William Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure set in 1950's Cuba is now on the stage at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The final performance of its current run is on November 27, 2022. This production would not have happened if not for Cuba's San Isidro Movement. On November 15, 2022 following the projected Spanish translation performance of Measure for Measure a discussion of art and activism was held with curator and human rights activist Claudia Genlui Hidalgo, one of the founders of the San Isidro Movement. Below is the conversation.
Nonviolent movements have unexpected results that reverberate positively into unexpected places. Who could have predicted the events of November 2020 in Havana, Cuba would inspire a new adaptation of Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure, and that this would present an opportunity for an American audience to learn about the San Isidro Movement in a conversation with one of its founders?
San Isidro leaders Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Pérez are jailed.
Artists continue to be jailed in Cuba. Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Pérez of the San Isidro Movement are not the only ones currently jailed for matters of conscience. Maria Cristina Garrido and rappers Richard Zamora Britto and Randy Arteaga Rivera, are three more Cuban artists jailed by the Cuban Dictatorship.
Maria Cristina Garrido and rappers Richard Zamora Britto and Randy Arteaga Rivera jailed.
“Voces presas” (Imprisoned voices) was launched on November 17th by the international organizations Artists at Risk Connection from PEN America and PEN International, in association with Civil Rights Defenders. It is an international campaign in support of poet Maria Cristina Garrido and rappers Richard Zamora Britto and Randy Arteaga Rivera, three Cuban artists who have been put behind bars by the Cuban Government." All three were jailed for taking part in the 11J protests in Cuba in July 2021.
Today, we remember the nonviolent protests in November 2020 that were the prelude to the nationwide protests of July 2021 that shook the dictatorship.
State security operation in Havana outside the San Isidro Movement on November 26th at 8:30pm
Two years ago today, the secret police dressed as healthcare workers raided the San Isidro Movement's headquarters in Havana and took all the protesters away.
It was the culmination of a series of events that began in early November. On November 9, 2020, "rapper, activist and member of the San Isidro Movement Denis Solís González was arrested in Havana after sharing a video on November 6, 2020 of a police officer entering his home without a warrant and harassing him.
Denis was tried and sentenced on November 11, 2020 to eight months in prison for “contempt” (desacato), which according to Amnesty International is " a crime inconsistent with international human rights law. He is now imprisoned at a maximum-security prison, Valle Grande, located just outside Havana.”
On November 12, 2020 San Isidro Movement members protested outside of Cuba y Chacón police station, demanding freedom for Denis Solís.
The following night, Cuban police violently attacked the nonviolent activists drawing international attention. The International Society for Human Rights, a Frankfurt based human rights organization, reported that during "a peaceful sit-in strike in front of a police station, the well-known Cuban professor Omara Ruiz Urquiola was brutally beaten by a police motorcycle patrol on November 13th. On Facebook, she shared a video of the assault and showed the blood-smeared dress she had worn during the abuse." Video of the attack was broadcast over television on Telemundo 51, reaching a broader audience.
San Isidro Movement protesters arrived at the movement's headquarters on November 15, 2020, with the goal of carrying out a series of cultural activities to obtain the freedom of Denis Solís González. Regime agents poisoned the water in the cistern with acid in a chemical attacked cutting off the occupants in the San Isidro Movement's headquarters from drinkable water. Neighbors, family and friends were prevented from reaching them, and providing water or food.
San Isidro Movement
On November 18, 2020, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Esteban Rodríguez, Maykel Castillo, and Humberto Mena initiated a hunger and thirst strike, and Iliana Hernández, Yasser Castellanos, Adrián Rubio, Oscar Casanella, and Osmani Pardo started a hunger strike.
On November 22, 2020 at 12:08am Cuban independent journalist Iliana Hernández posted over Twitter, "they attacked San Isidro Movement headquarters by state security repressors, who gave the criminal time to break down the door (approximately 10 minutes), and after a while the patrol appeared." She added that Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara had been struck.
The San Isidro Movement responded to the provocation calling for protests in Cuba's parks on November 22, 2020. Cuban state security began carrying out preemptive arrests of activists and independent journalists. The secret police organized their paramilitary groups to violently target those able to evade the security cordon and reach parks across the island.
On November 26 at 8:00pm the regime shutoff their access to the internet and to their phones and organized a rapid response brigade. Secret police dressed as doctors raided the San Isidro Movement headquarters and forcibly expelled, beat up, and arrested everyone inside.
The dictatorship thought the matter over. They were wrong.
The Castro regime ended up with a much larger problem than 14 protesters in a modest home in the neighborhood of San Isidro in Havana. Young people, mostly artists and academics, began gathering throughout the day of November 27th in front of the Ministry of Culture and their numbers continued growing into the evening demanding that the Minister meet with the protesters to negotiate terms for a dialogue.
Young Cubans gathered outside the Ministry of Culture on November 27, 2020
Broadway World, November 10, 2012
Chicago Shakespeare Theater to Present 'L is for Libertad: Exploring Cuba's San Isidro Movement'
The discussion of art and activism will feature curator and human rights activist Claudia Genlui Hidalgo, one of the founders of the San Isidro Movement, and more.
by Chloe Rabinowitz Nov. 10, 2022
Chicago Shakespeare Theater will present a post-show panel conversation titled "L is for Libertad: Exploring Cuba's San Isidrio Movement alongside Measure for Measure," following the projected Spanish translation performance of Measure for Measure on Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. The discussion of art and activism will feature curator and human rights activist Claudia Genlui Hidalgo, one of the founders of the San Isidro Movement, with scholar and production dramaturg Maria de Los Angeles Torres and director Henry Godinez. A Cuba native, Godinez was inspired in part by the San Isidro artists to set Shakespeare's searing examination of corruption and hypocrisy in Havana in 1959, just before Fidel Castro seizes power. The critically acclaimed production is now playing in the Courtyard Theater through November 27, 2022.
The San Isidro Movement-known in Spanish as Movement San Isidro (MSI)-is a collective of Cuban artists, activists, academics, and journalists fighting for their right to the freedom of expression. The group was formed in 2018 in response to the enactment of Decree 349, which requires artists to obtain advance permission for public and private performances and exhibitions. The group's members have vocally criticized the Cuban regime's censorship by staging protests and performances, and have been met with retaliatory threats, surveillance, and detainments. In a 2021 bipartisan Senate resolution expressing U.S. solidarity with the movement, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin said, "The repression of the country's artistic community, continued jailing of Jose Daniel Ferrer, and failure to hold anyone accountable for the death of Oswaldo Paya all demand continued international attention."
Book tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance at www.chicagoshakes.com/measure. Use promo code SPANISH to access seats in the best locations to view the screen featuring the Spanish supertitles with pay-what-you-can ticket prices beginning at $35. Projected Spanish translation provided by c2.
The free event is presented by Chicago Shakespeare Theater in partnership with University of Illinois Chicago's Latin American and Latino Studies Program and the Rafael Cintron Ortiz Latino Cultural Center, as well as The School of Communication and The Department of Theatre at Northwestern University.
About the "L is for Libertad" panel participants:
Claudia Genlui Hidalgo is an art curator and human rights activist, and one of the founders of the San Isidro Movement, an organization of Cuban artists and intellectuals who defend civil rights and has been their art consultant since 2019. She received her BA in Art History from the University of Havana in 2016. From 2017 to 2019 she was director of the Contemporary Art Gallery at the Havana Factoria. She is also a member of the 27 of November movement founded in 2020. She has been involved in artistic collaborations with Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and is presently his art representative and director of his studio. In 2022 she was guest curator at Espacio 23, Miami, Florida, and has curated multiple art shows in Cuba and in the US, including "#LaBanderaEsDeTodos" (La Habana, 2019) a source of inspiration for this adaptation of Measure for Measure.
Maria de Los Angeles Torres is a distinguished LAS professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has written extensively on Latinos, Cuba and Cuban exiles' politics and identity, immigration, culture. She has authored In the Land of Mirrors: The Politics of Cuban Exiles in the United States and The Lost Apple: Operation Pedro Pan, Cuban Children in the US and the Promise of a Better Future; co-authored Citizens in the Present: Civically Engaged Youth in the Americas, edited By Heart/De Memoria: Cuban Women's Journeys In and Out of Exile; and co-edited Borderless Borders Latinos, Latin American and the Paradoxes of Interdependence and Global Cities and Immigrant: The Case of Chicago and Madrid. She has recently completed a manuscript The Elusive Present: Democracy's Time in Cuban Thought and is working on a project on the impact of Cuba's war in Angola on Cubans on the island and abroad.
Henry Godinez, director of Measure for Measure, is the resident artistic associate at Goodman Theatre, where as the director of the Latino Theatre Festival he curated the presentation of Teatro Buendia of Cuba in 2010, and fostered a collaboration between Goodman Theatre, Sones de Mexico, and Teatro Buendia for the world premiere presentation of Pedro Paramo in 2013. Born in Havana Cuba, Godinez is the co-founder and former artistic director of Teatro Vista and is a professor and chair of theatre at Northwestern University.
About Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara:
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is a Cuban performance artist and dissident in the San Isidro Movement, known for his public performances that openly criticize the Cuban government and its policies. He is presently serving five years in a maximum-security Guanajay prison in Cuba for the crime of "insulting national symbols" for his performances with the Cuban flag, titled "La Bandera es de Todos (The flag belongs to all of us)." His friend Maykel "Osorbo" Castillo, one of the composers of the opposition anthem "Patria y Vida" that won the Latin Grammy in 2021 for Song of the Year, received the same sentence.
Otero Alcántara, a self-taught artist, lives in the El Cerro neighborhood of Havana. Since 2018, he has been arrested dozens of times for his performances in violation of Decree 349, a Cuban law requiring artists to obtain advance permission for public and private exhibitions and performances.
In the summer of 2021, thousands of Cubans took to the streets to protest government repression and poverty. Over 900 people were arrested. Otero Alcántara was one of them and has been in jail ever since. In May 2022, he was brought to trial for charges that included defamation of public institutions and national symbols, disrespecting authorities, public disorder, and inciting to commit a crime for encouraging people to join a protest via Facebook. Representatives from the Havana-based embassies of several countries, as well as the international press, were denied entry to the court proceedings.
In a statement sent from the maximum-security prison of Guanajay, Cuba on May 17, 2022, Otero Alcántara asked the public, "to support free art, and to support my art, wherever I am. Do not leave me alone. Let us not leave the course of Cuba in the hands of a dictator or the course of destiny." He added, "I am an artist and a human being struggling to get out of this unjust prison, but every day my love of free and honest art grows firmer."
About Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Measure for Measure:
"Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall." Celebrated director Henry Godinez brings Shakespeare's searing play to vivid life amidst the glamour, music, and sensuality of 1950s Cuba, just before Fidel Castro seizes power. Havana is the carefree playground of the rich, the famous-and the corrupt-while a revolution brews. As the city sinks into moral disrepair, the Duke hands power to Angelo, who zealously enforces an archaic statute of chastity. When Isabel comes to plead for mercy for her condemned brother Claudio, the depths of raw power's depravity are shockingly revealed. Arrive early to immerse yourself in the sultry world of the play, as the Courtyard Theater transforms into a dazzling Havana nightclub. Enjoy performances of mambo, bolero, and Afro-Cuban jazz in a mood-setting prologue to the production.
The Measure for Measure company features Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel (Isabel), Kevin Gudahl (Duke), Adam Poss (Angelo), Andrés Enriquez (Claudio), Alejandra Escalante (Mariana), Gregory Linington (Lucio), Lanise Antoine Shelley (Escalus), Ana Santos (Mistress Overdone), Elizabeth Ledo (Pompey), Joe Foust (Elbow), Robert Schleifer (Provost), Debo Balogun (Barnadine), Kierra Bunch (Francesca), Kidany Camilo (Espuma), Sándor Menéndez (Abhorson), and Felicia Oduh (Julietta). Understudies include Ajax Dontavius, Tina El Gamal, Dani Goldberg, Sonia Goldberg, Jalbelly Guzmán, Joseph Aaron Johnson, Michael Joseph Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Laila Rodriques, and Arik Vega.
PEN America, November 17, 2022
New Campaign Spotlights the Stories of Imprisoned Cuban Artists
In Call to Release All Imprisoned Artists, "Voces Presas” Campaignn (Imprisoned Voices) Highlights 3 Artists Jailed for Their Art and Activism
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17, 2022
(NOTE: Press Releases in English and Spanish)
(NEW YORK | LONDON | STOCKHOLM) — PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) and PEN International, in partnership with Civil Rights Defenders (CRD), today launched a new campaign “Voces Presas” (Imprisoned Voices) to shine a light on the stories of imprisoned Cuban artists: poet María Cristina Garrido and rappers Richard Zamora Brito and Randy Arteaga-Rivera. The campaign calls for the release of all imprisoned artists in Cuba and the respect and guarantee of artistic freedom on the island.
The campaign includes profiles on each artist’s career, with music videos and other excerpts of their art, and documents the harassment and imprisonment they have faced as a result of Cuba’s repression of free and creative expression. The social media campaign calls on the international community to stand in solidarity with Cubans whose freedom of expression is under attack and demand that the Cuban government release these and all artists imprisoned because of their political views.
“Dissident artists in Cuba have emerged on the frontlines of the protest movement in the country, using their platforms as creators to challenge the false narratives created by the Cuban government and call for the formation of a society where human rights are respected and protected,” said Julie Trébault, director of the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) at PEN America. “But they have repeatedly paid a great price for their creative expression, finding themselves behind bars, under surveillance and house arrest, or forced into exile. We must acknowledge and respect the price paid by Cuban artists for their actions as dissenters and human rights defenders, and the best way to do so is by telling and uplifting their stories. With this campaign, we hope to shine a light on three remarkable Cuban artist-activists and motivate the international community to stand up for their rights and their freedom of expression.”
“Since the 11J protests, repression against artists and activists in Cuba has been escalating. The Cuban authorities keep using the judicial system to suppress dissent and critical free speech. With this campaign, we encourage people to support these artists and let their voices be heard through their craft. At the same time, we urge the American and European Embassies in Havana to condemn and act on the worsening violations of human rights in Cuba; and to demand the government to allow them to visit Maria Cristina, Richard and Randy, and report on their current conditions,” said Erik Jennische, the Director of the Latin America Department at Civil Rights Defenders.
The poet and activist María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez’s activism and fight for women’s rights led to her detention on July 12, 2021 after participating in the July 11 protests. Charged with resistance, assault, instigation to commit a crime, and public disorder, she was sentenced in March 2022 and is completing a seven-year prison sentence in Guatao Prison.
Richard Zamora Brito, also known as “El Radikal,” is a rapper who participated in the July 11 protests in Colón, Matanzas. He was arrested on July 12, 2021, and held in the Combinado del Sur de Matanzas prison. After being released on bail, he is now under house arrest and subject to forced labor.
Randy Arteaga-Rivera, rapper and anti-racism activist, was sentenced to five years in prison for his participation in the July 11 protests in Santa Clara. The prosecution argued that the artist was implicated in the leadership of the demonstrations and accused of public disorder and contempt. He was also accused of shouting insults against President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
“The repression in Cuba continues to deepen; however, the Cuban people will not be silenced. Despite widespread and unjust imprisonment of writers, artists and ordinary citizens expressing their opinions, calls for freedom are carried forward globally by a groundswell of solidarity. International human rights organizations join writers and artists around the world to protest the persecution of cultural actors María Cristina Garrido, Randy Arteaga-Rivera and Richard Zamora Brito who face hefty prison sentences solely for exercising their right to freely express themselves. The Cuban authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners on the island, including imprisoned writers and artists, and end the incarceration of innocent citizens. We, at PEN, will not end our campaign to make censorship in Cuba visible, until justice is served,” said Romana Cacchioli, Executive Director of PEN International.
The campaign calls for the immediate release of all imprisoned artists and the free exercise of art and activism. It also calls on the embassies of the European Union and the Americas in Cuba to demand that the state allows them to visit the three imprisoned artists and urges others to pressure the Cuban government to dismantle the idea of “public non-state spaces” and eliminate the requirement of state approval so that artists can present their work freely to the public.
About the Artists at Risk Connection
PEN America leads the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), a program dedicated to assisting imperiled artists and fortifying the field of organizations that support them. ARC recently released A Safety Guide For Artists, a resource that offers practical strategies to help artists understand, navigate, and overcome risk, and features an interview with Cuban artist Tania Bruguera about the state of free expression on the island. If you or someone you know is an artist at risk, contact ARC.
About PEN International
PEN International is a 101-year-old global volunteer-led movement that connects writers of all backgrounds and genres as well as cultural rights defenders, through community networks and 145 PEN Centres in more than 100 countries. Respected in the worlds of literature, media freedoms, and human rights, PEN holds that Freedom of Expression is a cornerstone upon which the very existence of a democratic society rests, working tirelessly to give voice to the silenced and to provide solidarity and practical help to writers at risk. www.pen-international.org
About Civil Rights Defenders
Civil Rights Defenders was founded as the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in 1982. Today, we partner with and support human rights defenders who work in some of the world’s most repressive regions on four continents. Through advocacy, litigation, and public campaigns, we advance people’s rights globally. We also act as Sweden’s watchdog civil rights group.
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
PARA PUBLICACIÓN INMEDIATA
17 de noviembre de 2022
Contacto: Suzanne Trimel, STrimel@PEN.org, 201-247-5057
PEN AMERICA, PEN INTERNACIONAL Y CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDERS LANZAN UNA NUEVA CAMPAÑA QUE VISIBILIZA LAS HISTORIAS DE PERSONAS ARTISTAS CUBANAS ENCARCELADAS
Tres artistas privados de su libertad por su arte y activismo son destacados en la campaña “Voces presas”, y hace un llamado al gobierno cubano para que libere a los artistas encarcelados
(NUEVA YORK | LONDRES | ESTOCOLMO) — Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) de PEN America y PEN Internacional, en asociación con Civil Rights Defenders (CRD), hoy lanzó “Voces Presas”, una nueva campaña para visibilizar las historias de tres personas artistas cubanas encarceladas: la poeta María Cristina Garrido y los raperos Richard Zamora Brito y Randy Arteaga-Rivera. Esta campaña exige la liberación de todas las personas artistas injustamente presas en Cuba, y que se respete y garantice la libertad artística en la isla.
La campaña incluye los perfiles y la trayectoria de cada artista; se comparten videos musicales y otros fragmentos de sus piezas artísticas. También documenta el hostigamiento y encarcelamiento que han enfrentado como consecuencia de la represión a la libertad de expresión que se vive en Cuba. Esta campaña en redes sociales hace un llamado a la comunidad internacional a solidarizarse con las personas cubanas cuya libertad de expresión es atacada, y exige que el gobierno cubano libere a estas y todas las personas artistas encarceladas por sus opiniones políticas.
“En Cuba, muchas personas artistas disidentes han encabezado recientes movimientos de protesta, utilizando sus plataformas y herramientas creativas para desafiar las falsas narrativas creadas por el gobierno cubano y para hacer un llamado a la construcción de una sociedad donde los derechos humanos sean respetados y protegidos”, afirmó Julie Trébault, directora de Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) de PEN America. “En repetidas ocasiones las personas artistas han pagado un precio muy alto por ejercer su expresión artística, convirtiéndose en víctimas de encarcelamiento, vigilancia y arresto domiciliario, o siendo forzadas a exiliarse. Debemos agradecer y respetar a estos actores por el precio que pagan por operar como disidentes y defensores de los derechos humanos, y estamos convencidos que la mejor manera de hacerlo es relatando y visibilizando sus historias. A través de esta campaña, nuestro objetivo es llamar la atención sobre tres destacadas personas artistas-activistas cubanas y motivar a la comunidad internacional a que defienda sus derechos y su libertad de expresión”.
“Desde las protestas del 11J, la represión en contra de artistas y activistas en Cuba ha ido escalando. Las autoridades cubanas siguen utilizando el sistema judicial para reprimir la disidencia y la libertad de expresión crítica. A través de esta campaña, invitamos a que estas personas sean apoyadas y sus voces escuchadas. Al mismo tiempo, exhortamos las Embajadas americanas y europeas en La Habana a que condenen y tomen acción ante el recrudecimiento de las violaciones de los derechos humanos en Cuba, y exigimos que el gobierno les permita visitar a Maria Cristina, Richard y Randy, e informar sobre sus condiciones actuales”, afirmó Erik Jennische, Director del Departamento de América Latina de Civil Rights Defenders.
El activismo y la lucha en defensa de los derechos de las mujeres de la poeta y activista María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez le costaron su arresto y detención el 12 de julio de 2021, tras participar en las protestas del 11 de julio. Acusada de resistencia, agresión, instigación a delinquir y desórdenes públicos, María Cristina fue sentenciada en marzo de 2022 y cumple una condena de siete años de prisión en el Penal de Guatao.
Richard Zamora Brito, también conocido como “El Radikal”, es un rapero que participó en las protestas del 11 de julio en Colón, Matanzas. Fue detenido el 12 de julio de 2021 y recluido en el penal Combinado del Sur de Matanzas. Después de ser puesto en libertad bajo fianza, ahora está bajo arresto domiciliario y sujeto a trabajos forzados.
Por último, Randy Arteaga-Rivera, rapero y activista contra el racismo, fue condenado a cinco años de prisión por su participación en las protestas del 11 de julio en Santa Clara. La acusación alegó que el artista estaba implicado en la organización de las manifestaciones y fue acusado de desorden público y desacato. También fue acusado de gritar insultos contra el presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel.
“La represión en Cuba se profundiza. Sin embargo, el pueblo cubano no será silenciado. A pesar del encarcelamiento generalizado e injusto de escritores, artistas y ciudadanos de a pie que expresan sus opiniones, en todo el mundo se están haciendo llamados por libertad y muestras de solidaridad. Organizaciones internacionales de derechos humanos, junto con escritores y artistas de todo el mundo están protestando en contra de la persecución de María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez, Randy Arteaga y Richard Zamora Brito, quienes enfrentan situaciones de encarcelamiento únicamente por ejercer su derecho a expresarse libremente. Las autoridades cubanas deben liberar de inmediato y sin condiciones a todas las personas presas políticas de la isla, incluso los escritores y artistas encarcelados, y poner fin al encarcelamiento de ciudadanos inocentes. Nosotros, en PEN, seguiremos nuestra campaña para visibilizar la censura en Cuba hasta que se haga justicia”, dijo Romana Cacchioli, Directora Ejecutiva de PEN Internacional.
La campaña pide la liberación inmediata de todos los artistas encarcelados o privados de su libertad, y pide que se garantice la libertad artística y el activismo. También pide a las embajadas de la Unión Europea y de las Américas en Cuba que llamen al Estado que les permitan visitar a los tres artistas encarcelados, e insta a otros actores a que presionen al gobierno cubano para que deconstruir la idea de “espacios públicos no estatales” y elimine el requisito de la aprobación estatal para que los artistas puedan presentar su trabajo libremente al público.
Acerca de Artists at Risk Connection
PEN America lidera Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), un programa dedicado a ayudar a las personas artistas amenazadas y en peligro, y fortalecer el campo de las organizaciones que las apoyan. ARC ha publicado recientemente una Guía de Seguridad Para Artistas, un recurso que ofrece estrategias prácticas para ayudar a las personas artistas a comprender, navegar y superar el riesgo. La Guía incluye una entrevista con la artista cubana Tania Bruguera sobre el estado de la libre expresión en la isla. Si usted o alguien que conoce es una persona artista amenazada o en peligro, por favor comuníquese con ARC.
Acerca de PEN Internacional
PEN International es un movimiento global de 101 años, liderado por voluntarios, que conecta a personas escritoras de todos los orígenes y géneros, así como a defensores de los derechos culturales, a través de redes comunitarias y 145 Centros PEN en más de 100 países. Siendo una organización respetada en el mundo de la literatura, la libertad de prensa y los derechos humanos, PEN sostiene que la libertad de expresión es la piedra angular sobre la que descansa la existencia misma de una sociedad democrática, y trabaja incansablemente para dar voz a los silenciados y brindar solidaridad y ayuda práctica a escritores en riesgo. www.pen-international.org
Acerca de Civil Rights Defenders
Civil Rights Defenders se fundó como el Comité Sueco de Helsinki para los Derechos Humanos en 1982. Hoy, nos asociamos con, y apoyamos a los defensores de los derechos humanos quienes trabajan en las regiones del mundo donde hay más represión. A través de campañas públicas, visibilización y litigio promovemos los derechos de las personas en todo el mundo. También actuamos como el grupo de vigilancia de los derechos civiles de Suecia.
Acerca de PEN América
PEN America trabaja en la intersección de literatura y derechos humanos para proteger la libre expresión en los Estados Unidos y a nivel global. Defendemos la libertad de escribir, y reconocemos el poder de la palabra para transformar el mundo. Nuestra misión es unir a los escritores y sus aliados para celebrar la expresión creativa y defender las libertades que la hacen posible. Obtenga más información en pen.org.
https://pen.org/press-release/new-campaign-spotlights-the-stories-of-imprisoned-cuban-artists/