution of religious leaders and release all persons deprived of their liberty for political reasons.

The OAS General Assembly will be held June 21-23, 2023 at OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., under the theme “strengthening a culture of democratic accountability with promotion, protection and equality of human rights in the Americas.” In this sense, the Race and Equality events aim to encourage OAS Member States to take action to combat impunity, promote inclusive and sustainable peace and a democratic transition in the region.

Inter-American Forum Against Discrimination: Tenth Anniversary of CIRDI and CIDI

Race and Equality, as part of its ongoing advocacy work on behalf of the rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, will bring together renowned representatives of the OAS and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the governments of the United States and Brazil, and civil society leaders from Latin America at the Inter-American Forum against Discrimination: “Tenth Anniversary of the Adoption of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance (CIRDI) and the Inter-American Convention against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance (CIDI)” on June 20, 2023.

The Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance (CIRDI) was approved by the OAS General Assembly on June 5, 2013, after thirteen years of advocacy by Race and Equality and other ethnic civil society organizations. This is an instrument that consolidates the commitment of States to the total eradication of these scourges; however, of the 35 member States of the OAS, only 6 States are party to CIRDI, only 7 have signed it, and 29 have not signed, ratified, or implemented it.

In this sense, the Forum will be divided into thematic panels on the historical debt and the responsibility of the States before the CIRDI and CIDI treaties, international efforts to combat racial and ethnic discrimination, and towards LGBTI+ people; as well as the participation of civil society leaders, regional experiences, and inclusion as a tool to strengthen diverse voices. Finally, there will be a dialogue on the coalition of Afro-descendants of the Americas and the 53rd regular session of the OAS General Assembly.

Cuba: At Pen Point

In order to continue denouncing the serious human rights violations in Cuba, particularly the cases of harassment against activists and human rights defenders, Race and Equality invites you on June 20 to the art exhibition “At Pen Point,” an exhibition co-organized with the platform El Toque, which brings together a selection of 20 cartoons and vignettes by Cuban artists who traverse with humor, nonchalance, and wit several transcendental socio-political events of recent years on the island.

In Cuba, as of May 31, there were 1,880 people deprived of liberty for political reasons, according to the 11J Justice working group, which has also documented that 773 people continue to be imprisoned for having participated in the peaceful protests of July 2021, the most massive in the last decade. Parallel to these human rights violations, there are already 38 cases of femicides on the island, a figure that exceeds the annual record for the year 2022. 

In this regard, the opening of “At Pen Point” will be accompanied by a discussion entitled ‘Graphic humor, art, and satire in the face of social protests and the human rights crisis in Cuba’, with the participation of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR, Pedro Vaca; the editor of El Toque, José Nieves; the Cuban visual artist and columnist, Camila Lobón; and the Cuban independent journalist, Orelvys Cabrera.

Nicaragua’s Crisis: A Threat to Democracy Throughout the Region

Finally, to reflect on Nicaragua’s deepening socio-political and human rights crisis and how this country is setting a standard for democratic setbacks in the region, Race and Equality – in coordination with the Legal Defense Unit (UDJ) – will hold the event “Nicaragua’s Crisis: A Threat to Democracy Throughout the Region” on June 22.

Five years after the start of the peaceful protests of April 2018, 355 murders of protesters continue in impunity, more than 47 people remain deprived of liberty for political reasons in Nicaraguan prisons, at least 2,090 people have been arbitrarily detained, more than 320 people have been stripped of their nationality, and the repression is at a stage characterized by the persecution and criminalization of the Catholic Church and restrictions on religious freedom.

Given this context, in the first part of the event, legal experts will discuss the repressive patterns against people considered opponents and against the Church; and in the second part, victims of the regime and representatives of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will discuss arbitrary imprisonment for political reasons and other reprisals against those who exercise their fundamental freedoms.

*** More information about the events ***

Inter-American Forum against Discrimination

Date: Tuesday, June 20, at 9:00 am

Venue: National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), Washington D.C.

Live: via Zoom and Facebook Live 

On-site registration here

Simultaneous translation in Spanish, Portuguese and English. 

Cuba: At Pen Point

Date: Tuesday, June 20, at 6:30 pm

Venue: National Press Club, Washington D.C.

Live Broadcast: Zoom and Facebook Live 

On-site registration here (R.S.V.P.)

Simultaneous translation in Spanish and English. 

Nicaragua’s Crisis: A Threat to Democracy Throughout the Region

Date: Thursday, June 22, at 5:30 pm.

Venue: National Press Club, Washington D.C.

Live Broadcast: Zoom and Facebook Live 

On-site registration here (R.S.V.P.)

Simultaneous translation in Spanish and English.



The EU must respond to the magnitude of Cuba’s human rights crisis at the joint council

Washington D.C., May 23, 2023 – Dear High Representative Borrell, ahead of the forthcoming European Union (EU)-Cuba Joint Council on 26 May, our organizations are writing to urge you to ensure that human rights remain at the very centre of the EU’s relations with Cuba, at a crucial moment for the country’s human rights defenders.

Our organizations continue to document1 the Cuban authorities’ ongoing crackdown on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association in the country, stifling dissenting voices and targeting human rights defenders. Cuban human rights defenders face harassment and repression by the Cuban authorities and remain excluded from spaces where international actors and the Cuban government take decisions that affect their work and the wider human rights situation in the country.

The Cuban government’s approach has long been marked by restrictive laws, censorship and intimidation tactics, with ever increasing machinery to control the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, while individuals defending human rights face unfair trials and arbitrary detention. This trend has only increased with the targeting of protesters since the demonstrations of 11-12 July 2021, when thousands of people took to the streets across the island to demand a change in living conditions in Cuba in a way that has not been witnessed in decades.

The Cuban authorities have refused to allow EU and member state diplomats, international media or human rights organizations to monitor the trials of those detained during the July 11 protests. Family members and detainees report various due process violations, while artists, intellectuals and others with alternative ideas are subjected to alarming levels of surveillance and restrictions on their freedom of movement. Peaceful protests as recently as in September and October 2022 are reported to have been met with police and military deployment to suppress them. Cuba has expanded internet access but as part of a government policy to continuously silence dissent, the authorities control and interrupt web access at politically sensitive times, regularly blocking messaging apps in contravention of international human rights law.

Three prominent activists, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara2, Maykel ‘’Osorbo’’ Castillo Pérez and Jose Daniel Ferrer García 3, remain in jail in Cuba as of May 2023 solely as a result of their convictions and the peaceful exercise of their human rights. Justicia 11J, a group formed in response to the repression of protesters in July 2021, records 1,812 individuals arrested since the start of the protests, with 768 remaining in prison as of 11 May 2023.

Ahead of the Joint Council, Cuban civil society has likewise raised many of these concerns, including the situation of independent civil society, prisoners of conscience and others detained for political reasons, the respect of the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and movement – as well as both political participation in Cuba and the participation of independent civil society in EU-Cuba relations.

In March 2022, the EU responded to the “disproportionate sentences” of the July 2021 protesters, calling on the authorities to guarantee and protect the rights to express dissent and protest. The EU declaration on the first anniversary of the protests also expressed concern about due process and disproportionate sentences in response to the protests, urging the Cuban authorities to release all those detained solely on the grounds of exercising their rights and to dialogue with the Cuban people about their legitimate concerns both about deteriorating living conditions and about their human rights.

At the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in November 2022, the EU reiterated these calls, urging Cuba to grant its citizens all their rights, ratify the UN Covenants on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), extend a standing invitation to all UN Special Procedures and open spaces for a constructive and inclusive dialogue, without preconditions, with the whole spectrum of civil society actors on the island.

According to the 2016 Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) between the EU and Cuba, the Joint Council works to “oversee the fulfilment of the objectives of this Agreement and supervise its implementation”, including “respect for and the promotion of democratic principles, respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms as laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the core international human-rights instruments and their optional protocols which are applicable to the Parties, and respect for the rule of law constitute an essential element of this Agreement.” The crackdown on human rights in Cuba, and in particular the targeting of protesters and human rights defenders since July 2021, stand in clear contradiction to these stated commitments.

The magnitude of Cuba’s human rights crisis must be matched by a proportional response from the EU and its member states to address the scope and severity of the situation and to establish concrete human rights benchmarks in their relations with Cuba.

At the Joint Council, we urge you to lead the EU and its member states in robustly engaging the Cuban authorities to:

  • Immediately and unconditionally release all those detained solely for exercising their human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The EU and its member states should raise the cases of José Daniel Ferrer García, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel ‘’Osorbo’’ Castillo Pérez, Aymara Nieto, Sissi Abascal Zamora, Donaida Pérez Paseiro and dissident artists Richard Zamora Brito “El Radikal”, Maria Cristina Garrido Rodriguez and Randy Arteaga-Rivera.
  • End the ongoing surveillance and arbitrary detentions of human rights defenders, activists and journalists, including the use of house arrest against dissenting voces.
  • Cease the excessive use of force and arbitrary detentions during protests and refrain from internet interruptions that hinder the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, expression and access to The authorities must pro-actively facilitate peaceful assemblies, protect peaceful protests, end all use of unlawful force against peaceful protesters and guarantee protesters’ safety.
  • Establish a national legislative framework to safeguard the right to protest; in parallel, repeal and amend repressive and/or vaguely worded offences in the new penal code, as well as laws that have been misused against human rights defenders, activists, protesters and members of independent civil society.
  • Prevent and combat discrimination of any kind and promote the respect, protection and guarantee of the human rights of all, including women, Afro-descendants and the LGBTIQ+ community.
  • Promptly establish a comprehensive law on gender-based violence defining protocols to prevent and address the growing problem of feminicides and violence against women and girls in Cuba, including an efficient, public and transparent institutional protection and security mechanism for survivors.
  • Ensure access to independent human rights organizations to monitor and report on the human rights situation, and likewise extend standing invitations to UN Special Rapporteurs, in particular those focusing on freedoms of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and human rights defenders, facilitating their visits as soon as possible.
  • Address the population’s need for greater access to food and medicine and act to fulfil the population’s economic, social, and cultural rights – human rights concerns that were at the core of the recent and ongoing protests. The EU and its member states should call on the Cuban authorities to increase their efforts to ensure these rights and support genuine efforts to do so.
  • Ratify the ICCPR, ICESCR and the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights as soon as possible, using the forthcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the country’s human rights record as an opportunity to re-affirm Cuba’s commitments to all rigths.
  • Use the opportunity of the forthcoming EU-CELAC summit in July to step-up engagement on human rights with Cuba and across Latin America and the Caribbean in line with calls from civil society in the region and in the EU. 
  • Make sure that independent Cuban and European human rights and civil society organizations are fully consulted, and their participation proactively facilitated in all decision-making that affects them – including the civil society events connected to the EU-Cuba human rights dialogue, bilateral cooperation and the implementation of the PDCA.
  • Fully use the mechanisms defined in the PDCA to ensure that the Cuban government complies with its commitments to respect human rights.

We thank you in advance for your action to ensure the respect and fulfillment of all human rights for all in Cuba at this crucial time.

Amnesty International

Civil Rights Defenders

FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Front Line Defenders Human Rights Watch People in Need

Race and Equality

World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

***
1 Amnesty International, Cuba: Open Letter to President Miguel Díaz Canel on Human Rights of Prisoners of Conscience, 18 May 2023; Amnesty International, Cuba: Escalated repression: Amnesty International: Submission to the 44th session of the UPR working group, 5 November 2023, 30 March 2023; Human Rights Watch, World Report 2023: Cuba, 12 January 2023; Human Rights Watch, Report, Prison or Exile: Cuba’s Systematic Repression of July 2021 Demonstrators, 11 July 2022; Human Rights Watch, Report, Cuba: Peaceful Protesters Systematically Detained, Abused, 19 October 2021; Race and Equality, Cuba: How to Understand July 11 and November 15, 2021 in Light of International Human Rights Standards – An Intersectional Focus, March 2022.

2 See Cuba: Remarks by the High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell at the EP Plenary, 8 June 2021.

3 See Cuba: Statement by the Spokesperson on the case of José Daniel Ferrer, 27 February 2020; European Parliament on Cuba, the case of José Daniel Ferrer, 28 November 2019.

Díaz-Canel and Ortega: Enemies of Press Freedom in Latin America

Washington, D.C. May 2, 2023. – Until May 2023, Cuba and Nicaragua will hold at least three journalists in prison solely for their work of informing the population about the constant human rights violations committed by the authorities. This May 3, World Press Freedom Day, these people will not be able to exercise their freedom. They have been silenced.

The figure is a small sample of the enormous amount of aggressions that these two States have committed against journalists since two historic moments experienced by their populations: April 2018 in Nicaragua, when citizens came out en masse to protest to demand the resignation of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo from power; and July 11, 2021 in Cuba, when its citizens demonstrated against shortages and the difficult political, social, economic, and rights situation on the island. 

In Nicaragua, journalist Victor Ticay was arrested on the morning of April 6 of this year when he went out to film a religious procession as part of the commemoration of Holy Week. Since then, the police in the service of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have not released any information about him to his family or to the public. 

About 1,243 kilometers away, in Cuba, journalist Lázaro Valle Roca was sentenced to five years in prison under the false crime of “contempt”, after publishing the report “Se calentó la Habana, lanzan octavillas conmemorando el natalicio de Antonio Maceo”, which told how some messages launched from a building in Havana, demanded that people deprived of their freedom for political reasons, be released immediately. He was arrested in June 2021.  

Also in prison in Cuba is Jorge Bello Domínguez, who was sentenced to 15 years for having participated in the historic protests of July 2021. 

Ticay, Valle, and Bello are not the only journalists who have been deprived of their freedom. In February 2023, the Ortega-Murillo regime released a group of 222 people who were in prison for political reasons, and banished them to the United States. 

Among this group were three staff members of the press freedom organization “Fundación Violeta B. de Chamorro” journalists Miguel Mora, Miguel Mendoza; the directors of the newspaper La Prensa, Cristiana Chamorro and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, arbitrarily detained in 2021 and at least two staff members of the newspaper and the general manager of the newspaper, Juan Lorenzo Holmann, arbitrarily deprived of their freedom in 2022.

In addition to them, at least 185 Nicaraguan journalists are currently in exile, in countries such as the United States, Costa Rica or Spain, some fled to avoid arbitrary imprisonment after the approval of the Cybercrimes Law at the end of 2020 and others were prevented from returning by the regime when they had left to do work in other countries. 

Journalist Angel Gahona was killed in April 2018 with a gunshot to the head while covering protests in the city of Bluefields. The Nicaraguan regime attempted to frame innocent citizens and, to this day, there has been no serious investigation to bring the culprits to justice.

The Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press (Iclep) partially recorded that 40 independent journalists or those who worked or worked in the state media, emigrated during 2022 to different countries such as Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Germany, Peru and the vast majority to the United States.

According to the 2022 Annual Report presented in April 2023 by the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Nicaragua had an intensification of the repressive escalation against journalists and media, while in Cuba the repression against journalists, artists and human rights defenders, constitutes an “incessant pattern”.

Cuba and Nicaragua have used laws to censor, repress, besiege, assault and confiscate media outlets, as a State policy to silence independent journalism and thus prevent complaints of human rights violations from reaching international bodies. 

That is why the numbers of aggressions against media and journalists are so high in these countries: between 2021 and the first 10 months of 2022, the organization Article 19 in its report ‘Silence and banishment: The forced exile of independent journalists in Cuba’, documented that journalists suffered a total of 246 aggressions; while ICLEP recorded that on the island there were 1637 violations of press freedom during the same period of time, and 208 arbitrary detentions last year alone. On the other hand, in Nicaragua there were at least 3344 press freedom violations in the last five years, according to data from Voces del Sur.

Both Díaz-Canel and the Ortega-Murillo family know the power of independent media to denounce, and their eagerness to silence different opinions has the media as its main target. In spite of this, from exile, journalists have continued to work, gathering information on human rights violations, for example in the case of Nicaragua, their work contributed to the UN Group of Experts on Human Rights to issue a strong report in which they qualified the events in that country as crimes against humanity. 

The work of journalists in denouncing, documenting and disseminating the violations of rights occurring in Cuba and Nicaragua is essential for the search for justice and reparation for the victims and the eventual justice processes to which both the leaders of those governments and those who executed their orders against a citizenry that has done nothing more than civically resist the repression of both regimes must submit. 

Therefore, from the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) we condemn the imprisonment, exile, banishment and stripping of nationality to which journalists are subjected in these countries and we celebrate that, despite the difficulties, microphones and cameras continue to collect the testimonies of the victims who demand truth, reparation and justice, and contribute to the creation of historical memory of both countries. 

Time has shown that censorship cannot win over the dissemination of truth and that the repressive policies of both States only strengthen the credibility of independent media. 

No more censorship! Stop the repression against independent journalism!

 

Two Homelands Documentary: A Film on Human Rights Violations in Cuba

Washington D.C., April 4, 2023 – “I have two homelands: Cuba and the night, or are they one and the same?” With this excerpt from one of Cuban politician José Martí’s best-known poems, begins the documentary: Dos Patrias, a production of the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) and La Tiorba Productions, which reflects on human rights violations in Cuba.

The 70-minute film was presented publicly in mid-March at Florida International University (FIU), in the city of Miami (USA), and reveals images and testimonies of people who have suffered repression by Cuban authorities.

“The documentary ‘Two Homelands’ deals with the experiences of three activists: Eduardo Cardet, Xiomara Cruz and Aymara Nieto, who is serving a five-year prison sentence for her critical stance against the Cuban government. Their struggles reflect the struggles of many people on the island who have been and are being harassed and their rights violated for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and peaceful protest,” says Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality.

The film, which will be presented at the end of April in Brussels, Belgium, details how these three people have lost their freedom for demanding that Cuba be free, which for the director and producer of Dos Patrias, Hilda Hidalgo Xirinachs, “is an irresolvable paradox”.

“During the research for this production I discovered that Xiomara was in prison 1215 days, Eduardo 1095, and Aymara has been in jail for more than 1600 days. This, and in general the whole process of making this documentary was stark for me,” says Hidalgo, a Costa Rican who also studied film on the island.

With the documentary Dos Patrias, Race and Equality denounces that Cuban authorities ignore the fundamental rights of people living on the island, and shows that activists, human rights defenders, artists, and independent journalists are victims of state repression. We demand that the government of this country cease all forms of violence against critical and dissident voices, and that those deprived of their liberty for political reasons be released immediately.

In Europe, Cuban Activists Denounce Human Rights Violations on the Island

Washington D.C., March 30, 2023 – Three activists from Cuba: Alain Espinosa, lawyer of the organization Cubalex; Frisia Batista, coordinator of the Women’s Network of Cuba; and Darcy Borrero, member of the working group Justice 11J, were from March 16 to 21 in the cities of Geneva, Switzerland, and Brussels, Belgium, denouncing the human rights violations registered on the Island, especially after the peaceful protests of July 2021, also known as 11J.

With the support of the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), Alain, Frisia and Darcy met with representatives of the United Nations, the European Union and civil society organizations in Europe, with whom they discussed the increase in cases of femicide, the lack of a comprehensive law against gender violence, the recommendations of the 2018 Universal Periodic Review that were not complied with by the Cuban State, the migratory crisis, food shortages, internet cuts, repression of human rights defenders, short-term forced disappearances, and persons deprived of liberty for political reasons on the Island.

“Making the human rights situation visible before these bodies is of crucial importance in the search for effective mechanisms to demand compliance with the obligations of the Cuban government, and to guarantee respect for the individual freedoms of its citizens,” Espinosa affirms.

The Coordinator of the Cuban Women’s Network, for her part, assures that the organization she represents made a request for recommendations to the international community at the United Nations and the European Parliament, so that the Cuban State approves soon a Law against gender violence. “This rank of law would create the basis to implement an integral system of prevention and attention that is really effective for the citizenship”, adds Batista.

During the meetings held in both cities, the activists also referred to the more than 1,800 people who have been detained since the 11J protests. Of this number, according to Barrero, more than 600 Cubans are still in prison. “It is important that in Europe and in any other part of the world it is known that there are human rights defenders who are aware of the situation of political prisoners in Cuba, and that this reality is put on the agenda,” says the member of the Justice 11J working group.

With the denunciations made in Europe, we call on the international community to demand that the State of Cuba recognize the fundamental rights of each and every person residing on the island, regardless of their political position, religious beliefs, skin color, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Race and Equality will continue to promote actions to denounce human rights violations on the island and to improve the living conditions of Cubans.

“I miss everything about Cuba”: Activists forced into exile

Washington D.C., 13 February 2023 – During 2022, more that 270,000 Cubans arrived by land and sea to the United States, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard.[1] Around seventy Cuban migrants died or disappeared in the Caribbean, a large majority due to poor weather conditions that made navigation difficult and the use of boats that were not apt for navigating in the high sea, according to the Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).[2]

The statistics of people who left the island in 2022 surpassed previous migratory waves: the first which occurred after the triumph of the Castro Revolution between 1959 and 1962, in which 250,000 citizens were expatriated; the departure that began in 1980 at the port of Mariel, where 125,000 Cubans left the island; and the Balsero crisis in 1994, in which more than 30,000 people abandoned the country.[3]

Most Cubans have left the island due to the serious economic crisis, the shortages of goods and medicine, unemployment, and the difficult political and social situation, which has worsened since the historic citizens protests in July 2021, also known as 11J. However, there also exists a group of Cubans who migrated because they were exiled from the island. Activists, human rights defenders, independent journalists, artists, jurists, and critics of the government have been forced to abandon the island in the last several years,[4] in exchange for not being prosecuted and imprisoned, especially since the new Criminal Code, which intensifies the criminalization of individuals and organizations that fight for the recognition of human rights in the country, entered into effect in December.[5]

These exiled Cubans, who are not able to return to Cuba, have found themselves in the United States and other countries with the purpose of beginning a life where they are free and can live without fear.

With Psychological Attention in Argentina

The writer and independent journalist, María Matienzo; and her partner, the activist Kirenia Núñez, arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina on the 22nd of August of last year. There they were settled after fleeing the repression and constant threats they suffered due to their denunciations against the Cuban government. “We were detained on many occasions in Havana, and if we group all of the time in detention, we would have almost a year of deprivation of liberty,” says Matienzo, who remains in the country thanks to the support of the Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo de América Latina (CADAL), an organization that also has helped her receive psychological attention.

“I have not succeeded in enjoying (Buenos Aires) like I have wanted. I have spent much time recuperating, and it is not as easy as people think. In fact, in the first days when I arrived here there were many police in the street, that hardly looked at us. But still we were not able to shake the nervous feelings,” admitted María.

Waiting for Political Asylum in Germany

The story of María and Kirenia is very similar to the activist Jancel Moreno and his partner Wilfredo Carmenate, who had to leave the island on the 13th of September of 2022. With only the backpacks on their backs they arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, where they have requested political asylum and have had to demonstrate that the Cuban government threatened Jancel with jail time, and stopped supplying Wilfredo with the medications he takes to treat osteoarthritis of the hip, which has afflicted him for several years.

Between July and September last year, Jancel was threatened approximately three times by State Security. They told him that if he did not publicly renounce activism and leave Cuba, he would be accused of crimes of “engaging in mercenary activity, inciting criminality, usurpation of functions, and enemy propaganda.” All of this occurred while they also threatened his partner with the crime of “illicit economic activity.”

Jancel and Wilfredo remain in a camp for migrants in the city of Zirndorf. They are waiting on the German government to give them a response to the political asylum request, that should be known after a year; meanwhile, they learn the language of the European country and wait to be transferred to another zone in Germany.

Surviving in the United States

The independent journalists Orelvys Cabrera and his partner Yunior Pino were also forced to abandon the island. “On the 19th of December 2021, I left Cuba because I was threatened since they told me I would be accused of a series of crimes that would result in thirty years of jail time. They gave me an ultimatum: if you are here after the 5th of January 2022, you will be arrested. My partner and I then sold everything, and we went to Moscow,” says Orelvys.

They stayed in the Russian capital for three months, until Orelvys was threatened again, this time for denouncing the violations of human rights suffered by Cuban migrants in the Eurasian country. From there they went to Egypt, where an international organization informed them that the Parliament of the Czech Republic had granted them political asylum, so they traveled there. But after a time, they noted it was very difficult to learn Czech (the official language of the country), and therefore find a job; thus, they decided to leave for Mexico, and from there they crossed the border with the United States and surrendered to U.S. authorities on the 28th of March last year.

Orelvys and his partner found themselves in Miami protected by form I-220A, that prevented deportation or being taken to prison. Both are waiting for a migration judge to grant them political asylum.

A Beneficiary of the Cuban Adjustment Act

The art historian Claudia Genlui is another activist that was forced into exile. She left Cuba on the 1st of November 2021, four months after the peaceful protests of 11J. She arrived in Miami, United States, after constant besiegement by State Security, who surveilled and threatened her for her denouncements of human rights violations experienced on the island, and for being a member of the Movimiento San Isidro, a collective of Cuban artists founded by her partner, performance artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who has been in prison for five years for demanding the fulfilment of human rights.

“Thinking of Cuba is an open wound that is always right there. I still have not succeeded in stepping up to the plate on that, it is extremely painful for me, above all because I never wanted to leave… I miss everything about Cuba,” says Genlui, who also assured that it was difficult to leave Luis Manuel, and her family in general, especially her grandmother, a woman of more that 80 years who lived with her before her departure.

Claudia is a beneficiary of the Cuban Adjustment Act, a federal law that permits her to request U.S. residency after being in the country for a year and a day. She is waiting on a response from the government, while also studying English.

The stories of María, Kirenia, Jancel, Wilfredo, Orelvys, Junior, and Claudia represent hundreds of activists, human rights defenders, independent journalists, and critics of the Cuban government who have been forced to flee Cuba. They have been forced to leave their families for countries with different languages, cultures, and traditions.

From the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights we demand that the Cuban State cease the use of forced exile as a strategy of repression, and that it recognize and guarantee the human rights of every person that resides in its territory. We reiterate our call to the government of the island to comply with the dispositions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and we urge the international community to guarantee the protection of Cuban migrants, independent of their migratory status.

***

[1] Cuba: 4 razones que explican el histórico éxodo desde la isla a EE.UU. en 2022. Enero 3 de 2023. Disponible: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-64104551

[2] En 2022, cifra récord de migrantes desaparecidos en el Caribe. Enero 24 de 2023. Disponible: https://www.iom.int/es/news/en-2022-cifra-record-de-migrantes-desaparecidos-en-el-caribe

[3] Cuba: 4 razones que explican el histórico éxodo desde la isla a EE.UU. en 2022. Enero 3 de 2023. Disponible: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-64104551

[4] Cuba: Crisis migratoria y prácticas represivas en el contexto de la movilidad humana. Octubre 27 de 2022. Disponible: http://oldrace.wp/es/cuba-es/cuba-crisis-migratoria-y-practicas-represivas-en-el-contexto-de-la-movilidad-humana/

[5] Raza e Igualdad alerta sobre nuevo Código Penal que recrudece la criminalización del ejercicio de derechos fundamentales. Junio 14 de 2022. Disponible: http://oldrace.wp/es/cuba-es/raza-e-igualdad-alerta-sobre-nuevo-codigo-penal-que-recrudece-la-criminalizacion-del-ejercicio-de-derechos-fundamentales/

Race and Equality Denounces Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela arbitrarily holding more than 1,500 people deprived of liberty for political reasons

Washington D.C., January 23, 2023 – In the framework of the 7th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC), the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) denounces Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela hold on the largest number of people deprived of liberty for political reasons in the Americas. In these three countries more than 1,500 people have been or are in the process of being subjected to unfair trials, as well as physical and psychological torture.

Cuba holds the most people deprived of their liberty. According to figures from the 11J Justice working group. as of January 10, 2023, more than 600 people remained in detention for having participated in the peaceful protests of July 2021.

However, the number of Cubans who have been detained for demanding their rights is even higher. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) revealed at the end of last year that more than a thousand citizens remain in prison for political reasons on the island.

As of January 17, 2023, Foro Penal registered 274 persons deprived of liberty for political reasons in Venezuela, the second country with the highest number of this type of arbitrary detention. Meanwhile in Nicaragua the numbers continue to increase, and as of November 2022, the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners counted more than 235 persons arbitrarily deprived of their liberty for political reasons.

Due to this situation, Race and Equality is carrying out a series of actions to denounce the situation in Argentina, the country where the VII CELAC Summit will be held, so that the heads of state are aware that they must continue to demand the release of these people.

As part of these strategic actions in the framework of the CELAC Summit in Buenos Aires, we have installed 200 two-sided vertical posters that are at the eye level of passers-by, with a message demanding that the more than one thousand people deprived of their freedom for political reasons in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela be released.

The posters were placed at strategic points in the city of Buenos Aires, including near the Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center, where the Summit will be held.

We also installed two billboards for a period of three days (January 20, 21, and 22); one demanding the release of the more than 600 people deprived of liberty for political reasons in Cuba, and the other for the more than 235 people arbitrarily detained in Nicaragua. These were placed in front of the Quinta Presidencial de Olivos, the official residence of the President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández.

We reiterate our commitment to the people deprived of their freedom in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, so that their stories are known, as well as the arbitrariness to which they have been subjected to.

The organizations in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela that demand the release of persons deprived of liberty for political reasons will be accompanying us in the denunciations and

demands for freedom. The loved ones of the detainees will also raise their voices using social media networks, so that the immediate release of the arbitrarily detained persons remains on the agenda.

From Race and Equality and allied organizations, we continue to carry out litigation and advocacy actions before the international bodies of the Inter-American System and the Universal System of Human Rights to facilitate a path towards the freedom of all persons unjustly deprived of their liberty in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

One year since 15N: The announcement of a peaceful protest repressed by the Cuban State

Washington D.C., November 15, 2022. — Today, one year ago, hundreds of Cubans were called to march for change, thanks to an initiative lead by a group of citizens known as Archipiélago, that sought through the mobilization to demand the recognition of human rights in Cuba and the release of persons deprived of their liberty for political motivations (political prisoners). The leader of this movement, the activist and playwright Yunior García Aguilera, asked for permission in September 2021 to hold the peaceful protest, but Island authorities prohibited it, reasoning that the march was financed by the United States government with the intention of changing the political system of Cuba.[1] As such, the citizens’ announcement was repressed by the state, which detained 103 people, including a 15-year-old minor, according to the organizations Justicia 11J and Cubalex.

Initially, the march was planned for November 20, but the government announced a series of military exercises that day, and for that reason the date was changed to November 15. However, days before the protests took place, the Cuban government –which had not recognized the right to hold the protest– led a strategy of repression and harassment in all 15 provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud in order to impede citizens taking to the streets as they had in July 2021,[2] when thousands of people peacefully protested reoccurring failures in electricity, the shortage of food and medicine, and the serious economic crisis, problems that continue today without resolution.

On November 15, also known as 15N, security forces ensured their control over the Island, impeding peaceful protests from being held. Activists, human rights defenders, independent journalists, artists, jurists, and other groups were harassed to prevent them from going out into the streets. Between November 12 and 17 last year 400 repressive actions were registered, such as house arrests, police summons, arbitrary arrests, and cuts to internets services, according to the Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos.[3]

Among those who faced state repression were the members of Archipiélago. The leader of this group, Yunior García, fled the country after he was harassed by State Security; and settled in Spain. Additionally, the activist Daniela Rojo, also part of the movement, was reported missing in the following days.

Why is this date important for the Cuban people?

“Sadly, the march of 15N was not realized because of various factors that the Cuban state was able to take advantage of, like the date change. But what did occur was important for the population in general. It still demonstrated that it was possible to articulate an announcement like this, and that with the right leadership that it is possible to mobilize the people to demand their rights,” affirmed Fernando Palacio, director of the Center for Development and Leadership Studies (CELIDE).

The repression exercised against the announced protest evidenced the human rights violations committed by the Cuban state, which impeded at all costs citizens going out into the streets. “It was a grand campaign coordinated by Archipiélago. It demonstrated that there has been opposition and that more leadership is needed,” expressed José Ernesto Morales, representative of the Consejería Jurídica e Instrucción Cívica in Cuba, who at the time was being held in de facto house arrest, after men from State Security swarmed his home and prohibited him from leaving.

15N represents the attempts by independent civil society to make their claims heard through peaceful and public protest, according to the norms set forth in the Constitution. Still the state disregarded the constitutional right to protest and persecuted organizers.

Currently, the Cuban state continues to repress and harass people who take to the street to demand better life conditions, and for the constant violations of their human rights. In May of this year, the National Assembly of People’s Power approved a new Penal Code that maintained ambiguous crime definitions and increased the penalties of certain crimes, like those that refer to public disorder. Accordingly, this law, which comes into effect on December 1, sanctions acts considered “provocatory”, without specifying this terminology.[4] This could be translated into higher levels of repression against those who participate in public protests.

Race and Equality demands that Cuba authorities guarantee the right to protest as it is established in the Constitution of the country. We also ask that they cease the repression and harassment against activists, jurists, independent journalists, leaders, artists, and human rights defenders. We urge the Cuban state to guarantee human rights, in conformity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. At the same time, we call on the establishment of mechanisms that allow them to hear the dissident voices of the island, implementing democratic ways capable of finding a path out the economic and social crisis that grips the island.

***

 

[1] CNN Español. ABC de las protestas del 15 de noviembre en Cuba. November 15, 2022, available at https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2021/11/15/abc-protestas-cuba-15-noviembre-orix/

[2] International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights. La represión de las históricas protestas del 11J en Cuba. July 6, 2022, available at http://oldrace.wp/es/blog-es/la-represion-de-las-historicas-protestas-del-11j-en-cuba/

[3] Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos. OCDH reclama la liberación de los prisioneros políticos y de conciencia en Cuba. November 17th, 2021, available at: https://observacuba.org/ocdh-reclama-liberacion-prisioneros-politicos-conciencia-cuba/

[4] International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights. Raza e Igualdad alerta sobre nuevo código penal que recrudece la criminalización del ejercicio de derechos fundamentales. June 14, 2022, available at http://oldrace.wp/es/cuba-es/raza-e-igualdad-alerta-sobre-nuevo-codigo-penal-que-recrudece-la-criminalizacion-del-ejercicio-de-derechos-fundamentales/

Key points of the Cuban Family Code draft, an initiative that will be submitted to a popular consultation on September 25

Washington, D.C., September 12, 2022 – On September 25, Cubans will answer yes or no to the question, “Do you agree with the Family Code?” The population is called to participate in a referendum to discuss the direction of the proposal of the new Family Code, a project composed of 471 articles and which, among its most important points, recognizes equal marriage, the redistribution of domestic work and care, the prevention of gender-based violence, and a number of rights that are aligned with the recognition of diverse families.

The new Family Code is an initiative that emerged after it was established in the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba (which was reformed in April 2019) – the National Assembly of People’s Power should begin the process of popular consultation, within a period of two years, to “figure out a way to establish marriage.”[1]

As a result, the project has generated all kinds of reactions in Cuba, due to the decision of the Cuban State to submit to a referendum, this proposal expands the rights of children and adolescents on the Island, and of other population groups that historically have been victims of violence and discrimination, such as people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, women, older adults, and people with disabilities. These rights should be guaranteed without the need for Cubans to approve them; that is to say, the government of this country must work so that these rights are recognized without resorting to a popular consultation or any mechanism of citizen participation. Human rights should not be negotiable or subject to an approval process.

The legal team of the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) analyzed the Family Code draft, here are some key points:

  • The new bill broadens the concept of the traditional family, consisting of a man and a woman. In this way, the different forms of families are incorporated, recognizing rights for affective de facto unions, regardless of the legal ties that are established.[2]
  • It incorporates concrete guidelines to ensure equality between men and women, such as the equitable distribution of domestic work and care work. It also includes the right of women to decide about their own bodies and the full development of sexual and reproductive rights, regardless of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, or if they are disabled.
  • Expands the spaces for participation and decision-making of children and adolescents.
  • It incorporates considerations on discrimination and violence in the family, provides the possibility of resorting to the authorities to request protection, and the option of claiming damages caused by this type of aggression. The project foresees sanctions for those who engage in family violence.
  • The proposal of the new Family Code expands the bonds of people who constitute kinship and recognizes affection as a determining source. It also establishes the socio-affective bond that is sustained on the basis of a stable relationship over time, which can justify filiation. This extension refers to other articles related to food, family communication, and hereditary vocation.
  • It incorporates specific considerations concerning older persons and persons with disabilities, such as foster care, which aims to keep these population groups in a regular social environment or incorporate them into a family environment that facilitates their integration and inclusion.
  • This initiative also includes the recognition of adoptive, assisted and socio-affective filiations, it offers the possibility of recognizing the different forms of family that exist in Cuba. It also incorporates the figure of multiparentality, which implies that a person may have more than two filiation bonds, either for original causes, or for overtaken causes. And it establishes the possibility for families to choose the order of their surnames.
  • Couples in registered partnerships, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, will have the same right to adopt that married couples have historically had. The possible age to be adopted is also extended to 18 years.
  • The project introduces the possibility of using methods of assisted filiation, which is when the fertilization of an ovule is done without sexual union.
  • It also regulates the possibility of resorting to gestation solidarity in certain situations, a practice that is currently illegal in Cuba.
  • While in the old code marriage is defined as the “voluntary union of one man and one woman,” in this project it is called, “voluntary union of two people.” Children under 18 years of age may not marry.
  • This new bill also refers to the parental responsibility that must be assumed by those who have underage children in their care. In the document, the introduction of concepts such as “positive parenting” and aspects such as education for responsible sexuality, non-discrimination and non-violence are highlighted.
  • The right of children and adolescents to a digital environment free of violence is incorporated.
  • The care of children and adolescents is also addressed, and it is established that grandparents, grandmothers, and other relatives or emotionally close people can also take care of minors.
  • This bill includes considerations that promote family communication.

From Race and Equality, we insist that the State of Cuba recognizes the human rights of all the people who reside in its territory, regardless of any popular consultation. It is necessary that the authorities provide guarantees so that Cuban society can grow and develop in an environment in which its rights are fully recognized, without fear or limitations. We demand that the Cuban government comply with its international human rights obligations and guarantee the fundamental rights of its entire population, without discrimination of any kind.

***

[1] Constitución de la República. Preámbulo. Texto disponible en: https://www.gacetaoficial.gob.cu/es/constitucion-de-la-republica-de-cuba-proclamada-el-10-de-abril-de-2019

[2] Proyecto Código de las Familias. Versión 25. Texto disponible en https://www.parlamentocubano.gob.cu/sites/default/files/documento/2022-07/CF%20V%2025-140622%20VF%20%20Para%20ANPP%20%282%29_0.pdf

Cuba: Race and Equality presents a petition to the IACHR on human rights violations against the organization Ladies in White and each of the women that are part of it

Washington DC, August 12, 2022 – The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) presented a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), to declare the international responsibility of the State of Cuba for the violations perpetrated against 55 women for being part of the Damas de Blanco collective, and against the Cuban organization itself, with the purpose of dismantling it and preventing it from continuing its work in defense of human rights.

In the document, Race and Equality details a pattern of 3,086 short-term arbitrary detentions, 243 acts of criminalization, 226 cases of physical, racial, and gender violence; as well as the siege, surveillance and constant threats perpetrated by the Cuban government against the Ladies in White between 2013 and 2022, a period during which the precautionary measures granted by the IACHR in favor of the members of this organization are in force.

They will walk dressed in white until Cuba is free

“The communist regime is aware of the precautionary measures that the IACHR has granted us, but nothing has changed in its attitude and harassment, every day it attacks our members,” says Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, who spoke with Race and Equality on the human rights violations that she and the other women of this organization have suffered; as well as the prolonged arbitrary imprisonment that four of her partners are currently suffering, three of them for having participated in the peaceful protests of July 2021, known as 11J.

Berta, 59, is one of the founders of Ladies in White, a group that emerged in 2003 after 75 people were arrested for being dissidents of the Cuban government, in a series of arrests known as the “Black Spring”. She and other relatives, almost all of them women, met at the Villa Marista prison in Havana to find out how their loved ones were doing and demand that they be released, on March 30, 2003, they decided to go dressed in white to the Santa Rita de Casia Church, a parish in Havana that pays tribute to the saint of “impossible causes.” Thus, going to mass, she started this organization, whose name was coined by the independent journalist exiled in the United States, María Elena Alpízar.

“Since then we have been victims of aggression, and more than 12 members have been imprisoned. Currently, four of our members are in jail; one who was about to serve four years in prison and when she was released they created a new case for her and sentenced her to five years and four months in prison, for not having agreed with State Security to leave the country with her family; she is Aymara Nieto Muñoz. The other three women are Sissi Abascal, Tania Echevarría and Sayli Navarro, who were arrested for having participated in the 11J protests and were sentenced to between six and eight years of imprisonment”, says Soler.

The Ladies in White have been arbitrarily detained, beaten and even stripped naked for taking to the streets and demonstrating against the State of Cuba. “The regime has stolen money from us and has arrested our sons and our daughters’ husbands to pressure us to desist from being part of this organization, which in 2011 was made up of more than 250 women throughout the country,” says Berta, who proudly says that one of the collective’s achievements has been to achieve, together with the Cuban church and several human rights organizations, the release of the prisoners of the ‘Black Spring’, who despite being sentenced to up to 28 years in prison, have only served seven years in prison.

As a result of the multiple attacks, on October 28, 2013, the IACHR granted precautionary measures in favor of the Ladies in White. The Commission asked the Cuban government to adopt a series of actions “to preserve the life and personal integrity of the members of the organization [1],” and also to present a report on the investigations carried out to clarify the acts of violence that have occurred. against the collective. However, none of this has happened and human rights violations against the Ladies in White have persisted.

“State Security, when they stop us, threaten to take us to prison, tell us that we cannot go to mass or even meet. They  threaten us all the time that the Ladies in White are going to disappear… many times they arrest us and keep us inside the patrols or in the cells, and the next day or whatever time they establish to keep us imprisoned, they release us and they impose fines on us without telling us why we have been fined,” says Berta, who also states that she is not afraid of being arrested. She and the more than 50 women who are still part of this organization say that they will continue dressed in white walking towards any church on the island, until there are no people deprived of liberty for political reasons, and Cuba is free.

A petition to end the persecution

Race and Equality presented this petition to the IACHR so that it formulates a series of recommendations to the Cuban State that will allow an end to the prolonged and systematic persecution implemented against Ladies in White, and each and every one of its members. In addition, reparations were requested from the victims and their relatives, and to adapt laws, public policies, procedures, and practices to international human rights standards, to guarantee that the island’s women activists can demonstrate, demand changes, congregate and mobilize without being violated.

From the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights we will continue to support the independent civil society of Cuba, so that universal rights are recognized on the Island, and the inhabitants of this country can demand changes from the Cuban State, without fear of being victims of repression and arbitrary arrests.

[1]Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Resolution 6 / 2013. Precautionary Measure N. 264 – 13. Ladies in White Matter regarding the Republic of Cuba. https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/pdf/MC264-13-esp.pdf

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