The Basque Government awarded its “René Cassin” Human Rights Prize to the Nicaraguan political prisoner, historian and opposition member Dora María Téllez, according to a release Posted this Friday, December 2.
The jury in the case of Téllez valued the “long and persevering career of Téllez in the defense of human rights, women’s rights and democracy in Nicaragua” and recalled that the winner has been imprisoned since June 2021, in the framework of the democratic regression and reduction of rights established by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
This same award was won last year by the linguist and academic Elisa Loncón Antileo, the first President of the Constitutional Convention of Chile.
On November 28, the Sorbonne New University of Paris awarded Téllez its “Doctorate Honoris Causa”, a recognition dedicated to political prisoners in an emotional act in which the represented by journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios, director of CONFIDENCIAL.
Read Carlos Fernando Chamorro’s speech: The audacity and invincible laughter of Dora María Téllez
Chamorro Barrios recalled in his speech in France the conditions in which Téllez finds himself, subjected to solitary confinement by the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship.
“In Managua at this time it is already past ten in the morning and the sun shines very brightly, but the cell of Dora María Téllez, a political prisoner in the El Chipote prison, is always in the dark. There is not enough light, not even to distinguish the toothpaste on the toothbrush,” said the journalist, who stated that there are more than 225 political prisoners in the country.
Dora María Téllez and her defense of the Rule of Law
The statement reports that Téllez was born in Matagalpa in 1955 and risked her life as a guerrilla to put an end to the Somoza dictatorship, was Minister of Health during the first Sandinista government, was a founder of the Sandinista Renewal Movement and has stood out for her defense of the State of law and also as a promoter of gender policies in Latin America.
“As a measure of pressure, last September Téllez began a hunger strike to demand his release, as well as that of his colleagues, and to protest against the conditions of Nicaraguan prisons and the treatment received there,” he said. the jury of the Prize awarded by the Basque Government.
The delivery of this award will be made on December 10, when the world human rights day. It will have the participation of Lehendakari Urkullu and the Minister of Justice, Equality and Social Policies, Beatriz Artolazabal, among other personalities.
The distinction is in honor of René Cassin, a French politician and jurist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968. He was the main inspirer of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. And he also played an essential role in the drafting of the European Convention on Human Rights in 1950.
Award for the Articulation of Social Movements
For its part, on the first of December last, the Langreo City Council decided to reward the Articulation of Social Movements of Nicaragua with the “Life Award” that also emphasizes the issue of Human Rights.
The candidacy was presented by the Asturias organization called Soldepaz Pachakuti, whose members include many solidarity internationalists from the 1980s, including Javier Arjona and Ana Callejas.
“The Articulation of Social Movements is dedicating this award to the courage of all political prisoners and the resistance of each human rights defender. The resources of the award will be used for efforts to achieve the immediate and unconditional release of all people unjustly kidnapped and tortured by the Ortega-Murillo hate regime,” said Mónica López Baltodano, a member of the Articulation.
It was the winner among nine candidates by decision of a jury made up of municipal groups and two members representing the Cooperation Council. Due to the situation of government persecution in Nicaragua, many of its members carry out their activities from exile.
The jury highlighted in this case that it is a convergence of 60 Nicaraguan entities, constituted as a tool for the peaceful struggle for the rights of citizens, with emphasis on the defense of democracy, social justice, diversity and the dignity of people. In the Articulation there are women, indigenous people, Afro-descendants, peasants and defenders of Human Rights. The formal delivery of this recognition will be on December 16.
As part of its social impact work, the Articulation collectively formulated after two years of consultations a program that they call “The Dignities”a kind of guide on the axes of struggle in which the 60 Nicaraguan entities agree, such as political violence against women and the foundations of nonviolent struggle, among others.
