Madrid Spain.- The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) presented a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to declare the international responsibility of the Cuban Government for the continuous violations to the rights of the 55 women who make up the opposition group Ladies in White.
In the document The IACHR is asked to formulate recommendations to the regime on the Island that allow “to put an end to the prolonged and systematic persecution implemented against Ladies in White, and each and every one of its members. In addition, compensation was requested from the victims and their families, and to adapt laws, public policies, procedures and practices to international human rights standards, to guarantee that women activists in Cuba can demonstrate, demand changes, congregate and mobilize without being violated. ”.
#Cuba???Race and Equality petitions the @IACHR about violations of #HR against the organization @DamasdBlanco and each of the women that make it up, who have suffered physical, racial and gender violence for demanding changes on the Island.
➡️https://t.co/F0TYl2zHkY pic.twitter.com/Z8VeT4yMmC— Race and Equality (@raceandequality) August 11, 2022
Race and Equality recorded a pattern of 3,086 short-term arbitrary detentions, 243 acts of criminalization, 226 cases of physical, racial, and gender violence; as well as the siege, surveillance and constant threats perpetrated by the Cuban government against the Ladies in White between 2013 and 2022; despite the fact that the precautionary measures granted by the IACHR in favor of the members of Ladies in White have been in force during this period. These precautionary measures were granted by the IACHR in October 2013 due to multiple attacks.
“The Commission requested the government of Cuba to adopt a series of actions to preserve the life and personal integrity of the members of the organization, and also to present a report on the investigations carried out to clarify the acts of violence that have been registered against the colective. However, none of this has happened and the violations of the human rights of the Ladies in White have persisted”, denounces Race and Equality.
In statements to Race and Equality, the leader of the group, Berta Soler, pointed out that the regime is aware of these precautionary measures, but nothing has changed in its attitude and harassment.
“We have been victims of aggression, and more than 12 members have been imprisoned. Currently, four of our compañeras are in jail; one who was about to serve four years in prison and when she was released they created a new case for her and sentenced her to five years and four months in prison, for not having agreed with State Security to leave with her family outside the country; she is Aymara Nieto Munoz. The other three women are Sissi AbascalTania Echevarría and Sayli Navarro, who were arrested for having participated in the 11J protests and were sentenced to between six and eight years of imprisonment”, Soler points out.
In its petition, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights reaffirmed its willingness to continue supporting these women and Cuba’s independent civil society.
Ladies in White emerged in 2003 after 75 people were arrested for being dissidents of the Cuban Government, in a series of arrests known as the “Black Spring.” In its beginnings, the group of women met in the Havana prison of Villa Marista to obtain information about their imprisoned relatives. In September 2003 they began to go to mass, dressed in white, at the Santa Rita de Casia Church, a parish in Havana that pays tribute to the saint of “impossible causes.” Since then they have continued to denounce the violation of human rights in Cuba.
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