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“I’m in that kind of limbo that prison was”: Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Cuban artist in exile

“I’m in that kind of limbo that prison was”: Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Cuban artist in exile

Miami, October 7, 2026 – Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, the Cuban artist who has been living in Miami, United States, since July 18, answers the questions in this interview clearly and forcefully. In the room where he arrived after serving five years in Guanajay maximum-security prison in western Cuba, and after becoming a beneficiary of the U.S. government’s humanitarian parole program, he speaks about the island, his family, the San Isidro Movement (MSI), migration, art, and the works through which he has denounced the dictatorship that has controlled Cuba for years.

Below is the interview conducted by the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights with the Cuban artist, edited for clarity.

Now that you are free, what do you think about most often?

I always think about Cuba, I always think about art, about how art will continue to function as a living tool that contributes to society, both Cuban society and society outside Cuba. I think about Cuba, about those who were left behind, about those people who right now cannot drink potable water because there are no conditions for it; there is no electricity, there is no life in Cuba. I think about that.

Do you think about it from a place of anxiety, or from a place of reflection that leads you to ask yourself, “What more can you do?”

I think it’s a bit of both. I think there is some anxiety because the place where I am right now is an unknown place, a place that presents enormous challenges. You are currently without a home. You have to pay rent, you have to have a place to exist. Then you have done a lot of work that precedes you, but undoubtedly the world that comes now is much bigger; you have to conquer a new space within the popular imagination outside Cuba. You also want your work, your art, to have those spaces, those niches of recognition in the West, of global recognition, because from there you can also continue working for Cuba. And then, what is left to do for Cuba? What are the new ideas that have to come into your mind so you can go out and work for Cuba? I suffer that reality every day, even from a distance, even from exile.

How long did it take you to make the decision to go into exile?

The decision to go into exile went through several stages. After a year and six months in prison, I decided to leave because I realized the impact we had made, how enormous it had become, and that the Cuban dictatorship was not going to allow Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara to walk freely in the streets. Then I kept spending time there, and I kept accepting it, and there came a moment when my departure was getting closer. I had the possibility of deciding: I’m not leaving Cuba, even though I had already served the five years. But then I reaffirmed my decision, especially when they took me to the house near the beach, the State Security house. When they took me to that house, I realized there was no possibility of walking the streets. In fact, the way State Security treated me at that point was basically: you are leaving because you are leaving. We are going to give up everything we can, but it is so that you leave; it is not so that you live in Cuba, because you are not going to walk around Cuba.

When you see that entire apparatus built around making sure you leave, it is because you are important. There was even a moment when they took me out, and it was as if I were the head, and they couldn’t mention my name. My name was like something forbidden to say. I thought, “Well, it seems that you do have an impact on society and, of course, the dictatorship is not going to allow its own death,” you know? That’s when I realized that it was going to be impossible to continue working from within Cuba. I could have come up with a radical plan to stay at home, but I would have stayed at home without internet, without the tools to continue contributing. That’s when I decided to go into exile.

What does it feel like to walk down the street without being watched?

I’m still traumatized by the surveillance. When I enter this space, when I’m coming in from the street and a car passes by, I feel as if that car is coming for me. The other day I was standing outside, there was a police car on the corner, and immediately my body went back to that place in Havana. I still feel watched. I feel that wherever I go, there is an eye belonging to State Security and the Cuban regime watching me.

Of all the works and performances you have created, which has been the most symbolic and powerful in portraying the Cuban regime?

I think my work as a whole is a living testimony of that relationship: the dictatorship trying to strip away the art that makes it uncomfortable, trying to strip away art that is committed to people. In my work, I have always been committed to making it reach people, to making the individual who walks the streets, the individual who stands in lines, the individual who suffers under the dictatorship in the most basic ways, think. And I don’t think there is one specific work, but rather the whole of it, my own performative body, my own cultural body, activist body, artistic body. That is the great work.

What has been the most rewarding thing about creating the San Isidro Movement?

I think the most rewarding thing about having generated or been part of the San Isidro Movement is, first of all, having demonstrated that art was a real tool for change. Not merely a political comment, not merely an artist’s expression, but demonstrating that a powerful tool such as art can be used to change things firsthand, not through third parties or fourth parties.

I think that was the most important thing for me. And, of course, seeing on the ground how a society changes from a state of terror, a state of fear, to becoming a civic society, to becoming a society capable of taking control of its immediate and long-term future. And it began with a cultural project, an artistic project, as the MSI was called.

For me, Cuba’s history is in San Isidro, just as it is in many other projects, such as the Varela Project and other movements such as the Ladies in White and UNPACU. I think San Isidro also forms part of that recent history and of the collective memory of those Cubans who sacrificed themselves so that Cuba could become a better place. And I would love for it to be recorded that way in history.

Now that you are in exile, how do you see Cuba? How has your perspective changed?

It’s difficult for me to answer that question because I don’t think I have landed yet. I’m in that kind of limbo that was prison, that kind of limbo that came afterward while I was in that house, that kind of limbo that comes from getting on a plane like that and landing somewhere with an enormous amount of information that your brain is processing.

What was the most difficult thing about being in prison?

Brother, the hardest thing about being in prison is prison itself. Prison is a horrible place. Prison is something that, if I could describe it to you in words, cannot be described with words. In fact, I brought a series of works. My paintings will help people understand. For example, there is a series I made that was like black holes, where you feel as if you are in a kind of limbo, like those nightmares where you fall into a void and never reach the bottom, and you are always in that state of anxiety.

I remember the last time I was at an amusement park, when they put me on one of those rides that is like a ship, and I was at the very end, and it went up, and then that sensation of going down, when you feel like you’re going to die. That adrenaline, which is toxic, is what you feel in prison every day. You feel as if you are in a void and never reach the end. Even after you leave, that void continues to remain inside you for a long time. Literally, what you feel in prison is that you are suffocating. That feeling of being unable to breathe, of not getting enough air.

If you could explain what is happening in Cuba to people who are not from the island, what would you tell them? Why can’t what is happening there be “romanticized”?

First of all, it cannot be romanticized. It cannot. It is impossible to romanticize it; it is even impossible to trivialize what people in Cuba are going through. It is impossible to have affection for a dictatorship. When someone comes to talk to me about Cuba, when they talk to me about utopia or about the blockade, the embargo, the Americans, I tell them that what exists in Cuba is a dictatorship.

There are more than a thousand political prisoners in Cuba. And the political prisoners there right now are not even activists or opposition members. They are children, young people, women who took to the streets demanding a new political system, a new economic system.

So, if someone romanticizes that, they are complicit with the dictatorship. They are complicit with the bad people who are running that country right now. We are talking about a time when, maybe 50 or 40 years ago, there was no internet, no one could see what was happening in Cuba, and you had to rely on the regime’s propaganda. But right now, July 11 is there, there are more than a thousand political prisoners, there are more than I don’t know how many thousands of reports. If you live in a bubble and maintain that romanticism, you are a bad person. You are a bad person because you are complicit with a dictatorship, and I want nothing to do with dictators, much less will I tolerate their accomplices justifying it through romanticism. They are not romantics; they are murderers.

***

From the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, we echo the denunciations made by Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. We also condemn the forced exile suffered by this Cuban artist and by other activists, independent journalists, and human rights defenders. We urge the authoritarian regime in Cuba to end repression, release all people deprived of their liberty for political reasons, and begin a democratic transition that protects the fundamental rights of Cuban people, both on and off the island.



UN Mechanism Reveals Racial Profiling and Police Racism in Colombia Amid Growing Reports of Deaths of Two Afro-descendant Men

Bogotá, October 2, 2026 – Following its visit to the Colombian cities of Bogotá, Cali, Cartagena, and Quibdó from May 4 to 14 this year, EMLER presented a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, concluding that systemic racism against Afro-Colombian people is deeply entrenched and perpetuated within institutions responsible for protection and the administration of justice. Its key findings regarding law enforcement and the justice system include:

  • Systemic racism, “normalized and rendered invisible,” deeply rooted in security forces and the justice system.
  • “Systematic and widespread” racial profiling.
  • Unnecessary and disproportionate use of force, including lethal force: Afro-descendant youth pursued and shot in the back, and families left waiting for years without progress in investigations.
  • Dehumanizing language by police officers and excessive police presence in spaces where Afro-descendant communities gather.
  • Arbitrary fines and citations, “phantom citations,” informal police quotas, and the discriminatory use of protective custody transfers.
  • Impunity, lack of access to justice, and fear of reporting abuses.
  • Statistical invisibility: the absence of data disaggregated by race and the 31% decline in the Afro-Colombian population recorded in the 2018 census.

The Mechanism also warned that racial profiling can escalate into unnecessary use of force. Encounters arising from stops, searches, or identity checks based on stereotypes “can unnecessarily escalate into forms of physical violence,” including lethal force. The report states that impunity sends families the message that their lives are considered less valuable by the authorities.

“We wish to emphasize that racist police violence does not end with the victim’s body. Its effects extend to the entire Black People, and this collective harm is an essential part of the violation,” the document states.

EMLER documented psychosocial, socioeconomic, family, and community-related harm, including fear, anxiety, stress, distrust of the police, and a collective sense of vulnerability and lack of protection.

This has consequences for the relationship between communities and institutions. When the State presumes criminality based on skin color, physical appearance, hair, clothing, music, or neighborhood, the fundamental relationship of trust between citizens and institutions is broken. People stop reporting abuses and seeking justice, while underreporting protects those responsible for violence. The Mechanism identified “widespread distrust” of security and justice institutions among Afro-descendant people.

There are also lasting consequences that often go unnoticed. Accumulated fines can become barriers to employment, pushing young people into informal work or, alternatively, unemployment. EMLER described these practices as a form of “administrative criminalization of Blackness, poverty, youth, and sexual and gender diversity.”

The EMLER report was released amid public outcry in Colombia over the case of Donovan Balanta, a 34-year-old man who died on September 20 in southwestern Bogotá after being beaten by a group of National Police officers. This case adds to that of Luis Alfredo Echeverry, another young Afro-Colombian man who died on September 27 in the department of Cauca. Both cases reflect, with disturbing precision, patterns of violence documented by the UN Mechanism: a police encounter in a low-income neighborhood with a predominantly Afro-descendant population; the use of force against a person who had been subdued and was under state control; public allegations that the incident began with discriminatory remarks; and a community forced to mobilize to ensure that evidence is preserved and investigations move forward.

EMLER’s findings are general in nature and do not constitute conclusions regarding either of these cases. Nevertheless, the racial dimension must be incorporated into the investigations from the outset. “The role that racial discrimination, stereotypes, and prejudice may have played in the incident must be examined. An investigation that ignores this dimension will be incomplete,” the report states.

Following the publication of this report and the recent cases of violence in which two Afro-Colombian men have died, Race and Equality calls on State institutions to adopt concrete measures in response to these incidents and to address the recommendations issued by the international mechanism.

First, we call on the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation to investigate the deaths of Donovan Balanta and Luis Alfredo Echeverry promptly, independently, and impartially, ensuring the immediate preservation of all evidence, including footage from public and private surveillance cameras. We also consider it essential to incorporate the racial dimension into both investigations and assess the appropriate criminal charges in accordance with international standards on torture and the unlawful use of force.

We call on the National Police and the Ministry of Defense to fully cooperate with the justice system, ensure that no officers under suspicion remain in positions that could allow them to interfere with the investigations, and refrain from any actions that could stigmatize the victims or their communities. The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Office of the Ombudsperson must actively oversee disciplinary and criminal proceedings and ensure that families receive support through an ethnic-racial and differential approach.

Likewise, we call on the National Government to provide guarantees to the families and communities against potential reprisals, ensure their effective participation in the proceedings, and guarantee comprehensive reparation, including guarantees of non-repetition. We also call for the adoption of a public plan to implement EMLER’s recommendations, with clearly defined responsibilities, a timeline, a budget, and monitoring mechanisms that include the participation of Afro-descendant organizations. This plan must include an explicit prohibition of racial profiling, the initiation of the process to transfer the National Police to a civilian ministry, and the publication of data disaggregated by race and ethnicity on the use of force, arrests, citations, and deaths in custody.

We call on the Congress of the Republic to move forward with the ratification of the Inter-American Convention against Racism and the acceptance of the individual communications procedure before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), as well as to enact legislation to prevent and punish racial profiling.

Finally, we call on the international community and human rights organizations to maintain public oversight of both these cases and the implementation of EMLER’s recommendations, in order to help ensure truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition for affected Afro-descendant individuals and communities.



In Cuba, Racism Persists Behind the Discourse of Equality

Washington, D.C., September 8, 2026 — August 31 marked the International Day for People of African Descent, a day to raise awareness about the fight against racism and reaffirm the need to move toward more equal societies. In Cuba, reports by civil society organizations and the observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) warn of persistent structural inequalities affecting people of African descent.

For decades, the Cuban government’s official discourse has portrayed the 1959 Revolution as the moment when racial discrimination was left behind. However, more than six decades later, disparities persist in areas such as employment, housing, access to basic services, economic opportunities, and even the proportion of people who are incarcerated. At the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), we have documented how these inequalities are structural in nature and reproduce historical patterns of exclusion.

These disparities, raised during Cuba’s review by CERD in April of this year, were reflected in the Committee’s concluding observations, published in May.

Afro-descendant women and girls in Cuba, for example, “face greater obstacles in accessing the labor market, as well as opportunities for political participation and representation… and are disproportionately affected by adolescent pregnancies and maternal mortality. In addition, the prevalence of gender-based violence, including femicides, is a concern,” according to one section of the CERD report.

Inequality and Lack of Information

At Race and Equality, we have also questioned the methodologies used to identify the Afro-descendant population and highlighted the need for reliable information to make racial inequalities visible. In its recent review, CERD found the available statistics insufficient to assess the living conditions and enjoyment of rights of people of African descent. It therefore recommended reviewing statistical methodologies based on self-identification, conducting a new census, and publishing disaggregated data.

Inequality is also evident in the area of civil and political rights. According to the Human Rights Defense Network (RedDDHH), 3,511 repressive actions were recorded in 2025, affecting 3,310 people, of whom 1,842 were Afro-descendant, representing 55.6 percent. The organization also documented a significant presence of Afro-descendant people among victims of repressive actions inside prisons.

The protests of July 11, 2021, known as 11J, also highlighted these dynamics. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has noted that racial inequality was among the factors associated with the demonstrations and that the repression disproportionately affected people of African descent.

CERD, for its part, expressed concern over reports of excessive use of force, arbitrary detention, and racial profiling of people of African descent, particularly in the context of peaceful demonstrations. It also raised concerns about the harassment, threats, surveillance, restrictions on movement, and criminalization of activists, journalists, artists, and human rights defenders working to combat racial discrimination and promote the rights of people of African descent.

An Equality That Is Still Not Enough

CERD’s conclusions challenge the idea that racism is a problem that has been overcome in Cuba. The Committee recognized that people of African descent continue to face structural racism and discrimination linked to the historical legacy of slavery, which are reflected in poverty, vulnerability, marginalization, overrepresentation in the prison population, and disparities in access to employment, housing, and basic services.

The Committee also expressed concern about the lack of sufficient information on the implementation, results, and impact of the National Program against Racism and Racial Discrimination, adopted in 2019. It further highlighted the need to ensure the broad and inclusive participation of people of African descent and their organizations in policies aimed at combating discrimination.

As part of the International Day for People of African Descent and the Second International Decade for People of African Descent (2025–2034), Race and Equality stresses that combating racism requires more than recognizing equality before the law. As CERD has pointed out, Cuba must adopt concrete measures to reduce poverty, vulnerability, and marginalization among people of African descent, strengthen equality in the workplace, investigate allegations of racial profiling, and ensure a safe civic space for those defending their rights.



Afro-Colombian Day Is Not Just A Commemoration; It Is A Call For The Recognition Of Rights

Bogotá, May 21, 2026 – There is a way of being in the world that cannot be learned in a classroom or decreed by an institution. It is learned by living in community, by caring for one another. 

In Colombia, Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities have always lived this way; not because they had no other choice, but because they understood something that has taken others centuries to grasp: that life alone is not enough, that the land is cared for by all, and that dignity is not an individual achievement, but a collective endeavor.

Today, May 21, Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities commemorate Afro-Colombian identity from this very place: from the organizational processes that have been shaping the agenda for decades; from the community councils that govern the territory with their wisdom; from the women’s organizations that have sustained daily life at times when everything else was falling apart. From the youth who received an enormous legacy and are carrying it forward with commitment and pride. 

That legacy goes back a long way. And to understand what we are commemorating today, we must understand what they have resisted in order to get this far. Because the struggle of Black people in this country did not begin in 1851, when slavery was abolished. It began when the first Africans were brought to these lands, torn from their families, their languages, their names, and their identity. And from that moment on, the struggle was to reclaim the humanity that had been taken from them. 

The palenques were the most visible expression of that resolve; entire communities that said no, that built their own territory. San Basilio de Palenque, a town in the Colombian Caribbean, survived. It defended its autonomy, preserved its language, and maintained its memory. And today it still stands.

Freedom arrived in 1851 without land, without resources, without the actual conditions to exercise it. And the communities had to keep fighting. For their territory. For education. For the right to participate, to decide, to be recognized. 

That struggle found its way into the 1991 Constitution. Black community organizations didn’t wait to be given a space; they built it themselves. They arrived with their own agenda and succeeded in having ethnic and cultural diversity recognized. They secured Law 70 of 1993, which recognized collective territories and the right to prior consultation. That was no gift. It was the result of decades of organizing, of people who dedicated their lives to making possible what seemed impossible.

And yet, the gap between what the law says and what reality shows remains enormous. Between May 4 and 14 of this year, for example, the United Nations Mechanism of Independent Experts to Promote Justice and Racial Equality in Law Enforcement (EMLER) heard from communities, organizations, and state institutions. And upon concluding, it stated what communities have been saying for decades: that racism in Colombia is not a collection of isolated incidents, but a structural, historical, and sustained system. One that manifests itself in health indicators, in maps of violence, in unprotected territories, and in bodies that do not generate the same sense of urgency when they disappear.

Over the centuries, Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities have demonstrated that identity is neither decreed nor granted. It is built, defended, and passed down. And that is precisely what this country holds in its hands: a living, organizational, cultural, and political heritage that continues to grow, that continues to shape leaders, that continues to care for territories, and that remains, after all that has been thrown in its path, a transformative force.

That is why this day is not just a commemoration; it is also a call for this country to honor with deeds what it has recognized with words, and for the rights that took centuries of struggle to achieve to be exercised without anyone having to pay with their life to defend them.

At the Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights, we echo Alomía’s words and join in commemorating this date to remind everyone that racism affects millions of Afro-Colombians; at the same time, we demand that the Colombian government provide guarantees for the recognition of the rights of the Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities in this country.

Dayana Alomía, Legal Consultant on Race and Equality in Colombia



Afro-descendant organizations brief UN experts on the structural challenges faced by the Afro-descendant population in Mexico

Washington, D.C., May 20, 2026. – During the official visit to Mexico by the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, civil society organizations, community leaders, and representatives of African descent from different regions of the country shared with the international experts their main concerns, challenges, and demands regarding human rights, recognition, political participation, racial justice, and sustainable development.

The official visit, which began on May 11 and will conclude on May 20, is led by Isabelle Mamadou, chair of the Working Group, and Catherine Namakula, a member of the mechanism. During their stay in the country, the experts have examined the human rights situation of people of African descent in Mexico, gathering information on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related forms of intolerance, as well as promoting the implementation of the Second International Decade for People of African Descent (2025–2034).

The delegation held meetings with government authorities, national institutions, representatives of the legislative and judicial branches, as well as with people of African descent, civil society organizations, and other actors working on issues of racial discrimination and human rights.

The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) had the honor of supporting the coordination of dialogue spaces and meetings between experts and activists of African descent in the various regions visited. These spaces were made possible thanks to the commitment, leadership, and mobilization capacity of Afro-descendant community leaders who brought together organizations, community authorities, youth, women, human rights defenders, and representatives from various sectors of their communities to engage in dialogue with the United Nations experts. Race & Equality extends special thanks to Rosa María Hernández Fitta in Córdoba and Yanga (Veracruz); Teresa Mojica and the members of Afrocaracolas in Puerto Marqués (Guerrero); Sergio Peñaloza in Cuajinicuilapa (Guerrero); and Yolanda Camacho in El Azufre (Oaxaca), whose work in coordinating local efforts made possible the broad and diverse participation of the Afro-descendant population. Without their commitment and leadership, these meetings would not have been possible.

The activities began on May 13, 2026, with a meeting held at the Center for Constitutional Studies and Legal Knowledge of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, represented on this occasion by Dr. Gema Tabares.

During the meetings, the main concerns raised by Afro-descendant organizations and communities highlighted that:

Although there has been institutional progress aimed at the Afro-Mexican population, these efforts remain insufficient due to budgetary constraints, a lack of political will, and a predominantly indigenous-focused approach that does not fully address the realities, identities, and specific needs of Afro-descendant peoples and communities.

In this regard, the need was reiterated to create an institution dedicated exclusively to the Afro-descendant population, with adequate resources, trained staff, and the capacity to implement comprehensive and sustainable public policies.

Likewise, the organizations emphasized the urgency of strengthening affirmative action and ensuring genuine political representation for people of African descent in decision-making spaces. They expressed concern over the constant attempts to seize candidacies intended for Afro-Mexicans and over the use of the census as the sole mechanism for verifying Afro-descendant status, despite the low level of self-identification resulting from centuries of historical invisibility and racial discrimination.

The organizations also highlighted the need to advance the recognition of the autonomy and self-determination of Afro-descendant peoples and communities, as well as their own normative systems, forms of organization, and self-governance.

Likewise, they expressed concern over the lack of specific consultation protocols for Afro-Mexican peoples, the absence of numerous communities from the National Catalog of Afro-Mexican Communities, and the stalling of discussions regarding an Afro-Mexican regulatory law that would translate constitutionally recognized rights into public policies, protection mechanisms, and concrete guarantees.

The organizations denounced that the Afro-Mexican population continues to face significant barriers to accessing inclusive education free from discrimination. Among the main concerns highlighted was the absence of Afro-Mexican content and curricula in classrooms, a situation that contributes to the historical erasure of the contributions of the Afro-descendant population and perpetuates racial stereotypes.

Likewise, they pointed out the lack of effective access to technical and university education for many communities of African descent. Even when families make significant financial efforts to ensure their children can pursue higher education, obstacles to accessing decent jobs persist due to discriminatory practices and structural racism in the labor market.

The organizations also denounced that racial profiling remains a daily reality for many people of African descent, particularly when they leave their ancestral communities. They are frequently perceived as foreigners or migrants due to their physical characteristics, facing acts of discrimination, questions about their nationality, and differential treatment by authorities and private individuals.

The organizations underscored the importance of incorporating an intersectional approach in analyzing the human rights situation of the Afro-descendant population in Mexico. They highlighted that Afro-descendant women continue to face multiple forms of discrimination stemming from the intersection of racism and sexism, as well as higher levels of economic exclusion, violence, and barriers to accessing spaces for participation and leadership.

For their part, youth of African descent face specific obstacles related to access to quality education, employment, opportunities for social mobility, and political participation, in addition to frequently being affected by criminalization, stigmatization, and violence.

Likewise, the situation of Afro-descendant migrants was highlighted, as they face heightened forms of discrimination and vulnerability due to the convergence of factors such as race, nationality, immigration status, and socioeconomic exclusion.

Another issue addressed was the protection of Afro-descendant cultural heritage, particularly Afro-Seminole, an English-based creole language spoken by the Mascoga community in Coahuila and currently in danger of extinction.

The organizations also highlighted the need to strengthen and support community initiatives aimed at preserving Afro-descendant historical memory, including community museums such as the Afro-Mexican Museum of Huehuetán, cultural spaces, and artistic projects that play a fundamental role in building identity, collective self-esteem, and the fight against invisibility. However, they noted that these initiatives continue to receive scant institutional and financial support.

Afro-descendant communities in coastal areas also warned of the impacts of climate change, the state’s neglect, and economic projects that are affecting their territories and livelihoods, especially in places like Puerto Marqués, in Acapulco, and El Azufre, in Oaxaca.

In addition, they denounced the impacts of violence and organized crime, including disappearances, murders, intimidation, and lack of access to justice.

The activists also highlighted the urgent need for adequately equipped health centers with permanent staff. Currently, many people of African descent must travel long distances to access medical care or resort to high-cost private services, a situation that seriously limits the exercise of the right to health.

They also expressed concern that many government programs and support initiatives establish requirements that are inaccessible to Afro-descendant communities, organizations, and activists, thereby excluding precisely those who most need access to these resources.

The participating organizations emphasized the importance of the Working Group’s recommendations contributing to the strengthening of the recognition, protection, and effective guarantee of the rights of people of African descent in Mexico, from a perspective of historical reparations, racial justice, substantive equality, and effective community participation.

Today, May 20, 2026, the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent will present its preliminary observations and recommendations during a press conference at the conclusion of its official visit to Mexico. Subsequently, the final report on the mission is expected to be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council, possibly in September 2026.

Race & Equality reaffirms its commitment to continue accompanying and supporting the Afro-descendant population in Mexico, as it has done for many years, by promoting spaces for dialogue, strengthening the capacities of Afro-descendant organizations and leaders, advancing national and international advocacy processes, and contributing to the defense of their human rights.

We are confident that the conclusions and recommendations resulting from this visit will help shed light on the challenges that people, peoples, and communities of African descent in Mexico continue to face, as well as strengthen the actions necessary to advance toward racial equality, historical reparations, full recognition of their rights, and effective participation in the country’s political, economic, social, and cultural life.

 

We also spoke with the migrant community, but I changed the term to “Afri-Mexican”

 

The activists deserve recognition because, without financial support, they managed to organize the community and give the experts a warm welcome, covering the logistical costs.

 

I think it’s important to note these dates

The Struggle for Racial Equality in Light of International Mechanisms: Race and Equality and Its Commitment to People of African Descent, Indigenous Peoples, and the Roma

Washington, D.C., March 20, 2026.—On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) reaffirms its commitment to combating structural racism and building more just, inclusive, and equitable societies in the Americas.

At Race and Equality, we work in close collaboration with individuals, communities, and peoples of African descent, Indigenous peoples, and the Roma, who continue to face historical and contemporary forms of discrimination that not only limit their ability to exercise their rights but also directly impact their living conditions, their access to opportunities, and their participation in society.

Far from being mere declarations, international human rights instruments establish specific obligations for states: to ensure substantive equality, eliminate discriminatory practices, recognize identities and cultures, and adopt specific measures to close historical gaps. In practice, however, these guarantees have not yet fully translated into structural changes.

At the international level, progress in recognizing the rights of Indigenous peoples and people of African descent has been essential to bringing these inequalities to light. Instruments such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples not only recognize collective rights but also require states to respect self-determination, protect territories, and ensure effective participation in decisions that affect their lives.

Similarly, the process leading to a future United Nations Declaration on the rights of individuals, communities, and peoples of African descent represents a historic opportunity to establish standards that compel States to address the structural racism inherited from colonialism and slavery. This entails, for example, adopting public policies that guarantee equitable access to education, health care, employment, and justice, as well as recognizing and redressing the historical impacts of racial discrimination.

Nevertheless, Roma communities continue to face significant gaps in recognition within the international system, which results in their persistent invisibility in the Americas. This lack of recognition limits the adoption of specific public policies and perpetuates barriers to accessing basic rights.

Within the inter-American system, instruments such as the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Forms of Intolerance (CIRDI) reinforce these obligations by establishing that States must not only prohibit discrimination but also prevent, punish, and eradicate it through concrete actions. This includes collecting disaggregated data, recognizing affected communities, and designing public policies with their participation.

A recent example of these structural injustices was evident at the historic first hearing on the Roma people before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, held on March 9, 2026, and supported by Race and Equality. In this forum, Roma activists denounced how invisibility, structural racism, and the lack of state recognition continue to result in exclusion from the education system, barriers to accessing health services, and obstacles to accessing justice.

Such forums not only bring these issues to light but also reaffirm that states must move from formal recognition to effective action.

In the face of these challenges, at Race and Equality we reaffirm our commitment to:

  • Strengthening the effective participation of individuals, communities, and peoples of African descent, Indigenous peoples, and Roma in decision-making, both at the national level and in international forums.
  • Promote processes of memory, truth, justice, and reparations in the face of the legacies of colonialism, slavery, and structural racism.
  • Highlight and document persistent inequalities, supporting organizations and activists in the defense of their rights.
  • Incorporate an intersectional approach into all our actions, recognizing the multiple forms of discrimination faced by these populations.
  • Promote the ratification of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Forms of Intolerance (CIRDI), recognizing that this instrument provides concrete tools for States to adopt regulatory frameworks in this regard.

On this March 21, we call on governments, international organizations, and civil society to redouble their efforts to eradicate racism in all its forms. Equality cannot remain a mere promise: it must be translated into policies, resources, and concrete actions that guarantee dignity and justice for all people.

19 Years after the Attack on Ernestina Ascencio, Family and Organizations Demand Compliance with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

  • Two months after the Inter-American Court issued its ruling, the Mexican government has yet to propose a roadmap for compliance with the ruling.

Mexico, February 25, 2026 – Nineteen years after the sexual assault perpetrated by members of the Mexican Army against Ernestina Ascencio Rosario, a 73-year-old monolingual Nahua indigenous woman, which, combined with a lack of medical care, led to her death, her family and the organizations that represent them demand that the Mexican State comply fully and without delay with the ruling issued on December 16, 2025, by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) and express our concern at the absence of a roadmap for its implementation.

The day after the notification, the litigating organizations formally requested that the Mexican State submit a roadmap as soon as possible presenting concrete actions and proposals for compliance with the measures ordered by the Court. However, to date, the State has not made a proposal, which delays effective access to justice, truth, and reparation for Ernestina and her family, and jeopardizes the timely fulfillment of its international obligations.

Historic ruling

This anniversary comes at a historic moment. After almost two decades of impunity, the Inter-American Court declared the Mexican State internationally responsible for the violations perpetrated against Ernestina and her family, as well as for the undue intervention of high-level authorities to ensure the impunity of those responsible, and for the linguistic barriers and discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, and age that led to the denial of justice, which constituted a violation of the right to truth of Ernestina’s relatives and of society as a whole.

Consequently, the Court ordered the State to “implement various measures of reparation, including a thorough and serious criminal investigation into the rape, torture, and death of Ernestina in order to identify, prosecute, and punish those responsible; provide medical, psychological, and/or psychiatric treatment to the relatives; hold a public act of recognition of international responsibility; implement training and capacity-building programs for public officials; strengthen the Soledad Atzompa Specialized Care Center; and create a National Registry of Interpreters and Translators in Indigenous Languages for the health and justice systems,” among other measures.

This ruling sets a historic precedent that recognizes the multiple forms of discrimination faced by indigenous women in the hemisphere and reaffirms the obligation of States to guarantee access to justice without discrimination.

The decision is also the result of the tireless struggle of Ernestina’s family, who for almost two decades refused to accept silence and oblivion. As her daughter Martha Inés Ascencio has said: “The ruling should help ensure that what happened to my mother does not happen to any other woman.”

The Mexican State has the opportunity and the obligation to honor this ruling through concrete, transparent, and timely actions that guarantee justice for the family and contribute to the non-repetition of these events.

Nineteen years after these events, we remember Ernestina Ascencio Rosario with respect and dignity. Her memory lives on, and her case has set a fundamental precedent in the fight against impunity and discrimination. The truth has been recognized. Now, the ruling must be enforced.

Signed:

–          Lawyers for Justice and Human Rights (AJDH)

–          Heriberto Jara Municipal Services Center A.C. (CESEM)

–          Kalli Luz Marina A.C.

–          National Coordinator of Indigenous Women (CONAMI)

–          Robert and Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center

–          International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights

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.



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.



The UN Releases Letter Demanding Information from the Brazilian Government Regarding the Case of Sônia Maria de Jesus 

  • Sônia Maria de Jesus, a Black woman with multiple disabilities, was subjected to decades of domestic servitude by a family with ties to the judiciary. 
  • Four UN Special Rapporteurs and a Working Group sent an official communication to the Brazilian government expressing serious concern over the case, urging immediate action to prevent Sônia’s revictimization and to ensure her rights are upheld. 
  • In late 2024, representatives of Sônia’s family, along with CPT, CEJIL and the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, brought her case to the United Nations, calling for justice and guarantees of non-repetition. 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — April XX, 2025. Four UN Special Rapporteurs have requested clarification and an official response from the Brazilian government regarding the case of Sônia Maria de Jesus — a Black woman with multiple disabilities and who is illiterate — who was subjected to conditions akin to modern-day slavery from childhood by a family in the state of Santa Catarina, one of whose members is a judge. 

The UN officials — focused on human trafficking, the rights of persons with disabilities, contemporary forms of racism and racial discrimination, and modern forms of slavery — along with the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, made public their letter to the Brazilian government. The letter expresses concern over the reported violations, the ongoing risk of revictimization, and the dangerous precedent this case may set. 

The rapporteurs emphasized that the reported facts suggest violations of multiple rights protected under various international treaties. They also highlighted their deep concern over a judicial ruling that ordered Sônia’s return to the same residence where she had allegedly been enslaved — a decision that contradicts both national and international victim protection protocols and risks further revictimization. 

In addition to requesting information, the UN urged the Brazilian government to outline the steps it has taken to protect the human rights of Sônia and her family, to investigate the alleged violations, and to strengthen public policies to combat modern slavery and human trafficking — particularly in domestic work and in cases involving people in heightened situations of vulnerability, such as Black women and persons with disabilities. 

“For us, Sônia’s siblings, it is both a relief and encouraging to see that at least one institution has shown sensitivity and taken a stand,” said Marta de Jesus, Sônia’s sister. “The Brazilian judiciary has failed to respond properly to Sônia’s case or to ours. We are being denied the right to family life, and the courts fail to see how she could be welcomed and rebuild her life with us.” 

In 1982, Sônia was taken to live with a judge’s family in Santa Catarina under the premise of protection, but she was later moved to another state without her biological family’s knowledge. For decades, she was exploited without a formal work record, access to education, or adequate medical care. Her ability to communicate was severely hindered due to a lack of proper stimulation. In 2023, Sônia was rescued following an anonymous report — but her freedom was short-lived. Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice ruled for her return to the home where she had been exploited. Her siblings only learned of her whereabouts after her rescue and have since been denied full contact with her. 

At the end of 2024, Sônia’s family and the organizations CPT, CEJIL, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, and the Black Lives with Disabilities Matter Movement submitted a formal communication to the UN outlining the violations and requesting action from the Brazilian government. 

While awaiting a response, the UN rapporteurs and working group emphasized the urgency for Brazil to take all necessary steps to stop the violations, prevent their recurrence, and ensure accountability. They also indicated the possibility of publicly expressing their concerns, stressing that this is an issue that demands immediate attention and that the public must be informed of its implications. 

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