Supporting Political Prisoners in Latin America and the Caribbean
Arbitrary detention and torture have surged to alarming levels in Latin America and the Caribbean. Authoritarian regimes in the region are increasingly resorting to these repressive tools to instill fear in the population and cling to power.
Today, there are almost 3,000 political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
For this reason, Freedom House joined ESTÁ PASANDO DE NUEVO, a regional campaign led by Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan civil society organizations. The campaign sought to raise awareness of the reality of political prisoners in these three countries by drawing a comparison to the crushing experiences of past dictatorships. The goal was to increase the political cost for these regimes and finally end this practice that has long plagued the region.
You can read about some of the featured cases below.
Rocío San Miguel (Venezuela)
A resolute human rights defender and president of Control Ciudadano, Rocío was arbitrarily detained by the Maduro regime of Venezuela on February 9, 2024, as she prepared to travel abroad with her daughter. She was taken to the Helicoide detention center, where she has been denied her right to a lawyer. Rocío faces unfounded accusations. Her arbitrary detention and lack of legal guarantees serve as a stark reminder of the systematic repression against human rights defenders and voices critical of the regime.
Nancy Henríquez (Nicaragua)
In 2023, the Ortega regime of Nicaragua arrested Nancy Henriquez—an Indigenous leader and congressperson from the Yatama Indigenous party—and unjustly sentenced her to eight years in prison. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered her immediate release on February 1, 2024, but Nicaraguan authorities have not complied with this mandate.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (Cuba)
Artist and co-founder of the Movimiento San Isidro, on July 11, 2021, Luis posted a video to tell his followers that he planned to join an antigovernment protest in Havana, Cuba: “Family, I am going to the streets,” he said. “Whatever it costs me. Democracy is what we want.” Luis was unjustly arrested along with thousands of fellow Cubans. Since his arrest, Alcántara has remained in a maximum-security prison, engaging in a series of hunger strikes to protest his confinement. He was sentenced to five years in prison in June 2022 after a closed-door trial, and his health continues to deteriorate as authorities deny him proper medical care.
