Oslo Freedom Forum at XV: Speaking truth to power for 15 years

"Human rights are universal and indivisible. Human freedom is also indivisible: if it is denied to anyone in the world, it is therefore denied, indirectly, to all people. This is why we cannot remain silent in the face of evil or violence; silence merely encourages them." - Vaclav Havel 

Since 2011 this blog has followed the Oslo Freedom Forum and the different human rights themes over the past decade, and  celebrated in 2012 when the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent was inaugurated. This year marks 15 years of this important human rights forum.  

 Cuban speakers Abraham Jiménez Enoa and Rosa María Payá were present at this 15th edition Oslo Freedom Forum. It coincided with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) making public on June 12, 2023  its “Report on Admissibility and Merits No. 83/23 of Case 14,196” in which it held the Cuban government responsible for the deaths of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero.

Eight years earlier on July 22, 2015, Javier El-Hage and Roberto González of the Human Rights Foundation released a 147-page report titled The Case of Oswaldo Payá that concluded Harold and Oswaldo’s deaths on July 22, 2012 were "the result of a car crash directly caused by agents of the State, acting (1) with the intent to kill Oswaldo Payá and the passengers in the vehicle he was riding, (2) with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm to them, or (3) with reckless or depraved indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to the life of the most prominent Cuban activist in the last twenty-five years and the passengers riding with him in the car."

It was a powerful moment today at the Oslo Freedom Forum where Rosa María Payá and Roberto González discussed the case of Oswaldo Payá, and the failure of many human rights organizations to report on this assassination. Human Rights Foundation wrote the first independent, international report of the attack that killed Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero in what is now known to have been a political assassination. The report is available online for free.

This blog entry thus far is Cuba-centric, but the Oslo Freedom Forum spans the world, and the human rights crises across the globe. 

Oswaldo Payá when awarded the Sakharov prize for Freedom of Thought on December 17, 2002 spoke prophetically when he said: “The cause of human rights is a single cause, just as the people of the world are a single people. The talk today is of globalization, but we must state that unless there is global solidarity, not only human rights but also the right to remain human will be jeopardized.”

Too often many Cubans, for justifiable reasons, are focused on the troubles in Cuba, but fail to see what is happening elsewhere.  Too many believe that we are alone, and that no one is watching our plight.

This is a mistake, and it is also not true.

Martin Luther King Jr. in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" explained why.  “In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be... This is the inter-related structure of reality.”

Just as what happened in Cuba affected what is happening in Venezuela, and Nicaragua, so is what happening in China and Russia affecting Cuba. Therefore we owe it to ourselves what is happening around the world, and to be in solidarity with human rights defenders, and friends of freedom everywhere.

Please take the time to watch the  Oslo Freedom Forum in its entirety, and raise your awareness, and take nonviolent action in solidarity with others.

 

International lawyer arrested in Havana, Cuba while trying to hold a press conference

Obama's Presidency ends as it began with an innocent American arbitrarily arrested by the Castro regime. The results of The White House Cuba policy become evident.

International lawyer Kimberly Motley arrested in Cuba

URGENT: KIMBERLEY MOTLEY, EL SEXTO'S INTERNATIONAL LAWYER, ARRESTED IN HAVANA, CUBA, AND TAKEN TO UNKNOWN LOCATION

NEW YORK (December 16, 2016) — Human Rights Foundation (HRF) strongly condemns the arbitrary arrest of American attorney Kimberley Motley in Havana, Cuba, at 4:09 p.m.today. Motley is in Cuba as the international attorney for political prisoner Danilo “El Sexto” Maldonado, a celebrated Cuban artist imprisoned since Castro’s death twenty-one days ago.

Motley was taken by plainclothes security agents as she was trying to hold a press conference outside of the National Capitol Building in Havana. According to witnesses, Motley was arrested along with dissident punk rock artist Gorki Águila and democracy activist Luis Alberto Mariño from the civil society group Cuba Decide (an organization devoted to the holding of free elections in Cuba).

URGENT: Cuban state security has just detained @dmmelsexto's lawyer @KimMotleysLaw w/ @ViolinistaTito & #Gorky in Havana pic.twitter.com/lYDxdVbz9H

— HRF (@HRF) December 16, 2016

“This outrageous abuse is the sad reality of Cuba’s ongoing totalitarianism. They first arrest pro-democracy activist El Sexto for criticizing and mocking the deceased dictator, and now they arrest the lawyer that has traveled to Cuba to defend him,” said Thor Halvorssen, president of HRF. “We call on Raúl Castro to order the release of Motley, Águila, and Mariño’s unconditionally and immediately,” he added.

Kimberley Motley is an international litigator who currently works on commercial, criminal, and human rights issues in Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Ghana, Uganda, and the United States. Motley is the founder of Motley Legal Services and the co-founder of Motley Consulting International. In 2009, she became the first and only foreigner to litigate cases in Afghanistan's criminal and commercial courts. In 2015, the documentary "Motley's Law" premiered at film festivals across the world.

Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies.

Contact: Contact: (212) 246-8486, advocacy@hrf.org.

TAKE ACTION! Sign a petition for the release of prisoner of conscience Danilo Maldonado Machado and help to expose and denounce the crimes of the Cuban regime:

https://goo.gl/n0qdPw                     

CONTACT Cuban officials and ask them for the release of Motley and Maldonado:
Rodolfo Reyes Rodríguez, Ambassador, Cuban Permanent Mission at the United Nations. Address: 315 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY, 10016. Telephone: (212) 689-7215. Fax: (212) 689 9073. Email: cuba_onu@cubanmission.com.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CubanMissionUN.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CUBAONU.

Please let HRF know if you took action. CC your communication to: advocacy@hrf.org. 

Human Rights Foundation condemns sham court proceedings against Venezuelan prisoner of conscience

Venezuela: HRF Condemns Sham Appellate Proceedings; Requests Release of Prisoner of Conscience

Leopoldo just arrived at the Palace of Justice for court of appeals rigged judgment

NEW YORK (August 18, 2016) — Today marks two and a half years since Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López was arbitrarily arrested in Caracas while leading a peaceful demonstration to the Ministry of Interior, Justice, and Peace. Human Rights Foundation (HRF) reiterates its February 2014 designation of López as a prisoner of conscience and calls on Venezuela’s authoritarian regime to release him immediately. This morning, López was formally notified of a Venezuelan appellate court's decision to uphold the 14-year sentence he was given in September 2015.

“Today, a kangaroo court of appeals sanctioned Nicolás Maduro’s desire to have Leopoldo López spend the next 12 years of his life in a military prison. Exactly the kind of decision one would expect from the brutal militaristic regime that has brought Venezuela into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” said Garry Kasparov, chairman of HRF. “López’s imprisonment and the repressive tactics used by the police, armed forces, and paramilitary groups against the opposition make it clear that the Maduro regime has lost any remaining democratic legitimacy. The free world must continue to bear witness,” added Kasparov.

During the appeal process, judges Evelin Dayana Mendoza, Jimai Montiel Calles, and Nelson Moncada Gómez of the Court of Appeals of Caracas ignored last year's confession by the now-exiled lead prosecutor, Franklin Nieves, who said he had been pressured to falsely charge López. The court also violated López's right to a defense attorney of his choosing by rejecting two Spanish lawyers serving on López’s international defense team, including former Spanish Minister of Justice Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón. López’s trial and appellate proceedings have been riddled with due process violations. The trial and appeal process consisted of over 70 hearings that took place behind closed doors, in violation of the right to a public trial. Out of over 700 hours of trial proceedings, López’s legal team had just three hours to argue in his defense. In an ostensible display of bias, trial judge Barreiros allowed 108 witnesses and 30 exhibits presented by the prosecution, while allowing only two of the 60 witnesses proposed by the defense, and declaring the bulk of the evidence exonerating López inadmissible.

Throughout the criminal proceedings, high-ranking government officials have made almost daily public statements asserting López’s culpability, in violation of the right to presumption of innocence. In fact, official television channels and the two main leaders of the regime, Nicolás Maduro y Diosdado Cabello, refer to López as “The Monster of Ramo Verde.” Ramo Verde is the name of the military prison in Los Teques, Venezuela, where over the past two and a half years López has been subjected to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, in direct violation of international standards on the protection of the human dignity of persons deprived of liberty.

This morning, López appeared before the appellate court to hear a decision that had previously been announced on August 12. A picture posted today on his Facebook account (usually managed by his wife Lilian Tintori) shows a bearded and heavily guarded López entering the appellate courtroom. In addition to the appalling conditions of captivity and excessive isolation, López has spent at least a third of his time in prison in solitary confinement, having been denied the right to receive visitors, including, at times, his wife and children, as well as his lawyers. López, his wife, and his mother have been subjected to violent, invasive searches, and the confidentiality of their communications has been violated.

“Terms like ‘kangaroo court’ or ‘sham trial’ do not begin to describe what has happened to López since his arrest in 2014. After the lead prosecutor confessed to having falsely charged López, the conviction would have been vacated immediately if Venezuela were a democratic nation,” said Javier El-Hage, chief legal officer of HRF. “López is part of a group of prominent prodemocracy activists under dictatorial regimes worldwide who have been sentenced to dozens of years in prison for advocating basic human rights. In 2009, the Chinese dictatorship jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo on charges of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ after he wrote a democracy manifesto, while in 2012 Kazakhstan’s authoritarian regime convicted the leader of the democratic opposition, Vladimir Kozlov, of ‘inciting social hatred.’ Kozlov, whose case is very similar to that of López, was also convicted for ‘creating and managing an organized criminal group,’ which is the label the regime gave to Kozlov’s political party, in a move very similar to the one Venezuela pursued against López’s party, Voluntad Popular,” said El-Hage.

López’s unjust arrest and incarceration have been condemned by multiple institutions worldwide, including Amnesty International, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the European Parliament. HRF was the first organization to declare López a political prisoner and a prisoner of conscience, after determining that the opposition leader had been persecuted, arrested, and imprisoned exclusively for having exercised his right to freedom of expression.

Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies.

Text taken from press release on HRF page. 

Cuban artists and musicians put on performance "PORK" on South Beach

Performance art, rock n roll and Andy Warhol too...

On Thursday February 25th beginning at 7:30pm until late in the evening in South Beach Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado (El Sexto) was finally able to carry out his performance art piece that cost him 10 months in a Cuban prison. Two pigs named Fidel and Raul where at the center of an exhibition of drawings and paintings. In addition, Andy Warhol's acclaimed film The Life of Juanita Castro was projected in Miami's Market Gallery along with a performance by the Cuban punk rock band, Porno para Ricardo.


The exhibit will be open to the public from February 26 to March 17, from 12:00pm - 12:00 am daily. Market Gallery, 1420 Alton Road, Miami Beach, FL, 33139

Danilo Maldonado addresses the crowd with Ladies in White leader Bertha Soler

The event was organized by Market Gallery, Pollock Fine Art, and Human Rights Foundation.

The Leopoldo López Case: How to Conduct a Show Trial

The crisis in Venezuela

Show trial: n (Law) a trial conducted primarily to make a particular impression on the public or on other nations, esp one that demonstrates the power of the state over the individual. A trial (as of political opponents) in which the verdict is rigged and a public confession is often extracted.  Before the trial even started today outside of the courthouse, a dynamic familiar to Cuban dissidents on the island played out. Opposition activists gathered to show their solidarity with Leopoldo López with a heavy police presence monitoring them. At the same time a large number of pro-regime people showed up and verbally and physically assaulted the opposition activists trying to provoke them. 60 opposition activists were hurt and one man died of a heart attack provoked by the mob. A woman six months pregnant was beaten up by the pro-regime mob that tried to knock her down as she tried to leave the demonstration.


Human Rights Foundation issued a press release condemning the 13- year prison sentence against Leopoldo López. Below is an excerpt that outlines some of the irregularities and places it within a comparative international context:

The criminal proceedings against López were riddled with due process violations. The trial consisted of 70 hearings and took place behind closed doors in violation of the right to a public trial. The media, human rights defenders, and international observers were strictly banned from the courthouse. Out of 700 hours of trial, López’s legal team only had three hours to argue in his defense. In another ostensible display of disproportionality, bias, and unfair treatment in court, Judge Barreiros allowed 108 witnesses and 30 exhibits presented by the prosecution. In contrast, of the 60 witnesses proposed by the defense Barreiros allowed only two, and declared that the bulk of the documentary evidence presented by López’s legal team was inadmissible. Public statements by high-ranking government officials were made declaring López’s culpability in violation of the right to presumption of innocence.

As the criminal proceeding against him was taking place, López was held in the Ramo Verde military prison in Los Teques, Venezuela, where he was subject to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. López’s imprisonment in Ramo Verde was characterized by the violation of international standards on the protection of the human dignity of persons deprived of liberty. Apart from the appalling conditions of captivity and excessive isolation—López has spent at least a third of his time in prison in solitary confinement, having been denied the right to receive visitors, including, at times, his wife and children, and his lawyers—there have been numerous violent searches, and the confidentiality of his communications has been violated.

“Terms like ‘kangaroo court’ or ‘sham trial’ do not begin to describe what happened to López. A teenager with rudimentary knowledge of a fair legal system would have found the charges brought against him absurd. López wouldn’t be in jail if Venezuela were a democratic nation,” said Javier El-Hage, chief legal officer of HRF. “Lopez now joins the group of prominent prodemocracy activists under dictatorial regimes worldwide who have been convicted to serve dozens of years in prison for advocating basic human rights. In 2009, the Chinese dictatorship jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo on charges of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ after he wrote a democracy manifesto, while in 2012 Kazakhstan’s authoritarian regime convicted the leader of the democratic opposition, Vladimir Kozlov, of ‘inciting social hatred.’ Kozlov, whose case is very similar to that of López, was also convicted for ‘creating and managing an organized criminal group,’ which is the label the regime gave to Kozlov’s political party, in a move very similar to the one Venezuela pursued against López’s party, Voluntad Popular,” said El-Hage.  

López’s unjust arrest and incarceration were condemned by multiple institutions worldwide, including Amnesty International, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Parliament. HRF was the first organization to declare López a political prisoner and a prisoner of conscience, after determining that the opposition leader had been persecuted, arrested, and imprisoned exclusively for having exercised his right to freedom of expression.

20 years after the July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre: Calls to Action

This page will be updated with new events to pay homage to the victims of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat that was attacked and sunk by agents of the Cuban State on July 13, 1994 causing the deaths of 37 men, women, and children. Twenty years later and those responsible have not been held accountable or the victims compensated in any way. Twenty years without justice. Twenty years of impunity.

Below the events are listed in the chronological order that they were made known to this blog:

 "Lights of Liberty Flotilla in Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Massacre of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Sinking

In the Florida Straits and in Miami the Democracy Movement is organizing a flotilla on Saturday, July 12, 2014 called the "Lights of Liberty Flotilla in Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Massacre of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat sinking that will leave Key West from the Key West City Bight Marina and go in front of Cuba on Saturday, July 12, 2014 to hold a ceremony in memory of the victims of the massacre and others murdered by Castroism and to launch powerful lights of freedom, which will be seen from Havana and other points of Cuba. Inside Cuba, members of the opposition and the Democracy Movement led in the island by  Jose Diaz Silva and the people in general will draw near to the Malecon and other points on the coast with candles and flowerr to throw them into the sea and to see the "Lights of Freedom" launched by the flotilla.

For more information visit their facebook page or call 305-264-7200.


Twenty minutes of silence for 20 years without justice: Silent Vigil on July 13 at 3:00pm

.
The Free Cuba Foundation has made a global call  for people of good will to hold a twenty minute moment of silence asking: "Please share and encourage friends wherever they are on July 13, 2014 at 3pm to join in a 20 minute moment of silence. Gather in a group or individually and take a photo at the end of the vigil holding up the above image calling for justice or whatever you have at hand. "  On Sunday at 3:00pm members of the Free Cuba Foundation will be gathering at the main fountain at Florida International University (rain or shine) for a twenty minute silent vigil.

For more information on activities in your area visit their facebook page or e-mail them

Mothers and Women Against Repression (MAR) will Remember Victims of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre

On Sunday July 13, 2014- the twentieth anniversary of this crime against humanity. - MAR for Cuba will hold a rosary for the victims of the"13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre, on the grounds of the Cuban Memorial Monument, that is located on Coral Way & SW 112 Avenue, at 10 AM, after which a wreath of flowers will be deposited in their memory.

For more information contact  Sylvia G. Iriondo at 305-934-7302 or visit their website.



Collective Action "A light for mine" in tribute to victims of the "13 de Marzo"tugboat and all Cubans who've lost their lives at sea at dusk on July 12, 2014

Estado de Sats and For Another Cuba have called for an international campaign. The collective action “A light for mine” will be a tribute to the victims of the tugboat “13 de Marzo” and all Cubans who have lost their lives at sea, trying to escape a suffocating reality during 54 years.  It is also a tribute to the Cuban family and a call to hope and spiritual rebuilding of our nation.

 
This July 12 on the eve of the anniversary, at  dusk Cubans, anywhere in the world, will light a candle in front of the ocean , a bridge, a lake, a river, on your door, balcony or in the privacy of your home (in this case for the repression that doubles in Cuba on this date) For Cuba's disconnect with the world, Cubans living abroad can help promote this symbolic action inviting relatives and friends on the island to participate and share in turn photos and pictures of the same in the social networks.

Let's light a candle this July 12 to remember the friend, the family member who didn’t make it, the son who never appeared.

La acción colectiva ‘’Una luz por los míos ’’ será un homenaje a las víctimas del remolcador 13 de Marzo y a todos los cubanos que han perdido su vida en el mar, tratando de escapar de una realidad asfixiante durante 54 años. Es también tributo a la familia cubana y un llamado a la esperanza y a la reconstrucción espiritual de nuestra nación.
Este 12 Julio vísperas del aniversario, al anochecer, los cubanos, en cualquier lugar del mundo, prenderán una vela frente al mar, un puente, un lago, un río, en su puerta, balcón o en la intimidad de su hogar ( en este caso por la represión que se redobla en Cuba para esta fecha )
Por la desconexión de Cuba con el mundo, los cubanos que viven fuera pueden ayudar a promover esta acción simbólica invitando a familiares y amigos dentro de la isla a participar y compartir a su vez fotos e imágenes de la misma en las redes sociales.
Encendamos este 12 de Julio una vela para recordar al amigo, al familiar que no llegó, al hijo que nunca apareció.
Una vela como denuncia.
Una vela contra la desmemoria.
Una vela por el futuro.
Una luz por los míos

- See more at: http://www.estadodesats.com/2014/06/una-luz-por-los-mios.html#sthash.JZOcqy3a.dpuf

For more information on the collective action visit their campaign page  or Por Otra Cuba

20th Anniversary of the abominable sinking of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat off the coast of Havana on July 13, 1994

Our Lady of Charity  (La Ermita) is holding a Special mass and vigil: 

We will join together in prayer for the victims and their families and for Liberty and Justice to soon reach Cuba.

Mass: Saturday July 12, 2014
Location: 3609 South Miami Ave Miami, Fl. 33133
Time: 8:00pm

After the Mass united with our brothers in the Island and in different parts of the world we will have a candlelight vigil in their memory in the Sea wall of Our Lady of Charity. 

Don't miss it!

For more information on the Mass and vigil visit their facebook page or official website.

Human Rights Foundation and Cuban Democratic Directorate call for Twenty Minutes of Silence for Twenty Years of Impunity

The Cuban Democratic Directorate (CDD) and the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), have called for a symbolic nonviolent protest action in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the murder of 37 Cuban passengers of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat, who on July 13, 1994 were killed by agents of the Cuban government for trying to escape the island. The demonstration will take place on July 10 at 12:00 noon outside the headquarters of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Cuba to the United Nations (UN), located at No. 315 Lexington Avenue in New York City. Human rights activists, members of international civil society and Cuban exiles will gather in front of the embassy in order to hold twenty minutes of silence for each of the twenty years that this crime has remained unpunished.

For more information on the silent vigil visit the official announcement in English or Spanish and for additional questions contact: Jamie Hancock, jamie@thehrf.org, 212-246-8486 or
Janisset Rivero, jrrivero1969@gmail.com, 305-220-2713

  
CUBA: Young Leaders Group, Center for a Free Cuba and the Cuban Democratic Directorate Call for Twenty Minutes of Silence for Twenty Years of Impunity

Human rights and civil society organizations have called for a symbolic nonviolent protest action in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the murder of 37 Cuban passengers of the “13 de Marzo” Tugboat, who on July 13, 1994 were killed by agents of the Cuban government for trying to escape the island. The demonstration will take place on July 10 at 12:00 noon outside of the Cuban Interests Section located on 2630 16th Street NW in Washington DC. Human rights activists, members of international civil society and Cuban exiles will gather in front of the embassy in order to hold twenty minutes of silence for each of the twenty years that this crime has remained unpunished.

For more information contact:

Frank Calzon, Center for a Free Cuba 202- 427-3875

Jose Luis Garza, Cuban Democratic Directorate 305-220-2713

Rudy Mayor, U.S. Cuba Democracy PAC’s Young Leaders Group 786-393-9068