Political Prisoners in Nicaragua: Three Campesinos Sentenced to 216, 210, and 159 Years in Prison

Political Prisoners in Nicaragua: Three Campesinos Sentenced to 216, 210, and 159 Years in Prison

Washington, DC, February 18, 2019 – Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena, two leaders of the Movimiento Campesino [Campesino Movement] arrested in July for demanding justice and democracy from the government of Nicaragua after the brutal governmental repression of civic protests, were sentenced today to 216 and 210 years in jail, sentences that are considered excessive for defendants in Nicaragua, given that life sentences do not exist in that country and the maximum sentence permitted under the [Nicaraguan] Constitution is 30 years.

The campesinos had been declared guilty on December 17, 2018 of the crimes of terrorism, organized crime, assassination, simple kidnapping, robbery, and hindering public services.  The defense lawyers who represented the campesinos, as well as experts in this field, viewed it as the end of a trial lacking guarantees, filled with contradictions, false witnesses, and evidence tampering.

According to local media, the sentence was announced by Judge Edgard Altamirano of the Ninth Criminal Trial District of Managua, who additionally sentenced a third campesino by the name of Luis Pineda Icabalzeta to 159 years in prison.

In December, a fourth defendant named Silvio Saúl Pineda Bonilla was declared not guilty of the crimes of which he had been accused.

The lawyer defending Mairena and Mena, Julio Montenegro of the Comisión Permanente de Derechos Humanos [Permanent Commission on Human Rights] (CPDH), declared last December to local media that Judge Altamirano “had the ruling already prepared,” which he read immediately following the closing arguments.

Mairena, Mena, and Pineda are some of the more than 760 political prisoners recorded by the Comité Pro Liberación de Presos y Presas Políticas de Nicaragua [Committee in Favor of Freeing Nicaraguan Political Prisoners] up through February of this year.  These three campesinos bring the total to more than 140 political prisoners who have already been sentenced.  Their crime, affirm their relatives, has been to protest with the flag of Nicaragua in their hands.

Who are they?

Mairena represented campesinos in the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, a group of citizens, students, businesspersons, and activists who participated in the National Dialogue with the Government to seek a way out of the socio-political and human rights crisis that by May had left 56 dead. As of this writing, State repression has left at least 325 dead, more than 2,000 people injured, and more than 50,000 who have sought refuge in Costa Rica.

In addition, Medardo was the coordinator of the National Council in Defense of the Land, the Lake, and Sovereignty, a group of campesinos who have fought since 2014 for the repeal of Law 840 that grants a Chinese company permission to build and operate an interoceanic canal that would destroy dozens of rural communities in Nicaragua.

Mena also belonged to the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, serving as an advisor to Mairena, and was part of the campesino movement opposed to the canal project.

According to the Public Prosecutor’s accusation, quoted by the newspaper La Prensa, Medardo Mairena was the head of a “criminal group” that guided the creation of roadblocks in Boaco, Chontales, Nueva Guinea, and Río San Juan to prevent the normal operation of transportation and commit various crimes. In addition, he is accused of being the mastermind of the murder of five police officers and a civilian in the municipality of Morrito, in Río San Juan on July 12, 2018.

Although Medardo Mairena openly supported the creation of barricades or roadblocks, they were actually installed by the campesino movement, students, and citizens throughout the country as a form of civic protest against governmental repression. Residents of Morrito, according to the digital media outlet Confidencial, attribute the assassinations to parapolice officers allied with the government who attacked a peaceful march that same day. Relatives of Mairena and Mena say they are being criminalized for actively participating in demonstrations against the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, as well as for the public demands for justice and democracy that were issued as a result of acts of repression committed since April 2018.

Detention

Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena were at the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport in Managua when they were arrested on July 13 without an arrest warrant. From there, the police took them to the Directorate of Judicial Assistance (DAJ), better known as “El Chipote” [The Smack].

The police issued a statement announcing that they had arrested Mairena “when he tried to flee the country.” The campesino leader’s brother, Alfredo Mairena, assured Confidencial that Medardo and Pedro were heading to Los Angeles, United States for a meeting in solidarity with the campesino movement. The police did not explain why they had also arrested Mena.

The police statement directly labeled Medardo “a terrorist” and “leader” of a criminal organization.

Judicial process

Four days after their arrest, a judge in Managua held a preliminary hearing against Mairena and Mena behind closed doors, according to the newspaper La Prensa. Following this hearing, the two leaders were transferred to the La Modelo [The Model] Prison System, where they have been continuously tortured. On July 25, the director of the CPDH, Marcos Carmona, denounced that the leaders were being beaten continuously by a prison official known as “El Chacal” [The Jackal].

After an initial hearing on August 15, the trial of Medardo, Mena, and Pineda was rescheduled three times and finally held on November 13. The defense alleged a “delay of justice,” and during those months of waiting, the torture and inhuman and degrading treatment continued.

Julio Montenegro commented on November 6 to journalists that since the campesino leaders were transferred to La Modelo, they remained in a cell known as “El Infiernillo” [The Hotplate], a small space with little ventilation and no light. In addition, he reported that the presence of insects, scorpions, cockroaches, and mosquitos was continuous, and the food provided was “wretched.”

After nine days of trial, the process concluded on December 17 with a ruling of criminal responsibility issued against the three campesinos. Neither the delegates of the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI, for its initials in Spanish) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) nor Nicaraguan human rights organizations were allowed to attend any of the hearings, despite the fact that Nicaraguan law establishes that hearings must be open to the public.

The tests and witnesses

CPDH lawyer Julio Montenegro confirmed on December, during a press conference, that no evidence presented by the Office of the Public Prosecutor – whether images, audio, or video – demonstrated overwhelmingly that Medardo Mairena had directed any actions against the police or that he had organized barricades or roadblocks.

Furthermore, Montenegro said the video that purported to be the most important evidence held by the prosecutors was in fact a sequence of three different scenes that “do not fit together.” “In the first scene, Medardo is on a cobblestone street with a group of people with blue and white flags; the second one is spliced together with a group of people who are in a crosswalk carrying red and black flags; and the third image shows a pitched battle in which Medardo Mairena does not appear.”

There were also serious contradictions among several of the 45 witnesses presented by the Prosecutor’s Office, all of whom were public officials. “One of the witnesses was made to read what he was going to declare from a giant screen,” Montenegro said.

On the ninth day of the trial, the Mairena and Mena defense presented three witnesses and a video that revealed that the day of the incidents in Morrito, Mairena was participating in a march in Managua.

Montenegro said back in December that he would file an appeal, wherein he will first question the validity of the trial due to innumerable anomalies in the process.

*A prior version of this article on December 19, 2018 was published when the campesinos were declared guilty.  This new version has been updated with the sentences they were given.

Main photo taken from El19Digital Website

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) views the sentencing of Medardo Mairena and Pedro Mena, as well as the detention and irregular trials of those accused in the protests of April 2018 and subsequent months, as part of the response of the Nicaraguan government to the civic protests that began eight months ago.

The above was characterized by the OHCHR in its Report “Violations of Human Rights and Abuses” as follows:

“The overall response of the authorities to the protests did not meet the applicable standards for the proper management of demonstrations, in violation of international human rights law . . .”

In addition, the trials, sentences, and persecution and repression now prevailing in Nicaragua targeting various sectors must be assessed by taking into account what has been said by the OHCHR in its aforementioned report:

“Instead of recognizing any responsibility for the social catastrophe, the government has blamed social and opposition leaders, human rights defenders, and the media for what it has termed ‘coup violence,’ the negative impact of the political crisis on the national economy, and the 197 deaths that have been officially recognized…”

Race & Equality calls for the immediate release of political prisoners and for the State of Nicaragua to accept its responsibility for the violence unleashed by the authorities that has left at least 325 people dead, including 24 children. Race & Equality calls on the State of Nicaragua to ensure truth, justice, and reparation for the victims.

Gender- and race-based micro-aggressions perpetrated against Afro-trans women

Washington, DC, February 12, 2019 – Within the framework of a series of training processes put forward by the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality), the second encounter of the dialogue ‘Why Speak About Afro-LGBTI?’ was held on February 12, 2019 in the city of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic with more than 60 activists and human rights defenders participating, primarily Afro-LGBTI persons, from Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic who were convened by the organization Trans Siempre Amigas [Trans Always Friends] (TRANSSA).

This second dialogue space, moderated by Christian King of TRANSSA, began with a focus on the discrimination experienced by the Afro-trans activist Belén Zapata, a member of the Afro-Peruvian youth organization Ashanti, in the process of entering the city of Santo Domingo, in the Las Américas Airport.

The discrimination Belén confronted can be summarized by stating that after she cleared the legal immigration controls and was proceeding to exit the airport, an employee retained her passport without identifying himself or giving a reason for his action, forcing her to stand against a wall for around 40 minutes while being stared at by people in the airport.  Afterward, she was led, together with a group of 10 others (most of whom were Afro-descendants), to other controls and scans in which she was repeatedly checked until [the employees] finally concluded she was not carrying drugs.  Belén received no response to her questions as to the reasons for this procedure; only by the end did she herself deduce she was being submitted to a drug-check.  She was informed that it was a routine check performed on new visitors to the country.

The entire incident experienced by Belén did not last longer than an hour.  The situation itself did not generate any legal consequences against her, no physical violence was employed, and furthermore, the procedures apparently were being justified by a confusing argument of drug-control and standard procedures employed with new visitors to the country.  The responsible parties?  After Race & Equality issued a communiqué and tweet denouncing the situation, Aerodom (the entity that operates the Dominican Republic’s airports) indicated that it is a private entity and that other entities were in fact responsible.  Conclusion?  There is no specific entity that can respond to this situation.

Within the framework of the roundtable conversation, the participants reflected on the normalization of this type of aggression.  Although its effects entail several violations – such as the violation of due process, unjustified restriction of movement, and arbitrary abuse of authority – we view these situations as minor because they do not entail extremely grave physical abuse.  In this sense, we are dealing with what is known as ‘micro-aggressions’ [‘micro-violencias’] that become normalized by the victims, who do not view them as grave or simply because they have no expectation of receiving a response when they denounce them to the authorities.

Belén’s courage was obvious during the conversation as she spoke about this situation, given that some of the attendees at the event had talked about similar situations they had experienced, whether due to their race, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity.  Likewise, the gravity of these incidents was discussed, when the lack of identification from officials and arbitrary nature of the procedures hinders the pinpointing of specific responsibility.  In addition, the group questioned the airport authorities’ lack of coordinated work strategies in this case which, as in other cases, is the result of viewing the response to situations of structural discrimination as being the responsibility of others rather than everyone’s responsibility.

Another situation narrated by an Afro-trans participant illustrated the limitations of her access to healthcare as a trans woman.  The participant described a situation in which she was the object of mockery when she asked to be seen by a urologist for problems associated with her prostate.  For this simple fact she was ridiculed and initially refused copies of the medical exams that had been performed on her, though she was finally able to get them due to her insistence.

Again, while she had access to medical attention and the situation can be described as a simple matter of incorrect attention provided to the user, this type of aggression that can appear to be ‘micro’ in fact has a profound impact on trans persons’ confidence in medical institutions and in this case, that of Afro-trans [persons].  This is a situation in which medical services become tortuous and health or even life itself are put at risk when the refusal of services leads to individuals deciding on their own to stop seeking adequate medical attention.

These two simple reflections on the aggressions visited upon Afro-trans women, while they deviated us from the classic discussions regarding the grave violence committed against the Afro, trans, and LGBTI populations, placed front and center the fact that oftentimes the root cause of the grave violations experienced by these populations is found in daily life, in the degeneration of a service or irregular procedures which, while not leaving permanent traces, have the effect, drop by drop, of wearing away Afro-trans persons’ human dignity and integrity.

Thanks to the support of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the United States Department of State, Race & Equality was able to sponsor the event and facilitate the attendance of the international invitees.

More than 60 female political prisoners have been subjected to different forms of violence in Nicaragua

February 14th, 2019. Around 68 female political prisoners of the Government of Nicaragua are facing different forms of violence, including violation of guarantees of due process, cruel and inhuman treatment, discrimination, sexual violence, lack of medical attention, threats, and harassment. This situation was denounced yesterday by representatives of civil society during the private hearing “Human Rights Situation of Women Deprived of Liberty in Nicaragua,” held in Bolivia during the 171st session of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR).

Among the speakers during the private audience were representatives of the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), the Center for Health Information and Advisory Services (CISAS, for its initials in Spanish) and the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH, for its initials in Spanish). The latter two organizations had their legal status arbitrarily invalidated by the Nicaraguan Assembly, which has left the victims of the repression that these organizations attended defenselessness.

Due to a lack of information from authorities, there are no official figures on the numbers of female political prisoners in Nicaragua. However, data collected by the Nicaraguan Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IN-Defensoras) and the Registration Commission of the Blue and White National Unity (UNAB, for its initials in Spanish), suggest that 102 women have been arbitrarily arrested by police and paramilitaries since the protests against the government began 10 months ago. From that total, there is information that 68 woman are still detained. Of those, 40 are being prosecuted and 17 have already been convicted with sentences ranging from 6 months to 40 years of prison.

Additionally, 26 women are detained in the La Esperanza women’s prison, three are under house arrest and the rest are detained in the Judicial Assistance Department (DAJ, for its initials in Spanish), better known as ‘El Chipote,’ or in departmental police delegations.

Inhuman and degrading treatment

“La Esperanza penitentiary has been a cell of isolation and punishment. The blackmail, verbal abuse, and even physical abuse in some cases have been recurrent by the prison authorities,” the mother of one of the political prisoners said during the audience. She added that “inside (the prison) they are totally isolated from the rest of female inmates and they are treated as if they have a disease.”

Ana Quirós, director of CISAS, also pointed out that the 26 female political prisoners detained in La Esperanza are jammed into two cells that were originally designed for 8 prisoners each, which have a single bathroom.

According to Quirós, all the female political prisoners “live with permanent anxiety, facing threats and receiving constant visits by armed men with dogs” as a means of intimidation. In addition, many times they are taken out of the penitentiary without being informed where they are being taken, “so they live with the fear of being disappeared.”

Sexual violence

Another manifestation of repression committed by the authorities and mainly directed towards women is sexual violence. Quirós explained that the female political prisoners have been forced to strip naked and perform squats in front of their male captors, have been victims of inappropriate and obscene contact, have received threats of rape, and have been raped with penetration. All of the above situations have been used as a method of torture to obtain information or to force the woman to film incriminating videos against opposition leaders.

Restrictions on health

The prison authorities have also denied medical care and access to medical treatment to inmates with health issues such as depression and anxiety, infections due to overcrowding and poor hygiene conditions, migraines, gastritis and hypertension.

“There are some woman with more serious problems and whose treatment is urgent, such as Ruth Matute, who has a congenital heart disease; Brenda Muñoz, who suffers from hepatic and renal polycystic disease; and Delmis Portocarrero, who has lupus erythematosus and hypertension,” Quirós told the representatives of the IACHR.

She also mentioned other cases such as that of Mercedes Chavarría, who has paralysis of half of her body; Ana Hooker, who has only one kidney and as a result suffers from hypertension, fluid retention and hypothermia; and the case of Irlanda Jerez, who suffers from heart problems and had a mitral valvuloplasty.

Discrimination against LGBTI people

A representative of a Nicaraguan organization that promotes the rights of the LGBTI population  denounced that as of today, there are three transgender women who are detained in male prisons, including the students Victoria Obando and Kysha López.

“These women have been denied their right to gender identity, relegating them to prisons for men where they suffer discrimination, harassment, violence, and torture; and where they’re forced to undress in front of hundreds of men in the prison. They are shouted by the officials of the penitentiary system that ‘there are only virile man’ in there,” the activist exposed.

Violations of due process

Ana Bolaños, a lawyer at Race and Equality, pointed out the violations of the due process rights of the political prisoners in Nicaragua.

Women “have been arrested without arrest warrants, without charges by the Public Prosecutor’s Office or any lawsuits against them,” said Bolaños, adding that after their arrest, the prisoners are illegally remitted in their capacity as detainees to the cells of ‘El Chipote in Managua, where they have been subjected to extensive and repeated interrogations and different forms of violence.

“These actions have demonstrated the coordinated work among the organs that form the Criminal Justice System of Nicaragua, particularly the National Police, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary,” she stated.

More than 700 political prisoners

In addition to the 68 women deprived of liberty, the Registration Commission of the UNAB and the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners count 700 men who have been imprisoned in the context of the current crisis of human rights in that Central American country.

Since April 2018, Nicaragua has been submerged in a serious human rights crisis that has continued to intensified. During the last two months, the government has been silencing dissenting voices and the violence is more selectively manifested towards human rights defenders, women, journalists, independent media, LGBTI persons, and civil society organizations.

International Organisations Establish International Observatory of the Human Rights Situation in Nicaragua

Americas/Europe, 16 January 2019. April 18, 2018 marked a watershet moment in the recent history of Nicaragua, with the outbreak of a political and social crisis that has seriously impacted the respect for and guarantee of human rights of the Nicaraguan people.

Nine months since the start of the human rights crisis, state repression against protesters, leaders, human rights organisations and social movements continues, placing the defence of human rights and social participation difficult to sustain. The government of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo has also been denying opportunities for international monitoring, which they had initially invited, such as the Follow-up Mechanism for the Situation in Nicaragua (MESENI) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, (IACHR) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

According to the statement made by the executive secretary of the IACHR, Paulo Abrão, in his last presentation to the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), “the characteristics of state violence show that there was a decision by the State to use forces in such a way that involved the commission of multiple criminal acts against demonstrators and political opponents; specifically murder, imprisonment, persecution, rape, torture and, eventually, enforced disappearances.”

According to what has been documented by the IACHR, the escalation of violence has resulted in 325 people killed and more than 2000 people injured; 550 people detained and prosecuted; around 300 health professionals dismissed from their jobs; and the expulsion of at least 144 students from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN).

With the possibility of international observation terminated, the blocking of spaces for civil society organisations to monitor and follow up human rights violations, the criminalisation of human rights defenders (HRDs) and their organisations, the closure of civil society organisations and the increasing forced migration of thousands of people due to the political violence, the need to establish an international mechanism to observe the situation in the country is extremely urgent.

It is in this context that a group of international and regional human rights organisations have come together to
establish the International Observatory of the Human Rights Situation in Nicaragua, including: Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Civicus- World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Urgent Action Fund-Latin America (FAU-AL), Front Line Defenders, Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF), EU -LAT Network , JASS – Just Associates, Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Humanos (IMD), Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World), Plataforma Internacional contra la Impunidad, International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), Unidad de protección a defensores y defensoras de Guatemala (UDEFEGUA) and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).

The Observatory is constituted by virtue of the crisis in Nicaragua, which makes it imperative that international civil society reinforce its work of documenting and monitoring the human rights situation in a coordinated and proactive manner.

 

Main photo: Carlos Herrera/Confidencial

OAS announces it will apply the Inter-American Democratic Charter to Nicaragua after learning that crimes against humanity have been committed in that country

Washington DC, December 28, 2018 – The Organization of American States (OAS) will begin the process of applying the Inter-American Democratic Charter to Nicaragua, declared Secretary-General Luis Almagro yesterday, after the Vice President of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR), Esmeralda Arosamena de Troitiño, presented a report produced by independent experts from various disciplines that reveals that actions committed by the State of Nicaragua against the peacefully-demonstrating population could be considered crimes against humanity.

Almagro explained that the application will begin with the convening of the Permanent Council, pursuant to Article 20 of the Charter, which establishes that when an alteration of the constitutional order occurs in any Member State that seriously impacts its democratic order, a collective assessment of the situation can be performed and related decisions adopted.

“We are required to begin the application of the Inter-American Democratic Charter to Nicaragua. The solution is still political and diplomatic, and we have the Inter-American regulatory instruments to address them,” Almagro said during an extraordinary session of the Permanent Council held in Washington, DC.

The Secretary-General of the OAS emphasized that at the beginning of the application of the Charter there is also an opportunity for the government of Nicaragua to reconsider its actions. Eight months after the beginning of the human rights and socio-political crisis in Nicaragua, at least 325 people have lost their lives as a result of the repression of demonstrators and more than 2,000 have been injured, according to the IACHR, while another 50,000 have had to flee the country and around 565 have been imprisoned.

During the last month, the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo launched a new escalation of repression against organizations defending human rights and media outlets by arbitrarily closing them and criminalizing journalists. Even the IACHR missions working in Nicaragua were expelled last week, accused of being “interventionist” and “biased.”

Under the current context of repression in Nicaragua, diplomatic representatives of several countries on the continent urged the Nicaraguan government to stop the repression and allow the return of the IACHR missions to the country; adhere to the recommendations of human rights experts; resume the national dialogue in a committed way; and reform the electoral system in order to hold early elections.

The United States of America, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile also requested the application of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, whose ultimate consequence could be the suspension of Nicaragua’s right to participate in the OAS.

Paula Bertol, Argentina’s ambassador to the OAS, stressed that “the lack of democracy and freedom in Nicaragua” has been exposed in the experts’ reports, and that is the reason why “many of our States are thinking about applying the Democratic Charter.”  “Many of our States are also considering an extraordinary consultation meeting because we are worried about what is happening in Nicaragua, because we don’t want more people to die as a result of the abuse of State power,” she added.

The ambassador of Chile to the OAS, Jaime Francisco Alliende, also called for “a solution to the political crisis in Nicaragua to be developed according to the principles and values ​​of Inter-American instruments, including the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” maintaining that when faced with a rupture of the rule of law, “all OAS Member States must raise their voices to call upon that regime to accept a peaceful and democratic solution to this serious crisis.”

The Vice President of the IACHR also supported the activation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter against the Nicaraguan government: “The IACHR calls on the OAS Member States to reject violations of human rights and acts of repression against the Nicaraguan population, and to consider compliance with the conditions that make the Inter-American Democratic Charter applicable to the country,” Arosemena de Troitiño said.

Future actions

In his speech, the Secretary-General also explained that future actions the OAS will take include asking the IACHR to denounce the crimes documented in its report before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and to ask the Permanent Council to request a meeting with the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) to present them the report on crimes against humanity.

The latter action would also permit the UN Security Council to remit the investigation of these crimes to the International Criminal Court, an organ of justice of which Nicaragua is not currently a party.

“If crimes against humanity continue to be committed, we will ask the States Parties of the OAS, as well as all democratic States, that under the concept of ‘universal justice,’ the officials appointed as instructors and executors in the experts’ report be detained and tried in their respective territories for these crimes, thus activating universal justice,” Almagro warned.

The ambassador of Nicaragua to the OAS, Luis Alvarado, ignored the report presented in the OAS and accused several countries of being “interventionist” and “biased” for requesting justice and democracy for Nicaragua. He also affirmed that Almagro did not deserve to be the Secretary-General of the OAS, an organization that he tried to disqualify by using the words of the late Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, describing it as a “Ministry of the Colonies.”  The representative of Venezuela was the only one to openly endorse Alvarado’s speech.

The report of the GIEI

In its final report drafted after six months of work in the Central American country, the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) determined that “the State of Nicaragua has engaged in conduct which, in accordance with international law, must be considered crimes against humanity,” according to what was made known by the IACHR experts last week.

The report, presented in Washington, DC two days after the group was expelled from Nicaragua by the authorities, indicates that the crimes committed with the consent of the highest levels of the Nicaraguan government, were assassinations, incarceration, persecution, rape, torture, and forced disappearance.

The foregoing was affirmed following an arduous process of collecting information through direct interviews with relatives of victims and surviving victims, visits to and observations conducted in locations where the violent incidents occurred, meetings with journalists, examination of documents such as videos, photographs, and material from [traditional] media and social media. The State refused to provide them with information, despite the fact that the authorities had accepted that the GIEI’s primary mission was to assist the Office of the Public Prosecutor of Nicaragua to clarify the violent incidents that occurred at the beginning of the crisis.

The experts found that between April 18 and May 30, at least 109 people were assassinated and another 1,400 were wounded as a result of a “generalized and systematic attack against the civilian population” that was demonstrating against the government.

“The clearest and most serious pattern of behavior consisted of the use of firearms, including weapons of war, directly against people who participated in protest actions,” the report states, pointing to the National Police as the force in command of this conduct, which was accompanied in its actions by parastatal armed groups with the support of local political authorities.

For this same reason, GIEI recommends investigating President Ortega as being responsible for these events, in his capacity as supreme commander of the National Police.

Another human rights violation described in the GIEI report is the State of Nicaragua’s violation of its duty to ensure due diligence in the investigation of the violent deaths that occurred between April 18 and May 30, 2018.

“Out of 109 cases of violent deaths registered by GIEI, only nine have been prosecuted, which means that 100 still remain shrouded in impunity,” said Claudia Paz y Paz during the presentation of the report.

Even so, in the nine cases that have been prosecuted, six relate to victims with some relationship to the State of Nicaragua or government party. “In no case have trials begun against State security forces, despite the various evidence that indicates their possible responsibility,” the Guatemalan expert lamented.

 

Main photo: Juan Manuel Herrera/OAS.

Why talk about Afro – LGBTI? Leaders meet to reflect on the challenges of this intersection

Cali, Colombia – December 21, 2018. In partnership with organizations from Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, and the Dominican Republic, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) is carrying out a project to strengthen the rights of Afro-descendent LGBTI people.

The workshop benefited from the participation of representatives from different countries of the region, including activists working with the Instituto Trans-formar (Trans-Form Institute) and the Red Nacional de Negros y Negras LGBT de Brasil (National Network of Black and Black LGBT of Brazil), the Conferencia Nacional de Organizaciones Afrocolombianas (National Conference of Afro-Colombian Organizations), the Fundación Afro-colombiana Arco iris de Tumaco (Afro-Colombian Rainbow Foundation of Tumaco) and Fundación Somos Identidad (We Are identity Foundation) of Colombia, the Red Peruana de Jóvenes Afrodescendientes Ashanti (Peruvian Network of Afro-Descendant Youth Ashanti), and, finally, the Transsa Siempre Amigas (Transsa Always Friends organization) from the Dominican Republic.

During the first part of the workshop, the members of the organizations had the opportunity to meet and discuss the need to consider the effects of intersectionality when analyzing the violations of human rights of the LGBTI population in Latin America and the Caribbean.

During the three working days, the participants of the workshop created an outline for a regional report on violence against the Afro-LBGTI population in Latin America and discussed the need for such a report, the scope it should have, and the most urgent subjects that should be reflected in the document. The content of the report as well as the inherent complexities of racial definitions and/or categorizations were part of the topics addressed in the workshop, which sought to enrich the discussions around the intersections of race and sexual diversity framed in a human rights analysis.

The second part of the workshop consisted of a conversation about the knowledge and experiences of LGBTI organizations that are part of the so-called Global South. Participants were able to share their experiences working with representatives of Colombian social organizations such as the Trans Community Network, a community process in the city of Bogotá. Katalina Ángel Ortíz, a member of that network, attended the workshop. Ms. Ortíz is a trans activist who works for the recognition and defense of the rights of LGBTI persons deprived of liberty as part of a community project with transgender women who perform sex work in one of the tolerance zones of the Colombian capital.

Finally, on December 20, 2018, the workshop attendees had the opportunity to hold a public event in the city of Cali to discuss “Why talk about Afro-LGBTI?” This discussion allowed for reflection and the exchange of experiences among activists in the region and activists in the city. This meeting was a turning point for the participants, as the discussion opened with valuable questions about the need for greater participation of Afro-trans persons and questions about the role of “white-mestizo” persons in such type of discussions.

These questions, tensions, and discussions are part of the beginning of a process of approaching the intersection between racial diversity and sexual diversity. It was a first space for analysis and debate, which will continue to be replicated in upcoming events and strengthened with the participation of civil society.

Race and Equality together with the organizations part of this project will continue to work to strengthen the Afro-LGBTI civil society with impact strategies in the Inter-American sphere. Within the framework of this project, the second working meeting on the use of the Inter-American System, including how to request precautionary measures to protect the population, will be held in February 2019.

Missions of the IACHR in Nicaragua expelled by the government

Washington D.C., December 20, 2018. Two missions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Nicaragua tasked with monitoring human rights violations and helping the authorities to clarify the violent events that transpired in April and May 2018 during the beginning of massive demonstrations left Nicaragua yesterday after the government suspended their visit and forced them to leave the country.

The expulsion of the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI, for its initials in Spanish), which arrived in the country on June 24, 2018, and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI, for its initials in Spanish), which began its work in Nicaragua on July 2, 2018 – both in response to recommendations presented by the IACHR in the report “Serious Violations of Human Rights in the Context of the Social Protests in Nicaragua” – occurred a day before GIEI presented a report on their six months of work, and eight months after the beginning of the human rights crisis caused by the brutal governmental repression of citizen protests that has left at least 325 people dead, more than 2,000 injured, and around 565 political prisoners.

The government’s resolution also prevents Special Rapporteurs and officials of the IACHR from conducting a series of visits that were already scheduled for the first quarter of 2019.

“The most affected [by the expulsion] are the victims and their relatives, because the main value of our work is to be able to bring the victims closer to the truth and justice. That is our deepest regret,” MESENI Coordinator Ana María Tello declared moments after learning of the authorities’ decision.

A MESENI report published Wednesday morning warned of “the intensification of a fourth stage of State repression” characterized, among other things, by the staggering of repressive measures and actions aimed at weakening the role played by human rights defenders and civil society organizations and the arbitrary expulsion or threat of expulsion of naturalized persons or permanent residents due to their participation in protests.

Months before, on August 31st, the government of Nicaragua expelled a mission of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) shortly after it presented a report on the serious human rights violations committed by State forces within the context of the protests.

The reasons

Members of MESENI and the four GIEI experts – Sofia Macher, Claudia Paz y Paz, Amérigo Incalcaterra, and Pablo Parenti – attended a meeting on Wednesday with Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, during which he informed them of the unilateral governmental decision.

The letter Moncada read to the IACHR officials, later published by pro-government media, stated that the missions had not met their objectives and that “the IACHR, MESENI, GIEI, and OHCHR have become a platform for disseminating false information to promote international sanctions” against Nicaragua. In addition, it notes that the members of the GIEI did not respond to a counterproposal from the government on its Protocol of Action and that, therefore, they carried out “a series of actions in violation of the terms of the agreement” and national laws.

Incalcaterra later explained that the non-compliance with the Protocol of Action alleged by Moncada is “false” because all State communications were answered by the experts. “[The authorities] have not demanded that GIEI behave differently or that the our work be done in a specific way,” he alleged, instead denouncing that they never were given access to judicial files, official information that would allow them to fully comply with their mandate, or judicial hearings, even though the latter are public according to Nicaraguan law.

“The reasons they have given us do not satisfy us in any way.  We think those are arguments that have been developed, in the specific case of GIEI, so as to prevent us from presenting the report on our six months of work that was scheduled for tomorrow,” the expert added, also declining to provide details of the report, in light of the fact that the authorities had “suggested” he not do so in Nicaragua.

MESENI’s Tello also explained to local journalists that her mission sent more than 70 diplomatic notes to the government to request information or meetings with authorities, and that none of them had been answered. “There was never pressure from the government because we did not have a dialogue with them,” she said.

They will continue monitoring

The work of the IACHR that began in April 2018 launched with a working visit May 17-21, after which the report “Serious Human Right Violations in the Context of Social Protests in Nicaragua” was published. Since then, MESENI has drafted dozens of weekly reports on its monitoring work; the IACHR has processed precautionary measures for more than 100 people; and various Special Rapporteurs of that regional human rights body have visited the country to evaluate the current situation.

In addition, the Executive Secretary of the IACHR, Paulo Abraõ, has discussed the situation of Nicaragua in diverse spaces, such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and United Nations Human Rights Council. The IACHR also included four public hearings on Nicaragua in its 170th Period of Sessions, the last of which was held on December 6, 2018.

Ana María Tello stressed that neither the IACHR nor MESENI will stop monitoring the human rights situation in Nicaragua, although now they will have to do so from Washington, DC. Furthermore, experts of the GIEI announced that they would release their report from Washington, DC.

“The IACHR reiterates that the situation in Nicaragua will continue to be a priority, reaffirms its commitment to the victims of human rights violations, and will continue to monitor compliance by the Nicaraguan State with the international human rights obligations it has voluntarily assumed,” the Commission declared in a recent statement.

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) condemns and rejects the decision of the State of Nicaragua to expel the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

This arbitrary decision of the State of Nicaragua not only violates the agreements established with IACHR representatives, but also deepens the defenselessness of Nicaraguans at a time in which violence, criminalization, and harassment are intensifying against activists, human rights defenders, the media, and the general populace who dissent from the dictatorial regime.

We observe with concern a clear desire of the government to impose a state of terror in the country that violates the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international and regional human rights instruments.

We urgently call on the entire international community to continue to monitor the crisis in Nicaragua and press for the protection and guarantee of the Nicaraguan people’s human rights.

As an organization that promotes and defends human rights in the Americas, we reiterate our willingness and commitment to denounce and fight against all acts that undermine the chance to build democracy, justice, and freedom in Nicaragua.

STATEMENT: Aggressions against human rights organizations in Nicaragua continue

Washington, D.C. December 14, 2018. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race & Equality) strongly condemns the violent and illegal forceful entries of the Nicaraguan police into the offices of the Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos [Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights] (CENIDH), Instituto de Liderazgo de Las Segovias [Las Segovias Leadership Institute] (ILLS), Centro de Información y Servicios de Asesoría en Salud [Center for Health Information and Advisory Services] (CISAS), Fundación para la Promoción y el Desarrollo Municipal Popol Na [Popol Na Foundation for Municipal Promotion and Development], Fundación del Río [River Foundation], Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Democracia [Institute for Development and Democracy] (IPADE), and the Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos y Políticas Públicas [Institute of Strategic Studies and Public Policy] (IEEPP). These forceful entries occurred beginning early Friday morning. All of the organizations had their legal status arbitrarily invalidated by the Nicaraguan Assembly. Race and Equality condemns these events as well the violent assault and looting of the newsrooms of the digital publication Confidencial, where the TV studios of the programs Esta Noche and Esta Semana are also located.

Representatives from the organizations reported that in order to break into their offices, the police agents abused their authority and physically assaulted the security guards in each location. They also broke down the doors, destroyed the furniture, and illegally seized documents, computers, and even vehicles.

Given this unprecedented attack in recent Nicaraguan history, we express our opposition to the arbitrary actions of the Nicaraguan authorities, as well as the impunity they enjoy when violating the fundamental freedoms of association and peaceful assembly of human rights defenders, the media and dissident activists. The actions of the authorities serve the purposes of the Ortega Murillo dictatorship and demonstrate an abrupt restriction of spaces for democratic participation and political rights of the groups that demand justice and peace in Nicaragua.

The human rights defenders involved are persistently attacked, criminalized, and persecuted. Additionally, the illegal takeovers carried out by the police not only violate the right to property and privacy of the defenders, but they are a forceful expression of the totalitarianism and politics of fear that the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have installed in the Central American country.

We demand that the Ortega government restore the legal status of the aforementioned organizations as well as return their stolen property.

These attacks are evidence of the state of repression and human rights crisis that the people of Nicaragua are facing. For this reason, we urge the international community to address these acts that violate the well-being of every human being and make it impossible to build democratic societies that seek to achieve welfare, justice and peace.

PERSECUTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN NICARAGUA: LEGAL STATUS OF CENIDH, HAGAMOS DEMOCRACIA, IEEPP, CISAS, AND FIVE OTHER NGOs INVALIDATED

Washington, DC, December 12, 2018 – During the last two weeks, the Nicaraguan government escalated the persecution and criminalization of human rights defenders in the country by utilizing the parliamentary majority of the FSLN, the party of the government, to invalidate the legal status of four human rights organizations with a long history of human rights defense and democratic institutions in the country, with the last two being Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos [Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights] (CENIDH) and Asociación Hagamos Democracia [Let’s Do Democracy Association].

 This is “a decision to eliminate anyone who opposes, who criticizes the viciousness of the repression that is being driven” by the authorities, declared Vilma Núñez, President of CENIDH, after learning of the decision of the National Assembly (NA), although she assured that the “commitment to continue accompanying the Nicaraguan people in whatever form is not dissolved by an illegal and arbitrary resolution of organs that have no autonomy, that have no independence.”

On November 29, the NA invalidated the legal status of the Centro de Información y Servicios de Asesoría en Salud [Center for Health Information and Advisory Services] (CISAS) after immigration authorities stripped its Director, human rights defender and feminist Ana Quirós Víquez, of her Nicaraguan citizenship and deported her to Costa Rica.  Later, December 11 brought the invalidation of the legal status of the Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos y Políticas Públicas [Institute of Strategic Studies and Public Policy] (IEEPP), a think-tank led by academic and activist Félix Maradiaga, who had to go into self-imposed exile in the United States due to the criminalization to which he was subjected.

The four organizations – which have had an even more decisive role during the last eight months of sociopolitical and human rights crises – are accused without any grounds of having committed illegal acts, violated the public order, and carried out activities that are not appropriate to the goals for which they were established.  However, the authorities committed arbitrary acts such as [holding] secret, expedited trials and did not permit said organizations’ legal representatives to argue anything in their own defense.

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“There’s CENIDH for a while”

CENIDH was founded in 1990 as a center for defending and promoting human rights in Nicaragua; two years later, it obtained its legal status.  Today, during the morning of December 12, at the request of the Director of the Department of Registration and Control of Associations in the Ministry of Government, Gustavo Sirias, the National Assembly received as an urgent proceeding the proposal to invalidate the legal status of this organization.

According to Sirias’ statement of motives, CENIDH was leaderless because [the term of] its Board of Directors had expired; it had not reported its financial statements for 2017; and additionally, had “utilized the organizational schema to raise, receive, channel, and facilitate funds to alter the public order and carry out actions to destabilize the country.”

Although the foregoing arguments were endorsed by FSLN Members of Parliament, the opposing Members of Parliament in the parliamentary plenary denied those accusations and insisted that this was one more arbitrary act committed by the Nicaraguan government against human rights defenders.

María Fernanda Flores, a Member of Parliament from the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), maintained that the Nicaraguan Assembly was “leaving defenseless an entire population who through CENIDH denounces on a daily basis the abuses and violations of their rights,” while Member of Parliament Brooklyn Rivera of the indigenous Yatama Party said that the invalidation of CENIDH’s legal status in fact served to deepen the human rights crisis that Nicaragua had been experiencing since April.  “We indigenous peoples have been witness to the difficult and thoroughly dedicated work performed by Dr. Núñez and her team.  She has truly defended all Nicaraguans – Sandinistas, liberals, conservatives, campesinos, women, indigenous people, everyone,” Rivera declared.

Finally, the invalidation of CENIDH’s legal status was approved, with 70 votes in favor and 17 opposed.  Núñez, as president of the organization, described the initiative as “malign” and expressed her anger to the media outlets that accompanied her to the institution’s headquarters after the decree was approved.

 Vilma Núñez, president of CENIDH, submitted a report on Monday, December 10 on the six months of civic resistance to governmental repression in Nicaragua.

“There’s CENIDH for a while, there’s commitment on the part of each and every one of the human rights defenders, of its Board of Directors, of its founding members, but above all of the team that on a daily basis confronts violence, discrimination, [and] abuses committed by the government,” declared Núñez, backed by the CENIDH defenders.

With regard to the reasons presented today by the Ministry of Government (MIGOB) to the National Assembly, Núñez revealed that on March 23 the organization had submitted its financial statement to MIGOB for fiscal 2017, although they were not given proof of legality; and with regard to the Board of Directors, she said that it expired on April 25 and that the assembly to elect new authorities had to be suspended due to the critical situation transpiring in the country during those days, when the crisis had just begun.

“The Board of Directors was elected and on November 30, 2018 we sent them the certified minutes and [other] requirements.  They did not want to sign, they did not want to acknowledge them as having been submitted, and they gave us a list of 15 requirements with which they said we had to comply in order for them to accept it,” explained Núñez, who indicated that CENIDH had not violated any of its By-laws and that all of its actions have transpired within the framework of the law.

“We are prepared to confront and reject any arbitrary action, any invasion of our physical institution they wish to undertake; by doing so they will not limit our commitment,” emphasized the President of CENIDH, who recently turned 80 years old.

Persecution of defenders

This week, in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, CENIDH presented a report entitled Grave Human Rights Violations Perpetrated by the State of Nicaragua describing the rights violated during six months of civic resistance to governmental repression.

The report declares that the State of Nicaragua violated the human right to defend rights, because a pattern exists of attacks aimed at human rights defenders, journalists, community leaders, lawyers, students, and activists who have been victims of actions such as intimidation, threats, assassinations, detentions, illegal raids, smear campaigns, defamation, [and] criminalization, among others, with the goal of “silencing their voices and preventing them from exercising their right to inform, protest, express themselves, and defend human rights.”

A number of days ago, CENIDH asked for permission to march in commemoration of Human Rights Day, complying with the unconstitutional police order regarding protests.  Permission was not only denied, but the police alleged as one of its arguments that the organization was being investigated regarding the April incidents.

One day after the Nicaraguan Assembly invalidated the legal status of CENIDH and Hagamos Democracia [Let’s Do Democracy], it also invalidated the legal representation of five other organizations that defend human rights, nature, and freedom of the press: Instituto de Liderazgo de Las Segovias [Las Segovias Leadership Institute] (ILLS), whose director, Haydeé Castillo, has suffered repeated persecution, threats, and even immigration detention; the environmental [organization] Fundación del Río [River Foundation], which had been threatened for disseminating information and denouncing arbitrary actions regarding the fire in the Reserva Indio Maíz [Corn Indian Reserve]; Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Democracia [Institute for Development and Democracy] (IPADE), one of the independent national organizations that is best-trained to observe elections; Fundación para la Promoción y el Desarrollo Municipal Popol Na [Popol Na Foundation for Municipal Promotion and Development], a leader in the ‘anti-canal’ movement, whose director, Mónica López Baltodano, was forced to go into self-imposed exile in Costa Rica due to the constant threats she faced in the country; and the Centro de Investigación de la Comunicación [Communication Investigation Center] (CINCO).

DECLARATION

The International Institute of Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) strongly condemns and rejects the arbitrary decision of the State of Nicaragua issued today in the plenary of the National Assembly to invalidate the legal status of organizations that promote and defend human rights and democracy.

The legislative decree to invalidate the legal status of ILLS, Fundación del Río, IPADE, Fundación Popol Na, [and] CINCO, as well as the one that preceded it targeting CENIDH, Hagamos Democracia, IEEPP, and CISAS, demonstrate the state of repression and grave violation of freedom of expression, participation, association, and peaceful assembly of which the Nicaraguan people, human rights defenders, and independent media are victims today as dissidents of the dictatorial plans being imposed by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo on the Nicaraguan people.

We reject the statements made by the FSLN Members of Parliament in the National Assembly, who irresponsibly accuse organizations of human rights defenders that have tirelessly demanded justice, democracy and truth for the regime’s victims – as the Nicaraguan people and international community know – as being “terrorists” and “coup participants.”

We observe with concern the extremely grave consequences of the absence of rule of law in Nicaragua due to the actions of the current government, which far from guaranteeing, safeguarding, and protecting the people’s human rights, have obstinately persisted in restricting civil society’s legitimate possibility to freely participate in social construction, which opens new, repugnant, and deliberate gaps of inequality, exclusion, and discrimination.

Likewise, we declare that this determination of the Ortega-Murillo regime will never ensure the ‘invisibilization’ of the terror, vulnerability, and violence being visited upon the country for eight months now, aimed at perpetuating the impunity in which grave violations of Nicaraguans’ fundamental rights continue to be committed in the form of assassinations, persecution, and intimidation to which they have been submitted due to their denunciations.

We at Race & Equality are convinced that without a new political and social agreement there will be no peaceful resolution to the crisis; therefore, we demand that the State of Nicaragua respect and guarantee Nicaraguans’ rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.  Likewise, we urge [governmental] respect for the guarantees of due process and the right to a defense that today are brazenly violated by the National Assembly through its sanctioning of said organizations based on unilateral reports that arbitrarily accuse those institutions of carrying out activities that differ from their objectives and missions.

All of these incidents encourage us to raise an international alarm regarding the situation in Nicaragua.  We invite the international community, human rights protection organs, and the various manifestations of civil society to redouble their efforts so as to ensure the prompt return of democracy, justice, and peace to Nicaragua.

The Outcome of the International Decade for People of African Descent in the Americas Depends on All of Us

On December 8, 2018 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will hold a consultation on the regional mechanisms to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other related forms of intolerance. This is a good time to take stock of the situation facing people of African descent in the Americas. In 2018, seventeen years after the World Conference against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa, where does the region stand in terms of these issues? Given the lack of progress on the Durban agenda, the United Nation General Assembly introduced the International Decade for People of African Descent, 2015-2024. This effort builds on the recommendations adopted at the 2001 World Conference against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa which convened global actors to discuss preventative measures and implications of racism. During the WCAR, the UN General Assembly acknowledged that the legacy of colonialism, the slave trade, and slavery continues to impede Afro-descendants’ access to societal inclusion. The resulting Durban Declaration and Programme of Action provided a framework for advancing racial rights, with a focus on increasing visibility, accessing justice, and developing measures against poverty.

For the 200 million people of African descent in the Americas, this presents a critical opportunity for targeted change. The culturally-sensitive guidelines and suggestions set forth in the International Decade for People of African Descent offer real mechanisms for positive development, but there is a long way to go before this population feels the positive outcomes of the Programme of Action. Despite the regional trend of economic growth in the Americas, structural racial discrimination still prohibits substantive numbers of people of African descent from profiting from such growth. As the half-way point of the Decade approaches, domestic and international bodies should assess successful implementation strategies and address remaining challenges. The commitment of civil society, national, and international bodies to the Decade could set a positive precedent for targeted socio-economic change in the Americas.

Afro-descendants represent 25 percent of the population in Latin America, but are routinely excluded from the national narrative of their respective countries. During the 1980s and 1990s, black movements in countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Panama demanded their national governments include or restore ethno-racial data to the national census. The data, they argued, would substantiate their claims of the deep-rooted socio-economic disparities between ethnic groups, and hopefully oblige their national government to address the issues. Now, more countries have begun to include ethno-racial data in their census and officially recognize the multiethnic composition of their countries. In Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil, for example, several million Afro-descendants make up ten to 55 percent of the population and countries like Cuba, Mexico, and Ecuador have populations of more than one million Afro-descendants each. 98 percent of people of African descent in Latin America are concentrated in the aforementioned countries.

Interestingly, self-reporting, perceived racial markers, and the structure of questions asked may impact a person’s decision to identify as black or Afro-descendant. This undervalues the number of Afro-descendants in the Americas. Cultural particularities such as a history of race mixture, the tendency to self-identify based on skin color, or regional distinction have, in some cases, obstructed the promotion of collective Afro-descendant identities. Centuries of negation of black identities pushed in large part by the dominant societies, have led to pervasive colorism, which continues today. Lighter hued persons with more European features like a narrow nose and straighter hair are preferred over the darker hued persons with “pelo malo” or “bad hair” referring to traditionally recognized African hair. Notwithstanding, Black social movements are using innovation, folk traditions, and education to foster a sense of cultural pride and positively shape self-perception. As outlined by the recommendations of the UN, nations should actively strive to, “Promote greater knowledge and recognition of and respect for the culture, history and heritage of people of African descent.” The Decade can expand on these movements and disseminate the cultural traditions and rich diversity of Afro-descendants in the Americas. By doing so it can also break down colorism and other perceptions that deeply divide persons.

Three Case Studies: Colombia, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic 

While the Decade’s guidelines apply to all countries, the action-agenda should be done in consultation with African descendent and in some cases territorial authorities of each particular country. The historical and socio-cultural context of the country in question largely determines the specific struggles Afro-descendants confront in their pursuit for equality. In countries like Colombia, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic human rights defenders and Afro-descendant civilians are forced to contend with multinational organizations, large-scale development projects, paramilitary and illegal armed groups, and even the state over equal and complete integration into society.

Colombia’s 54 year-long internal armed conflict, for example, illuminated the realities of Colombia’s racialized geographies. Violence consumed the Pacific and Caribbean coastal regions, which, in areas like the Chocó and Nariño, are home to an overwhelming majority of people of African descent. When President Juan Manuel Santos brokered the historic peace accords in 2016 with the nation’s largest guerilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the world believed in its potential to set a new standard for international negotiation and conflict resolution. Afro-Colombians joined forces with the indigenous to fight their way into peace negotiations and convinced the parties to commit to an Ethnic Chapter, which transversally guarantees their ethnic and collective land rights through the peace agenda. However, the government’s failure to implement key parts of the accord has left many communities vulnerable. Illegal armed groups took advantage of the FARC’s demobilization to establish dominance in ethnic minorities’ territories. This has increased insecurity and displacement in Afro-Colombian areas.

At the same time, illegal armed groups have upped their persecution of social leaders and human rights defenders. More than 330 social leaders have been assassinated since January 2016 and this disproportionately impacts indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. According to the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES), in 2018 34 percent of social leaders killed were ethnic minorities (19 percent Afro descendent and 16 percent indigenous). Out of a total of 38 murdered in 2018 compiled by CODHES, 21 were Afro-Colombian and 17 indigenous. 50 percent of the leaders killed were traditional authorities, territorial representatives and leaders of ethnic organizations, 36 percent were community leaders or trade unionists, 8percent were land rights claimants and the remaining were family members of female leaders. The regions where the majority of the homicides took place from worst to least are: Cauca (26 percent), Valle del Cauca (18 percent), Antioquia (16 percent), Chocó (11 percent), Córdoba (11 percent) and Nariño (8 percent). In addition to the racialization of security concerns that make Afro-Colombians more vulnerable to harm, they continue to face rampant and open racial discrimination. The recent debate in Colombia over a TV character named Soldado Micolta or Private Micolta, whereby a mestizo dressed up in blackface and ridicules people of African descent is indicative of the fact that Colombian society has a long way to go in terms of tolerance, respect and acceptance of Afro-Colombians.

Brazil’s human rights defenders and black communities face a strikingly similar protection crisis, which is further exacerbated by state security forces. In 2017 the Brazilian Forum of Public Security found the homicide rate to be 30.8 per 100,000 individuals. To quell the violence, in 2008 the state of Rio de Janeiro implemented a violence reduction strategy in the favelas or “slums” known as the Police Pacification Units (Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora, UPPs). Military police were trained to enter and occupy a specific favela, taking control from gangs and ensuring peace for the community. Although it was initially acclaimed for its apparent success, the UPP initiative was later found to be another conduit for violence. In what many have called a state-sponsored black genocide, police raids in the favelas led to stop-and-frisk policies and extrajudicial killings that damaged communities’ trust in the police and amplified cycles of violence for citizens and the police force.

According to Human Rights Watch, in 2015 one-fifth of Rio homicides were committed by police, and three-fourths of the victims were black men. The U.S. State Department, Amnesty International and the UN have condemned this “arbitrary deprivation of life” which disproportionately affects Afro-Brazilians under 25. The issue was catapulted to the international stage when Rio de Janeiro Councilwoman Marielle Franco was murdered in early 2018. Marielle, a 38-year-old, black, queer, single mother from the favela of Maré and the only black woman to serve on the 51-member city council used her platform to oppose President Temer’s mandated “federal intervention” against drug cartels in the favelas. The investigation into her assassination remains stalled. Amnesty International Brazil contends that the lack of progress regarding the investigation shows “the Brazilian state’s lack of commitment to human rights defenders.” International groups and black organizations insist that they will continue their fight in spite of the attempt to silence people of African descent.

On the island of Hispaniola, tensions between the Dominican Republic and Haiti gave way to an unprecedented forced migration crisis in 2013. The Dominican Court issued a new ruling called La Sentencia 168-13, which reserved citizenship only for people born in the Dominican Republic to Dominican citizens or legal residents and retroactively applied the law to all persons born on Dominican soil between 1929 and 2010. As such, families who had birthright citizenship and lived in the Dominican Republic for generations were suddenly considered to be effectively “residing illegally in the Dominican territory.” The ruling rendered 200,000 people stateless. The vast majority of those effected were descendants of Haitian migrant workers born in the Dominican Republic. International actors like the Inter-American Commission swiftly denounced the ruling for discriminating based on ethno-racial qualifiers and Haitian President Michel Martelly labeled it a “civil genocide”. The ruling builds on past policies that explicitly targeted Afro-descendants. Under the Trujillo Era (1930 – 1961), official identification documents used the term indio for citizens too dark to be white, whereas negro or black was reserved for Haitians. Anti-black sentiment became public policy in 1937 in the Perejil or Parsley Massacre when Trujillo ordered the army to kill 20,000 Haitians living on the Dominican Republic’s northwestern frontier. The military targeted victims based on identifiers like skin color and the ability to correctly pronounce the Spanish word perejil; still many dark-skinned Dominicans were killed in the massacre. The 2013 ruling highlights the Dominican Republic’s history of furtive narratives and policies that marginalize people of African-descent.

Socioeconomic standards for people of African descent

Studies that analyze the socioeconomic status of Afro-descendants in the Americas have shed light on the extent of their inclusion and exclusion in society. Regionally, 82 percent of Afro-descendants benefit from living in urban settings with relatively high access to services like electricity, running water, and sanitation. However, these persons tend to be found to the poorest sub-sections of cities with deficient infrastructure, increased vulnerability to environmental dangers, and higher exposure to crime and violence. Due to the negative perception of Afro-descendant communities and slums as “disorderly,” Afro-descendants are more susceptible to institutionalized or “state-sponsored” violence. In September 2018, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued a press release to express their “deep concern” over this regional trend. Although Afro-descendants are disproportionately represented in cases of homicide victims, they do not have the same access to state security protection as non-Afro-descendants. The state’s failure to provide equal access to such a vital service is not limited to security. Inadequate access to state healthcare institutions contributes to health disparities amongst Afro-descendants. For example, regions in Latin America with a high concentration of Afro-descendants consistently have the lowest level of development and feature the following health disparities in comparison to their respective national averages: higher infant mortality rates amongst Afro-descendants in the Chocó, Colombia, higher suicide and homicide rates amongst Afro-descendants from Esmeraldas in Ecuador, higher rate of HIV/AIDS amongst the Garifuna community in Honduras, and a higher rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence amongst Dominico-Haitians and Haitians working in sugarcane fields. Targeted reforms that increase access to state resources are necessary to alleviate these issues.

Poverty is a pressing issue for people of African descent. In fact, race is one of the most consistent indicators of poverty in Latin America. Holding constant variables such as age, gender, education, type and sector of work, and professional experience, Afro-descendants were found to earn considerably less for the same type of jobs across the region. Additionally, factors like employers’ implicit and explicit racial biases can lead to wage gaps and hiring discrimination practices especially with the common requirement of pictures on resumes. These factors contribute to the increased likelihood that people of African descent will be born poor and remain poor for extended periods. Educational attainment is a proven deterrent to poverty, however ethno-racial inclusion in education is lacking. School settings tend to reproduce negative biases and create hostile environments for students of African descent, which lead to higher dropout rates. On average, 30 percent of Afro-descendants complete secondary education and five percent of Afro-descendants finish tertiary education compared to 46 percent and 14 percent respectively. Although educational attainment is not an indicator of intelligence, its importance cannot be understated. As the Decade progresses, national and international bodies should address obstacles to educational attainment and wealth attainment in order to improve the livelihoods of people of African descent.

Looking backwards to move forward

Racial discrimination in institutional practices is entrenched in the processes of colonialization and independence. Between 10 and 15 million enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to the Americas during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. As Afro-descendants and Indigenous people outnumbered the Europeans, Europeans implemented self-interested policies that enabled them to maintain power in their racially-mixed colonies. In places like Mexico, the resulting Castas system outlined 16 different results of race-mixture that might occur, and demonstrated the apparent superiority of those with visibly European features. Names for people of African descent such as mulato “mule”, lobo “wolf”, or torno atras “turn away” denoted the negative perceptions of those with African features.

After the colonial period, the wars of independence gave way to processes of nation-building that replicated Eurocentric racial hierarchies. Theories of contemporary eugenics supported national calls for Blanqueamiento or “whitening” and mestizaje or “mixing” in order to “advance the race.” Countries with large European-descendant populations like Argentina and Chile embraced blanqueamiento, which purported that a whiter appearance, legal self-identification as white, and lighter-skinned children would facilitate social mobility, while proponents of mestizaje, belonged to countries with significant populations of Afro-descendants and/or Indigenous people like Mexico, Cuba, and Colombia.

Such ideologies justified policies designed to attract European migrants and discourage or ban less-desirable populations. The underlying logic for the social tools alleged that the path to becoming a developed, civilized nation state necessitated the dilution of undesirable ethno-racial physical characteristics. Mexican philosopher Jose Vasconcelos, in support of mestizaje argued that, “the lower types of the species will be absorbed by the superior type…the Black could be redeemed, and step by step, by voluntary extinction the uglier stocks will give way to the more handsome.” The promotion of mestizaje had gendered implications. In Cuba the phrase, “una blanca para casarse, una negra para la cocina y una mulata para la cama” embodies societal perceptions of which identities are entitled to protected designation of femininity and virtue. The encouragement to racially mix through sexual union further justified European men’s sexual assault of women of African and Indigenous descent. With little to no legal protection, there were rarely consequences for the perpetrators or rape and sexual violence. National narratives of racial mixture often obscure these details and favoring an account of history that implies consensual race-mixture led to the morally-superior “racial democracy” visible today.

The pervasive implications of mestizaje and blanqueamiento conceal vibrant Afro-descendant communities and validate discriminatory hiring practices. For example, former Argentinian President Carlos Menem once stated, “In Argentina blacks do not exist, that is a Brazilian problem.” His flawed statement demonstrates the lack of national awareness at the federal level surrounding Afro-descendants and the problems they face. Racism in professional settings is another persistent problem for Afro-descendants that is explained away with mestizaje or the myth of a racial democracy. In Latin America, lucrative sectors like media or tourism often require that job applicants possess a “good appearance.” A Cuban tourist manager explained the phenomenon by saying, “There is no explicit policy stating that one has to be white to work in tourism, but it is regulated that people must have a pleasant aspect, and blacks do not have it.” Unfortunately, this rhetoric invariably harms people of African-descent, and without appropriate race-based initiatives, hiring discrimination will not be addressed.

Positive Developments

In spite of the negatives, the last few decades have seen some developments for people of African descent. While very slow to develop, countries like Colombia and Brazil have begun to accept the plural ethnicities and to attempt to protect them, at least via legal means on paper. A testament to the increased awareness of African-descendants in the Americas, Mexico included a question about Afro-Mexicans on the national survey in 2015 and found that 1.4 million individuals self-identified as Afro-Mexican. In South America, Peru brought awareness to the cultural history of Afro-Peruvians in 2009 when the Peruvian government apologized to Afro-Peruvian people for a history of “abuse, exclusion and discrimination perpetrated against them since the colonial era.” Brazil also aimed to address its history of racial discrimination in education when the federal universities implemented sweeping affirmative-action policies to increase Afro-descendants’ access to higher education. In Colombia, black social groups and international organizations worked together to successfully include of the Ethnic Chapter in the Colombian Peace Accords, which brought an end to the Colombian Civil Conflict. The Ethnic Chapter  provided “principles, safeguards, and guarantees” for the rights of ethnic communities in the aftermath of the Conflict. International bodies have created targeted projects like the Pan American Health Organization’s Health Plan for Afro-descendant youth with concrete recommendations. In Central America, political representation took a positive turn when Costa Rica elected Epsy Campbell Barr as the first Vice President of African Descent in the Costa Rica and the first female Vice President of African Descent in the Americas.

In the United States, Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA-4) introduced bill H. Res. 713 in early 2018 to request Congress’s support of the International Decade for People of African Descent. The bill has five objectives:

  1. Support the goals and ideals of the International Decade for People of African Descent.
  2. Support the establishment of a global affairs strategy and assistance for people of African descent.
  3. Support the expansion of current efforts by the UN, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Organization for American States, and other international organizations to address the human rights situation of people of African Descent
  4. Call upon the United States in cooperation with civil society to develop and implement domestic and global strategies to execute the goals and ideals of the Decade. To combat racism, including by expanding the transformative work of the United States Department of State’s Race, Ethnicity, and Social Inclusion Unit in this regard.
  5. Reaffirm the commitment of Congress to combat racism, discrimination, and intolerance in the United States and around the globe.

In the resolution, Johnson cites former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power’s statement that “the United States comes to the International Decade for People of African Descent with a full and robust commitment to ensuring the rights of persons of African descent, and to combating racism and discrimination against them.’’ Representative Johnson’s resolution encourages productive dialogue within U.S. Congressional institutions that recognize the socio-cultural and economic contributions of people of African Descent and generates critical dialogue designed to address structural racism. Institutionalizing such a bill would signal exceptional dedication on the part of the U.S. to support people of African Descent and combat racism. The resolution is an effort to expand upon efforts undertaken to combat racial discrimination in the Americas including the U.S. Colombia-Racial Action Plan (CAPREE) and U.S.-Brazil Racial Action Plan that seek to decrease racial discrimination and increase opportunities for ethnic minorities in the U.S., Brazil and Colombia.

Looking ahead

Positive initiatives like Representative Johnson’s resolution are vital to human rights, especially now. Frustration with “broken” political systems triggered the emergence of socially-conservative political regimes in countries like the top four South American economies: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile. In Colombia, President Iván Duque was sworn into office in August. Duque won popularity among Colombia’s political and economic elites by promising to tear apart the peace accord so vital to protection Afrodescendant and indigenous persons and providing truth and reparations to Colombia’s over 8 million registed victims. In office, his administration is minimally advancing obligations the government agreed to in the accord, and he’s taken a strong line in the nascent ELN peace dialogues which are currently at a standstill. Violence and combat operations involving the ELN guerillas is concentrated in three regions, one of which is majority Afrodescendant and indigenous. Still, Afro-descendant communities are pressing Duque to move forward on the FARC deal, implement the Ethnic Chapter and to agree to a ‘humanitarian accord’ with the ELN.

Like Duque, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera prefers to use “heavy-handed” tactics to address his concerns. When recent waves of Afro-descendant immigrants arrived in the largely mestizo or white country, Piñera suggested lax immigration laws were responsible for “importing problems like delinquency, drug trafficking and organized crime.” Newly-elected Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro represents a more extreme case. Lauded as “Brazil’s Trump” he has openly disparaged Afro-descendant communities, queer groups, and women. In a 2017 trip to a quilombo, an Afro-Brazilian community founded by the descendants of runaway Afro-Brazilians during the age of slavery, Bolsonaro ridiculed their weight using terminology for weighing cattle and said, “They do nothing. They are not even good for procreation!” The public officials’ incendiary rhetoric and hardline approaches could lead to dangerous public policies as people become increasingly comfortable seeing the “out-group” as other. These statements prompted five members of the U.S. Congress to write to National Security Advisor John Bolton on November 28, urging that governments in the Americas and U.S. and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights “closely monitor the human rights climate in Brazil in the coming years to ensure that the President-elect’s rhetoric does not lead to further abuses of marginalized communities.”

When citizens who seek a sense of lawfulness and order associate other human beings with disorder, it is easier to create policies that seclude and dehumanize them. The Decade seeks to address this issue by creating a comprehensive understanding of Afro-descendants that maintains human dignity. The contemporary experience for people of African Descent in the Americas is rooted in complex histories of contention and resistance that will take more than a decade to address.

The International Decade for People of African Descent presents a viable opportunity to reflect on the past, address transgressions, and implement key policies for a positive future. The multifaceted set of issues Afro-descendants face range from social and economic exclusion to systemic assassinations and still, Afro-descendants in the Americas are considered to be the ethno-racial group with the most positive outlook. With the proper support, the strength and expertise of Afro-descendant communities paired with national bodies and international organizations could set new precedents for targeted reforms. Everyone deserves the right to full, equal societal inclusion, and when marginalized groups benefit so does everyone else. An Inter-American Development report found that integration of marginalized groups into the job market could expand the productivity of many Latin American governments by one-third. Societies should invest in the full integration of their citizens, and especially their most marginalized, in order to improve their productivity, improve their institutions, and improve the lives of all of their citizens. In 2024, the International Decade for People of African Descent will come to an end. When the Decade ends, what positive changes will remain? The answer to this question depends on all of us and the actions we will take to defend Afrodescendant rights in this region.

About The Author

Gimena Sánchez – Garzoli – Director for the Andes, and Crystal Yuille, Executive Assistant and Internship Coordinator, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).[/vc_column_text]

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