Organizations that signed the request. Photo: Race & Equality
On November 7, several Cuban civil society organizations participated in the 188th Session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Laritza Diversent, lawyer and executive director of Cubalex, exposed the critical situation of the members of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) in the public hearing on the “Monitoring of precautionary measures of beneficiary persons deprived of liberty”.
In his speech, Diversent emphasized the repressive response of the Cuban government, which has carried out systematic harassment against MSI activists, particularly affecting artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Pérez, who are deprived of their liberty in precarious conditions and face situations of harassment, as retaliation for their political activism.
Diversent referred to the IACHR's call as an effort for regional recognition of the human rights reality in Cuba and also an opportunity to promote effective avenues of collaboration to pressure the Cuban State.
“The Inter-American Commission called on several civil society organizations that have filed or requested precautionary measures for human rights defenders, which have been granted in this case, because there is concern about the situation of the beneficiaries of these measures who are deprived of their liberty. The Inter-American Commission has a vested interest in this, and we continue to urge the Commission to seek other mechanisms to pressure the State. It is also the responsibility of civil society to work alongside the Commission to find these avenues of pressure on the Cuban State. We hope that in the short term the Commission will be able to see for itself the human rights situation in the country. Overall, this is a step forward in the recognition of the human rights situation in Cuba at the regional level.”.
During the hearing, where precautionary measures were examined for at least a dozen people deprived of their liberty for political reasons in Cuba, civil society organizations urged the Inter-American Commission and the Organization of American States (OAS) to make a public statement demanding the immediate release of the beneficiaries of precautionary measures, recognizing the vulnerability of victims of arbitrary detention for political reasons.
The application It also calls on the Cuban State to apply principles and good practices for the protection of fundamental rights and demands the immediate release of all those who remain imprisoned for raising their voices and going out into the streets to exercise their rights to free expression and peaceful protest.
Intervention of Laritza Diversent in the public hearing: “Monitoring of precautionary measures of beneficiary persons deprived of liberty”, of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).