No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeTopicsLatin AmericaVenezuelan, Cuban youth ready to lash out at their governments during youth...

Venezuelan, Cuban youth ready to lash out at their governments during youth summit in Panama

While Latin American leaders meet in Panama City to discuss cooperation in the region, young critics of the Venezuelan and Cuban governments will be across town raging against those countries’ human rights record.

The youth wing of the Vente Venezuela opposition party and the Cuban anti-Castro Mesa de Diálogo de la Juventud Cubana will take part this week in the IV Young Americas Forum, a parallel summit to the official VII Summit of the Americas.

Vente Venezuela youth coordinator José Javier Martínez and Mesa de Diálogo coordinator Kirenia Núñez see the forum as a unique opportunity to publicly expose what they describe as grave human rights violations perpetrated by their governments. Martínez and Nuñez spoke to The Tico Times during a recent visit to Costa Rica.

The forum, which takes place April 8 and 9, is officially focused on entrepreneurship and economic opportunities for Latin America’s youth. But Martínez and Núñez have a separate agenda.

Martínez hopes the forum will provide the opportunity to “try and make the world wake up to our cause, first of all, by making visible the issue of torture (which) for us is fundamental,” he said.

Martínez and his group allege that opposition leaders jailed by the Nicolás Maduro government have been tortured.

Amnesty International issued a report last year saying it had received dozens of reports of torture suffered by jailed protestors.

Martínez’s group also wants a repeal of a Venezuelan law known by opponents as the “killer resolution.” The law, issued earlier this year, allows Venezuelan security forces to use deadly force against demonstrators.

Martínez  hopes to make his country’s human rights situation a key focal point of the youth summit, along with the new chapter in Cuba-U.S relations.

The Cuban Mesa de Diálogo group is pushing its demands for a Youth Ministry in Cuba, independent of the communist party, group coordinator Nuñez said. She said her group also wants assured access to higher education regardless of political convictions. Now, she said “if you break the revolution’s precepts, they begin to harass you, they begin to try and kick you out of the university.”

The youth group also wants unrestricted access to the Internet, a common gripe in Cuba, among other liberties.

Opposition leaders have already made an impact on the Summit of the Americas, at least in the news cycle. Cuban dissident Rosa María Payá — daughter of deceased Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá — was detained for several hours at Panama City’s “Tocumen” International Airport when she arrived in the country on April 5. She said she was warned by Panamanian authorities that she would be deported if she caused “trouble.”

Panamanian officials said the incident was a bureaucratic mistake.

The IV Young Americas Forum is organized by the Young Americas Business Trust, a non-profit organization founded in 1999 that works in cooperation with the OAS to create job opportunities and foment entrepreneurship among young people.

The forum will produce a document to be presented to the country leaders taking part in the Summit of the Americas.

The official youth agenda includes debates on topics such as “Learning from experience: The Importance of reinventing yourself,” and “The Role of Technology and Innovation enabling Entrepreneurship.” The issues are linked to the Summit’s main topic: “Prosperity with Equity: the Challenge of Cooperation in the Americas.”

Trending Now

Expat Guide to Bilingual Schools in Guanacaste Costa Rica

When my wife and I moved to Costa Rica we were gloriously young and childless. Needless to say, childhood educational options were absent from...

What Camera Traps Miss Chasing Jaguars in Costa Rica

Five years ago, I began my journey using camera traps in wildlife monitoring projects in Costa Rica. A few years after that I began...

Costa Rica Monitors Caribbean Tropical Wave with 70% Storm Chance

Those who live along the Caribbean coast know all too well how quickly weather can turn in October. Right now, the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional...

Costa Rica’s Liberia Airport Fixes Runway Issues Overnight

Contractors began repairs on the runway at Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport this week, focusing on sections that did not meet required standards after...

Costa Rica President Narrows Legal Abortion to Life-Saving Cases

President Rodrigo Chaves has repealed Costa Rica's therapeutic abortion protocol, a move that fulfills a long-standing promise and tightens rules around the procedure. The...

How to Grow Broccoli Successfully in Costa Rica’s Highlands

In Costa Rica's cooler highland regions, home gardeners harvest fresh broccoli that brings a distinct flavor to everyday meals. This vegetable packs vitamins A,...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica