Exiled Cuban activist Oraisa Estrada Velma denounced abuses against Black and mixed-race Cubans at the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent in Geneva, but was interrupted by Cuba's official delegation. The Cuban representative accused her of disrespectful language and called for her to be silenced, drawing boos from the audience. Estrada pressed on, naming political prisoners and earning applause.
Oraisa Estrada Velma, a member of Cubanos por el Progreso e Integración in Valencia, Spain, addressed the first day of the Fifth Permanent Forum on People of African Descent in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Alongside journalist María Matienzo, she spoke out for Afro-descendant political prisoners in Cuba, citing harassment, surveillance, persecution, and torture. "As a free Afro-descendant Cuban woman, today I raise my voice for those from whom they have tried to take everything away—their freedom, their dignity, and even their humanity," she stated.
Cuba's permanent mission to the UN requested the floor after her accusations that the regime usurps social justice discourse. The Cuban official claimed Estrada was "abusing the rules of this Human Rights Council" with "disrespectful terms and language" and urged that she be "called to order" or silenced if she continued.
Undeterred, Estrada named prisoners including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Castillo Osorbo, and Walnier Aguilar's family, referencing the 2021 protest anthem Patria y Vida. She ended with a plea to the world's conscience for freedom and dignity, met with nearly 20 seconds of applause.
At session's end, the Cuban representative discredited the activists as "paid agents" of U.S.-financed regime-change efforts, falsely posing as NGOs, prompting boos. Matienzo had earlier condemned repression of Afro-descendant intellectuals. The forum, running April 14-17, aims to draft a declaration on the rights of people of African descent.
