The organization Race and Equality points out that Latin America “is facing an increase in arbitrary arrests that are causing the number of people deprived of liberty for political reasons to increase dramatically.”
Given this situation, the entity will demand the immediate release of political prisoners in the Americas, during the 52nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), which will be held in Peru from October 5 to 7.
In a releasethe entity highlighted that in Nicaragua the number of political prisoners has risen to 205 people since April 2018, in Cuba has reached 665 prisoners of conscience since July 11, 2021 and in Venezuela to 246 since 2014.
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The organization also announced that, within the framework of its demand for the release of political prisoners in the Americas, they will hold the hybrid event “Not one more day in detention, freedom for people deprived of liberty for political reasons in the Americas.”
“This event will serve as a space for reflection and dialogue to contribute to the regional debate on the situation of people deprived of liberty for political reasons, in order to raise awareness about the cruelty of this practice and call for their prompt release,” stressed.
Nicaragua, among the repressors
The repression of the Ortega dictatorship against the Nicaraguan people does not stop, every day the list of political prisoners increases more. Ortega keeps priests, journalists, student leaders, businessmen, activists, human rights defenders, peasant leaders and presidential hopefuls deprived of liberty.
Recently, the Ortega-Murillo regime ordered the arrest of at least 12 people in five departments and in the South Caribbean of Nicaragua, all members or relatives of members of the Unión Democrática Renovadora (Unamos).
In addition, Ortega’s justice formally accused priests and seminarians who accompanied Monsignor Rolando Álvarez in the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa, assaulted on August 19.
He also filed a formal accusation against the priest. Oscar Danilo Benavidez, pastor of the Holy Spirit Church, in Mulukukú. In the system of causes of the Judicial Power, the authorities do not specify the nature of the crime that they attribute to religious and lay people, but they indicate that the “victim” is the State.
The Race and Equality Institute stressed that the repressive escalation of the dictatorship has reached the priests of the Catholic Church, “and has been spreading to such an extent that the harassment of the families of people detained or in exile is increasing. . The Police at the service of the regime is in charge of repressing, but they also rely on sympathizers and paramilitaries for this purpose.
In the event “Not one more day in detention, freedom for people deprived of liberty for political reasons in the Americas”, the photographic exhibition #NicasLibresYa will be held, “as part of the campaign of the same name, to visualize the stories of 70 people deprived of their liberty for political reasons in Nicaragua and the injustices committed against them,” the organization pointed out.
The activity will take place at the Sheraton Hotel in Lima, Peru, on October 4 from 5:00 to 6:15 pm Lima time.
“We reiterate our commitment to the release of persons deprived of liberty for political reasons in the Americas, especially in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and we call on the international community to continue exerting pressure on the governments of those countries to release these people unjustly imprisoned and subjected to cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment, and torture,” the entity concluded.
