Roberta Clarke, president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), expresses her concern about the situation of systematic violations against the population in Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Venezuela, the countries that most concern this body of the Organization of States. Americans (OAS). In this interview, the commissioner regrets what she calls the “climate of persecution” that affects citizens, journalists, activists and civil society organizations in these countries, where dissident voices are persecuted, imprisoned or forced into exile.
The organization, which Clarke considers “the jewel in the crown of the OAS,” receives hundreds of requests for cases each year from people who consider that their human rights are being violated and monitors them or issues precautionary measures for the protection of these. persecuted. These are not good times for human rights on the continent, which is why the IACHR has become the loudspeaker “that amplifies the voices of people who are being criminalized and who are opponents,” says the human rights defender.
In the Nicaraguan case, the IACHR, through the so-called Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI), closely follows the situation under the Government of President Daniel Ortega, who has established a family-based regime, has silenced the press and uses the judicial system to terrorize citizens.
A group of OAS experts presented a report in December 2018 in which they denounced “crimes against humanity” committed by the Ortega Executive, who expelled the organization’s team that monitored the situation of persecution in that Central American country. According to the report, the police systematically opened fire on the population during a series of protests held in several cities in the country and had launched a repressive wave that included torture and sexual assaults in prisons, facts that must be judged, according to the text, as “crimes against humanity.” “We are concerned about the repression and concentration of power in Nicaragua,” says Clarke, a Barbadian lawyer who assumed the presidency of the IACHR in November 2021, for a four-year period. Below is an excerpt from the video call interview.
Ask. Dozens of Nicaraguan journalists have been forced into exile. How do you assess the current situation in Nicaragua related to journalism and freedom of expression?
Answer. The situation in Nicaragua is of great concern to the Commission and we are monitoring it closely. We have seen repression and the concentration of power specifically in the Executive branch, we have seen that there are no conditions for the press to operate freely and safely and there is no open space for the exercise of civil society. In November 2023 we launched the report on the closure of civic spaces in Nicaragua, in which we document the massive closure of civil society organizations, as well as the repression and climate of persecution that exists widely in the country. We also had a public hearing where we received exiled people who had lost their property and resources.
Q. Is the current situation in Nicaragua the one that most concerns the IACHR in terms of human rights violations?
R. I wouldn’t dare say that it is the one that worries me the most, but it is one of the ones that worries us the most. In our annual report we study and document progress and challenges in each of the countries and Chapter Four B of the report is a space reserved for the countries of greatest concern. Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Guatemala are located there. These countries are there because they have been able to identify patterns that have to do with the weakness of democratic institutions, the weakness of the rule of law and serious violations of human rights. However, the Commission has also shown special concern for other countries that are not included in the chapter on this occasion, such as, for example, Haiti. The country presents a complete social and security breakdown.
Q.In Guatemala, President Bernardo Arévalo has taken power, who has a speech more favorable to human rights, but in that country the persecution of journalists and the so-called “pact of the corrupt” continues, which uses the justice system as a weapon against the critics.
R. Guatemala has been in Chapter 4 for at least two years due to the weakening of the rule of law. We have maintained monitoring freedom of expression and the criminalization of defenders. The Commission has been invited by the Government of Guatemala to visit in July. It would be a visit in which the entire Commission would go to document the human rights situation in Guatemala. This is very important and is an example of how the State of Guatemala is open to international scrutiny. The nature of the visit also includes the offer of technical support that the Commission offers to the countries to guarantee human rights.
Q. It also raises the situation in Cuba. We have seen a strong repression of protests due to the economic situation on the island. Have you been able to communicate with the Government to express your concern about this way of acting in the face of social unrest?
R. The situation is very similar to that of Nicaragua. We have seen an absence of elements [necesarios] for democracy, for political pluralism, the prohibition of political association. We follow the difficulties in the enjoyment of social rights and have also pointed out the structural reasons for this. We grant precautionary measures to people who are in imminent risk, but also to people who are in prison or who are being persecuted, and we seek to guarantee their rights. The voice of the IACHR is very important, because what it does is amplify the voices of the people who are being criminalized and who are opponents of the current Government. Last year we launched a report on labor and union rights in Cuba and some of our findings were, for example, discrimination, workplace harassment, problems with academic freedom, and the absence of fair processes. This is part of the monitoring work we continually do on Cuba.
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