The Latin American Human Rights Consortium —which is led by the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality)—, will hold on June 8 the event called “Prisoners for what?-People imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela”, within the framework of the Summit of the Americas.
Through a statement, Race and Equality explained that the objective of this event is to generate a space for reflection and dialogue on the circumstances and conditions in which political prisoners find themselves “in the exercise of their fundamental rights in those three countries.” .
The activity will take place at the Hotel Índigo, in Los Angeles, California, starting at 4:00 in the afternoon, local time. Panelists at the event will be Uzra Zeya, Undersecretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights of the United States; Brian A. Nichols, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; the Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty and for the Prevention and Combat of Torture, Edgar Stuardo Ralón; and the Executive Director of Race and Equality, Carlos Quesada. It will also have the participation of the wife of political prisoner Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Victoria Cárdenas.
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For her part, Víctoria Cárdenas, wife of political prisoner Juan Sebastián Chamorro, added that her participation in the Summit of the Americas will be to “visualize” the situation of prisoners of conscience, who, according to human rights organizations, are daily victims of physical and psychological torture.
“What we want is to visualize the situation of political prisoners at the Summit of the Americas, since it is a highly topical issue and one that needs to be addressed at such an important meeting of governments, businessmen, and civil society on human rights issues, then we want to expose and visualize the situations of political prisoners in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba,” Cárdenas said in an interview with Article 66.
For its part, Race and Equality denounced that “the number of political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela continues to increase. These three countries are characterized by having authoritarian governments that use laws to criminalize activities for the promotion and defense of human rights, journalism and the political opposition».
[ESP] ?In the framework of the #IXSummit of the Americas, the Latin American Human Rights Consortium – led by Race and Equality – will hold an event to denounce the situation of political prisoners in #Cuba??, #Nicaragua?? and #Venezuela??
Learn more⬇️https://t.co/FugVDXckFc
— Race and Equality (@raceandequality) June 3, 2022
“In Nicaragua, the state and para-state repression of the peaceful demonstrations that began in April 2018 resulted in 355 fatalities, more than 2,000 people injured, and 1,614 arbitrary arrests,” the international observation organization reports.
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Four years of crisis
The organization recalled that in Nicaragua the crisis has lasted for more than four years and, currently, more than 170 people are imprisoned for political reasons, “without access to specialized medical care in conditions that do not comply with the United Nations Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) and the internal Law on human rights, which can be classified as cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment, physical and psychological torture.
At the same time, they highlighted the situation experienced by 14 women political prisoners, 19 elderly people and people with chronic illnesses, which they consider to be “especially critical” in terms of human rights.
