MUDE, a shelter threatened for defending the rights of black women and children in Palmira, Colombia

MUDE, a shelter threatened for defending the rights of black women and children in Palmira, Colombia

Bogotá, October 20, 2025 – On July 15, 2024, members of the Movimiento de mujeres unidas, diversas y emancipadas (MUDE, by its initials in Spanish) reported that, in the early hours of the morning, several people violently entered the house where the organization’s headquarters were located, in the municipality of Palmira, Valle del Cauca. Through their social media accounts, they made public how computers were destroyed, along with the shelter of more than 300 people, including children, adolescents, and black and diverse women from this region of Colombia who are beneficiaries of MUDE. 

That day, the women of this organization felt that the “last straw had been drawn,” after years of threats, harassment, acts of racism, transphobia, and hate campaigns spread through social media. They were left with a clear message: if they continue to do this work, their lives are in danger.

A year after the raid, the events remain unpunished and the members of MUDE continue to denounce what happened and demand recognition and guarantees of their rights in this area of the Colombian Pacific. “We continue to call on the authorities and other organizations to listen to us and respond to our demands. We want to know that we have support, that our lives matter, that people care about what happens to MUDE, to children, and to diversity,” says María Camilia Saa, a member of the organization. 

The Movimiento de mujeres unidas, diversas y emancipadas was founded in 2019 and, since then, has accompanied and transformed the lives of more than 6,000 children, adolescents, women of African descent, and diverse women, along with their families, in Palmira and other municipalities in Valle del Cauca. Sady Carreazo, another member, affirms that MUDE is a space for “collectivization.” 

“Coming together guarantees the lives of Black people; it is another way in which we can be and live in freedom. It is another opportunity to study, work, be, and express ourselves,” adds Carreazo. The organization promotes advocacy, training, and visibility strategies with an ethnic and diverse focus through art and music. One example of this is MUDE’s Agojie group, whose songs address issues such as Afro hair, feminism, and sexual and gender dissidence.

Following the attack, MUDE was forced to relocate its headquarters to another area of Palmira, while its members continue to report ongoing threats and harassment due to their diverse identities and their work defending the rights of their communities.

From the Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) expresses its support for MUDE and reiterates its urgent call on the competent authorities to act diligently, guarantee the protection of its members, and ensure that acts such as these do not go unpunished. Defending the lives, diversity, and leadership of Black and diverse women is an inescapable responsibility of the Colombian state.



“The struggle continues inside and outside Cuba”: José Daniel Ferrer, after his forced exile in the US

Washington D.C., October 16, 2025 – That was one of the statements made by José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), after arriving in Miami, United States, together with his wife, the doctor and activist Nelva Ortega, and three of his children, after being forced into exile. Ferrer’s departure was officially announced by the Cuban Foreign Ministry, which specified that his transfer, along with his family, was the result of a “formal request” from the U.S. government and the “express acceptance” of the Cuban activist. 

The human rights defender, who regained his freedom on Monday, October 13, said he had “mixed emotions” as he celebrated his reunion with part of his family, but lamented the situation of dozens of activists who remain imprisoned in Cuba. “It is a very difficult and sad moment because there are other brothers and sisters in Cuba who are surviving in terrible conditions in the worst prisons in the Western Hemisphere: Félix Navarro, Saylí Navarro, Sissi Abascal, Luis Manuel Otero, Maykel Castillo, Lisandra Góngora; there are many throughout the country,” he said.

Ferrer, 55, is one of Cuba’s most renowned activists. He was one of the 75 prisoners of conscience convicted during the Black Spring of 2003 and, since then, has been subjected to repeated arrests, torture, and arbitrary judicial proceedings. He participated in the demonstrations on July 11, 2021, after which he was arbitrarily detained and, in January of this year, released on parole. However, on April 29, 2025, he was again imprisoned in Mar Verde prison, where he reported beatings, torture, and threats against his family.

In a letter written from that prison and released on October 3, Ferrer warned that he was at the limit of what he could endure and that he was willing to accept forced exile to protect his life and that of his family. At Race and Equality, we have repeatedly denounced the serious violations of his human rights and the inhumane conditions of his imprisonment to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), as his legal representatives, reason why he is the beneficiary of protective measures.

We celebrate that José Daniel Ferrer and his family are safe today, but we condemn that his freedom was dependent upon forced exile, a practice that violates fundamental rights and that the Cuban state has used to silence critical voices. This same strategy was recently imposed on activist Aymara Nieto, a member of the Ladies in White, who was released in August 2025 on the condition that she leave the island. At Race and Equality, we reiterate our commitment to defending those persecuted for political reasons in Cuba and call on the international community to demand an end to repression, arbitrary imprisonment, and the forced exile of Cuban dissidents.

We condemn the attack against Venezuelan human rights defenders Yendri Velásquez and Luis Peche, an example of transnational repression

Bogotá, October 14, 2025 – On Monday, October 13, 2025, Venezuelan activists Yendri Velásquez and Luis Alejandro Peche were victims of a shooting in northern Bogotá. Both were wounded in the legs and are recovering and out of danger. According to official information, three armed men intercepted them and shot them repeatedly before fleeing the scene. The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) strongly condemns this attack, which represents a new case of transnational repression, a form of political persecution that seeks to silence those who defend human rights even beyond their borders.  

“We are alarmed by the growth of transnational repression in Latin America: a practice that seeks to punish activism and silence critical voices, even in exile. This attack against Yendri and Luis violates not only their right to life, but also the collective right to defend human rights,” said Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality.  

Yendri Omar Velásquez Rodríguez is a renowned Venezuelan LGBTIQ+ advocate and founder of the Venezuelan Observatory of LGBTIQ+ Violence. In 2024, he received the Human Rights and Rule of Law Award from the French and German embassies; but that same year, in August, he was the victim of state persecution when he was preparing to travel to Geneva to participate in a session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. He was arbitrarily detained at Maiquetía airport and his passport was revoked. Weeks later, he was forced into exile in Colombia.

Luis Alejandro Peche Arteaga, 34, is an internationalist and political consultant. He was an advisor to the Venezuelan National Assembly between 2017 and 2018, during the opposition’s parliamentary presidency, and collaborated with citizen participation organizations such as Voto Joven. In 2025, he left Caracas after receiving threats.  

This attack is part of a pattern of transnational violence that is becoming increasingly visible in the region. In June 2025, Race and Equality condemned the murder of retired Nicaraguan Army Major Roberto Samcam in San José, Costa Rica, an event that demonstrated that the persecution of critical and opposition voices transcends national borders.  

Urgent call to the Colombian State 

In this context, Race and Equality urgently and respectfully calls on the Colombian State to adopt immediate and effective protection measures, through the National Protection Unit, in order to safeguard the lives, integrity, and safety of Yendri Velásquez, Luis Peche, and their families. It also urges the Attorney General’s Office to conduct a prompt, thorough, and expeditious investigation to identify those responsible for planning and carrying out the attack and to ensure that there is no impunity.  

Similarly, it calls on the authorities to coordinate actions with international organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), with the aim of strengthening the institutional response and providing specialized support.  

Race and Equality also calls on the State to strengthen national protection policies for defenders, journalists, and social leaders, incorporating an intersectional, differential, and gender-based approach that recognizes the multiple vulnerabilities faced by migrant and LGBTIQ+ defenders. 

Finally, we urge the international community, social organizations, and civil society not to remain silent in the face of these events. We strongly condemn expressions of transnational repression in Latin America and the Caribbean, and we reaffirm our commitment to accompany and stand in solidarity with the victims of these acts of violence.  

Protecting the lives of those who defend human rights is a collective commitment and a universal ethical obligation. Defending rights cannot continue to be a risk that is paid for with one’s life. Colombia and the entire region must be territories of refuge and hope, not spaces where fear and persecution are prolonged. 

 

Race and Equality Condemns the Torture and Threats Against José Daniel Ferrer, Who Announced His Willingness To Go Into Forced Exile

Washington, D.C., October 7, 2025. – The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) expresses its concern over the announcement by Cuban activist José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), who stated that he is willing to accept forced exile as the only alternative to protect his life and that of his family, after years of torture, threats, and inhumane treatment suffered in prison and while on parole.

In a letter written from the Mar Verde Penitentiary and released on Friday, October 3, Ferrer denounced the serious human rights violations he has faced because of his activism. “For years I have been subjected to brutal beatings, torture, humiliation, death threats, and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by henchmen and other instruments of the worst dictatorship the American continent has ever known,” Ferrer wrote.

Race and Equality has repeatedly denounced the violence against José Daniel Ferrer and the conditions of his imprisonment before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The activist also reported threats against his wife and children, which have led him to consider forced exile as the only way to safeguard his integrity and that of his family. “I have reached the limit of what a human being can endure. If leaving the country is the only option to protect my loved ones, I am willing to accept it,” he added.

“Ferrer’s statements confirm the extreme level of persecution and cruelty faced by those who defend human rights in Cuba. His willingness to accept forced exile reflects the desperation of an activist who has been the victim of torture and systematic repression for years,” said Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality.

Ferrer, 55, is one of Cuba’s most renowned activists. He was one of the 75 prisoners of conscience convicted during the Black Spring of 2003 and, since then, has been subjected to repeated arrests, torture, and arbitrary judicial proceedings. He participated in the historic demonstrations on July 11, 2021, after which he was arbitrarily detained and, in January of this year, released on parole. However, on April 29, he was re-imprisoned in the Mar Verde prison.

The allegations made by the human rights defender reignite one of the most persistent repressive practices of the authoritarian Cuban regime: forced exile, a strategy that violates fundamental rights and that the authorities use to neutralize leaders, silence critical voices, and strip activists, artists, and journalists of their roots and family ties. This practice is in addition to other forms of repression—such as arbitrary judicial proceedings, harassment, censorship, and systematic persecution—whose objective is to limit or nullify the political and social participation of those who defend human rights in Cuba.

Over the past years, this strategy has affected various activists and journalists in Cuba, who have been forced to leave the country after years of repression, threats, and imprisonment. Recently, Cuban activist Aymara Nieto, also represented by Race and Equality before the IACHR, a member of the Ladies in White organization and UNPACU, left the island to settle in the Dominican Republic on August 11, 2025. Nieto, who had been imprisoned since 2018, was released on the condition imposed by State Security that she leave Cuba. “I was imprisoned until the very last moment I was at the airport. They were the ones who took me. They never let me go home,” said the human rights defender. She traveled accompanied by her husband, fellow activist Ismael Boris Reñí, and two of her daughters, after serving two consecutive sentences in a Havana prison.

At Race and Equality, we strongly condemn the torture, threats, and reprisals faced by José Daniel Ferrer, and we warn of the seriousness of his situation in prison. Ferrer’s case highlights the continuation of a pattern of repression that, in the last years, has forced numerous activists, defenders, and independent journalists in Cuba into exile. We urge the international community to redouble its efforts to demand his immediate release, as well as the protection of his family and all human rights defenders in Cuba and in exile.

We also urgently call on the United Nations, the IACHR, and the democratic governments of the region to intervene decisively to guarantee Ferrer’s physical and psychological integrity and to put an end to the persecution and forced exile of Cuban dissidents.

United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent to hold regional consultation in Bogotá

Bogotá, September 16, 2025. This Friday, September 19, the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent will hold a regional consultation for Spanish-speaking Latin America, a space that is part of the process of drafting the future United Nations Declaration on the respect, protection, and fulfillment of the human rights of people of African descent.

This meeting, which will begin at 9 a.m. at the headquarters of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will bring together more than 60 leaders, is part of the regional consultations being conducted by the Permanent Forum in different parts of the world to gather input and ensure that the voices of Afro-descendant communities are taken into account in the drafting of the Declaration. The meeting in Bogotá will be the second regional consultation, following the one held in December 2024 in Barbados, which focused on the Caribbean.

According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), around 200 million people of African descent live in the region, equivalent to 30% of the total population. However, structural barriers persist that limit their access to justice, political participation, education, health, and decent employment. These gaps are even greater in the case of women of African descent, who face the intersectional effects of racism and sexism. The regional consultation in Bogotá, aimed at Afro-descendant communities in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, seeks to generate an assessment of the multiple forms of discrimination and structural racism in the region, while consolidating proposals to strengthen the draft Declaration.

The event, which will take the form of a broad and participatory dialogue, will focus on priority issues identified by the Permanent Forum, including: the recognition and addressing of systemic and structural racism; restorative justice in the face of the legacies of colonialism, slavery, apartheid, and genocide; the collective rights of Afro-descendant peoples; sustainable development and the reduction of inequalities; as well as urgent and emerging human rights issues, such as the impact of artificial intelligence, climate change, environmental injustice, and the need to reform the international economic order.

The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) supports the participation of prominent women leaders from the region, who will contribute their experiences and expertise to the discussion. Among them are: Paola Yánez from Bolivia, coordinator of the Network of Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean, and Diaspora Women; Mirtha Colón from Honduras, president of the Central American Black Organization (ONECA); María Bizenny Martínez from the Dominican Republic, coordinator of the Human Rights and Political Advocacy Department at MOSCTHA; Luz Marina Becerra Panesso from Colombia, legal representative of the Coordination of Displaced Afro-Colombian Women in Resistance (La Comadre); and Teresa Mojica from Mexico, president of the Petra Morga Afro-Mexican Foundation. Their participation will raise awareness of the specific realities faced by women of African descent in the face of racial violence, forced displacement, and exclusion.

Voices of the diaspora: Women of African descent in resistance and global leadership

As a prelude to the consultation, on Thursday, September 18, at 4:00 p.m., at the Hotel Suite Jones (Chapinero, Bogotá), a dialogue will be held entitled Voices of the Diaspora: Women of African Descent in Resistance and Global Leadership. This meeting will feature the participation of the aforementioned leaders and Professor Justin Hasford, a member of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, whose career in the United States and involvement with Afro-descendant movements in the diaspora will allow for a comparative analysis between Latin America and the Global North.

The event, organized by Raza e Igualdad, will have simultaneous English-Spanish interpretation and seeks to consolidate a space for exchange and collective construction, strengthening the link between the historical struggles of Afro-descendant communities in Latin America and those that are developing in other international contexts.



Race and Equality will hold two Kátia Tapety School meetings in Colombia

Bogotá, September 16, 2025 – The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality), in partnership with the Grupo de Acción y Apoyo a personas Trans (GAAT) and the Fundación Somos Identidad, will hold two meetings of the Kátia Tapety School of Political Training in Colombia, which will take place on September 23 in Cali and on September 26 in Bogotá.

The Kátia Tapety School of Political Training is a project of the Institute created in Brazil in 2022, with the purpose of training LBTI, black, and indigenous women so that they can fully participate in spaces of power and decision-making. Since its creation, more than 60 women leaders in Brazil have participated in these training sessions.

The program is named after Kátia Tapety, recognized as the first transvestite elected by direct vote in Brazil in 1992, whose political legacy is a benchmark in Latin America for the defense of human rights and the expansion of political participation by trans women, transvestites, black women, and indigenous women.

During the meetings to be held in Colombia, sessions will be held on the following topics:

  • Concepts and scope of political participation.
  • Manifestations and consequences of political violence.
  • International mechanisms for the protection of human rights.
  • Exchange of experiences and lessons learned from the School in Brazil.

If you are an LBTI, Black, or Indigenous person and would like to participate in this space, please register at the following link. Space is limited: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/sckf9qMPXt 



Race and Equality reports on the forced disappearances for women in Nicaragua and Cuba to the United Nations Committee

Washington, D.C., September 10, 2025.– The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) participated in the regional consultation of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) as part of its general comment on women, girls and enforced disappearances.

The objective of this CED initiative, which was held virtually on September 3, was to provide spaces for exchange with international organizations, civil society organizations, and interested people in the region to identify challenges, lessons, and specific and contextual recommendations that feed the content of the general comment.

In particular, the Committee was interested in receiving information on: a) addressing the gender and intersectional perspective; b) the differentiated impacts and the inequalities and specific circumstances of women and girls that affect the exercise of their rights; c) contexts that put women and girls at particular risk; d) the role of women as human rights defenders and peacebuilders and; e) the measures available to victims of enforced disappearance, including women searchers, to give effect to the rights enshrined in the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Race and Equality presented information on Nicaragua and Cuba

In the case of Nicaragua, Race and Equality reported on cases of women who were disappeared during some point of their arbitrary detention for political reasons, particularly highlighting the cases of some of the 11 women who are still missing today, after being deprived of their liberty, according to data from the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua.

We share the cases of violations of their rights, with special emphasis on the challenges faced by women searchers, the violations of rights to which they may be subjected, and the differentiated inter-American standards that apply to them for their comprehensive protection and care.

As for Cuba, the Institute took the case of the women who are members of the organization Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) to the CED, providing information on how these women are deprived of liberty every Sunday when they try to attend mass, generally for periods of between 1 and 4 hours, but in some cases extending up to 72 hours, without leaving any type of record in official records.

This pattern, which corresponds to what the CED identified in its “Joint Declaration on the so-called short-term enforced disappearances as a form of enforced disappearance”, iscombined with a practice of sexualized treatment of these women that includes everything from insults based on their gender at the time of deprivation of liberty to particular threats and strategies that seek to generate fear in women at the time of their release, having a differentiated impact compared to the forced disappearances of men.

The Committee thanked Race and Equality for its interventions in making it aware of issues that had not been made visible in the framework of the regional consultation and for presenting novel approaches in the analyses carried out. It should be noted that the case of the Ladies in White was the only one that was presented with respect to Cuba, which shows the need to reinforce the tasks of making visible what is happening on the island.

At Race and Equality, we maintain a strong commitment in this regard and we will continue to advocate with mechanisms of the Universal System and the Inter-American Human Rights System to denounce the situation of forced disappearance in Latin America, especially in countries such as Cuba and Nicaragua, where this problem is determined and aggravated by authoritarian regimes.

Nicaragua: Raids Carried Out by the Ortega-Murillo Regime Reveal New Escalation of Repression

Washington, D.C., August 18, 2025. – The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) strongly condemns the recent police raids carried out by the Ortega-Murillo regime in the departments of Carazo, Granada, Masaya, and Rivas, which left at least 27 people detained between August 14 and 16.  as denounced and documented by the Blue and White Monitoring (MAB). Four of those people have reportedly been released and 23 remain arbitrarily detained for political reasons.
Most of those arrested are political releases, returned exiles, artists and opposition businessmen. The operations were marked by violent raids, looting, use of canine technique and night detentions, in a context marked by the recent confiscation of the San José School in Jinotepe, Carazo.
According to the MAB report, among those arrested in Carazo in this new offensive are the former political prisoner and returned exile Óscar Velásquez Sánchez, the painter Marvin Campos Chavarría, María José Rojas Arburola, daughter of the assassinated opponent Rodolfo Rojas; Chester Cortés, from the Cementerio neighborhood; tattoo artist Darwin Ayerdis – missing since his capture in July – as well as Mario Rodríguez Serrano and Halder López Luna, the latter arrested after voluntarily presenting himself to the police.
The arrests occurred days after co-dictator Rosario Murillo announced on August 12 the confiscation of the San José school, in Jinotepe, under the alleged argument that torture was carried out in that center during April 2018. The confiscated school was administered by the nuns of the Josephine congregation, which represents another step in the regime’s onslaught against the Catholic Church.
It is with deep concern that the regime does not abandon the pattern of arbitrary detentions for political reasons in order to keep the population afraid to express themselves.
“It is unacceptable that in Nicaragua the practice of detaining people and subjecting them to forced disappearance persists, leaving their families in absolute uncertainty and pain. No one should live in fear of never seeing their loved ones again. This is a very serious violation of human rights that must cease immediately,” said Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality.
We demand that the families of the affected people be informed of their whereabouts and that they be released immediately. We also demand that the repression against the Nicaraguan Church cease and that religious freedom and the properties and educational centers owned or administered by the Church be respected.

Cuba: Warning about the escalation of repression against activists and human rights defenders four years after the 11J protests

Bogotá – Havana, July 11, 2025.– Four years after the protests of July 11, 2021 (11J), national and international organizations warn of a new peak of repression by the Cuban State against activists, independent journalists, human rights defenders and relatives of persons deprived of liberty for reasons of conscience. This situation demands urgent attention from the international community in view of the intensification of restrictions on fundamental freedoms and human rights.

We view with deep concern the persecution, threats and intimidation against journalist Camila Acosta, who through her social networks has denounced that she is being followed by state security agents to, according to her, impede her informative and investigative work in Havana. This situation is in addition to that of Henry Constantín, journalist and director of La Hora de Cuba, who was imprisoned for several days in Camagüey, accused of contempt for doing his job, and although he has been released, he must report regularly to the country’s authorities. It was also confirmed to Henry that he is still regulated and that he cannot leave the island.

The situation of the prisoners of conscience, several of them detained for participating in the July 2021 demonstrations, is of the utmost gravity: in recent days, opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer and rapper Maykel “Osorbo” Castillo had to resort to a hunger strike as a last resort in protest against the injustices that continue to be committed against them in prison. Ferrer, who was released from prison in January of this year and is now back in jail, is protesting the brutal beatings he has been subjected to in prison. For his part, Osorbo is protesting against the authorities’ attempts to transfer him to a prison even further away from his family, in violation of international standards of humane treatment. This measure has become recurrent, according to the relatives of those deprived of their liberty.

Donaida Pérez, opponent and president of the Association of Free Yorubas of Cuba, was imprisoned after the 11J protests and sentenced to 8 years in prison for the alleged crimes of contempt of court, public disorder and attempt against an official. Although she was released from prison in January 2025, on June 11 the Provincial Court of Villa Clara revoked her parole, arguing an alleged failure to fulfill her obligations. She is currently being held in Guamajal prison, where she faces unsanitary conditions, ill-treatment and possible acts of torture.

After being released from prison at the beginning of the year, Felix Navarro, also a prisoner of conscience, was once again imprisoned and remains in precarious conditions, with the aggravating factor that he is an elderly person with chronic health conditions. His wife, Lady in White Sonia Alvarez, was informed on July 2 that he would be transferred to Havana for medical examinations, but so far, she has not been able to communicate with him. Navarro remains without a clear medical diagnosis, without access to adequate treatment and held in inhumane conditions, without the minimum guarantees to protect his health and physical integrity. The lack of adequate medical attention constitutes cruel and inhumane treatment.

We also express our deep concern over the Cuban regime’s attempts to prevent the participation of activists and human rights defenders in the 4th of July commemoration at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. Several of those summoned were prevented from attending by various methods of repression. Some were intercepted en route and forced to get out of vehicles to prevent their arrival at the event.

The aforementioned cases are added to the alarming figure that, according to the organization Justicia 11J, speaks of 361 people detained for participating in the 11J demonstrations and who are still deprived of their liberty. Most of them have been convicted in trials without minimum guarantees and under politically manipulated charges.

At this juncture, we urge the governments of the region, multilateral organizations and diplomatic missions to:

  • Demand immediate and independent access to prisoners to verify their state of health and conditions of detention.
  • Hold high-level public meetings focused on the human rights situation in Cuba, with the participation of victims, family members and independent civil society organizations.
  • Continue to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all persons imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba.

Four years after 11J, repression has not ceased: it has transformed and expanded. Focusing attention on Cuba today is an imperative for the defense of human dignity and freedom.

Signed:

4Métrica

ARC – Artists at Risk Connection

ARTICLE 19 México y Centroamérica

Cadal

Civil Rights Defenders

ConEnfoque

Cuido60 – Observatorio de Envejecimiento, Cuidados y Derechos

Cubalex

Cubanet

De Mujer a Mujer y De Hombre a Hombre

Food Monitor Program

Instituto sobre raza, igualdad y derechos humanos – IRIDH

La Hora de Cuba

Mesa de Diálogo de la Juventud Cubana

Movimiento San Isidro

Museo de la Disidencia en Cuba

Museo V

Observatorio de Alas Tensas

Pride in Resistance: Persistent Challenges to LGBTI+ Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean

Washington, D.C., June 28, 2025.– LGBTI+ Pride Day was born from an act of protest and resistance in the face of discrimination and violence, and although it was an important turning point in the fight for the rights of people with diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, the truth is that 56 years after the Stonewall protests on June 28, 1969 in New York,  resistance is not past, it is present, especially in a region that marginalizes and violates LGBTI+ people.

In commemoration of LGBTI+ Pride Day, from the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), we recognize that Latin America and the Caribbean has experienced important advances in legislative terms, such as protection against discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity, equal marriage, and the recognition of gender identity for trans and non-binary people.

However, we emphasize that the region continues to face serious challenges to the effective application of this legislation, in addition to registering worrying figures of violence and murders against LGBTI+ people. This scenario is aggravated by the increase in hate speech by anti-rights groups, the installation of authoritarian governments in several countries and the drastic reduction of international cooperation.

The murder of people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity is a reality in Latin America, to the point that the region ranks as the most dangerous in the world for trans people, especially trans women. In this context, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are the countries with the highest number of cases: According to Trans Murder Monitoring, between October 2023 and September 2024, there were 106 murders in Brazil, 71 in Mexico and 25 in Colombia.

In Colombia, the brutal murder in April 2025 of trans activist and human rights defender Sara Millerey has inspired the struggle for the approval of the Comprehensive Trans Law project, which in recent days was formally introduced for debate in the Congress of the Republic, marking a milestone in the struggle for the recognition and guarantee of the rights of trans and non-binary people in the country.

On the other hand, the restriction of civic space in countries such as Cuba and Nicaragua, and the approval of laws that limit and condition the work of non-governmental organizations in the field of human rights, as happened recently in El Salvador and Peru, is a serious setback in the fight for the rights of LGBTI+ people.

Added to this, is the sudden and drastic reduction in international cooperation since the suspension of funds by the United States government, which puts at risk years of community work, protection networks, basic services (such as health, shelter, legal care) and political participation. Without this support, many organizations cannot sustain themselves, especially in contexts where there are no real public policies of inclusion.

In the midst of this reality, we reaffirm our commitment to promote and defend the rights of LGBTI+ people, mainly before the human rights protection mechanisms of the United Nations and the Inter-American System. But we also call on the international community, governments and civil society to protect this population and guarantee their rights.

Today more than ever, pride must be translated into action, because for LGBTI+ people, resisting is not a symbolic act: it is a way to survive.

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