Javier El-Hage, Chief Legal and Policy Officer of Human Rights Foundation, addressed the 17th Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on February 18th, 2025.
Full Remarks:
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a privilege to stand before so many survivors and human rights heroes today.
I am not one of them, but I stand here on behalf of the Human Rights Foundation, a 20 year old organization based in New York founded by a Venezuelan-Norwegian citizen, 20 years ago and that houses around 50+ employees that devote our professional lives to support dissidents in countries that are ruled by authoritarian regimes around the world which are close to 100 countries, and I have been tasked with speaking today because I am originally from Bolivia, about the latin America crisis of Democracy, and I want to start by saying that, at the core of that democratic crisis in Latin America are the entrenched dictatorships of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua—regimes that have abandoned all pretense of democracy and that rule with an iron fist. In Cuba, more than six decades of a totalitarian government, have turned the country into an island prison, where political dissent is criminalized, independent journalism is outlawed, and the basic freedoms we take for granted in the free and democratic world, like Switzerland, like the United States, like most countries of the European Union; freedom of speech, assembly, and the press, they do not exist. The Cuban people remain trapped in a cycle of repression, with thousands imprisoned simply for demanding basic rights.
We will hear soon from Osiris here today, a survivor of the July 11 2021 protests who will speak about the plight of the Cuban people. Venezuela, once one of Latin America’s wealthiest nations, and most stable democracies, has been brought to its knees by Nicolás Maduro’s regime, where stolen elections, political persecution, and economic mismanagement have led to one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. Millions have fled, not because of war, but because of a dictatorship that has destroyed the ability of Venezuelan people to live with dignity inside their country. And yet, the repression continues—opposition leaders are jailed or forced into exile and protestors are brutally repressed.
We will hear soon from President Edmundo González here today, a true Latin American hero, and a survivor who alongside MarÃa Corina Machado, currently in hiding inside Venezuela, won’t stop until Venezuela is free.
In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega has transformed the country into his personal fiefdom, silencing critics, exiling opposition figures, and even imprisoning Catholic clergy who dare to speak against his tyranny. As the regimes of Cuba and Venezuela, Ortega’s government has expelled international human rights organizations and systematically dismantled every democratic institution. Nicaragua is no longer a democracy; it is a one-party state where Ortega and his wife rule unchecked.
Heroes from Nicaragua like Felix Maradiaga and Berta Soler, were here in years prior in the Geneva summit and we remember here them today. But beyond these full-fledged dictatorships, there are also other regimes, another insidious threat—which is the rise of hybrid authoritarian regimes, regimes that maintain a facade of democracy while systematically eroding its foundations.
On the left, Bolivia’s regime, presided today by Hector Arce and formerly by authoritarian leader Evo Morales, presents a stark example. The government, led by the Movement for Socialism (MAS), has weaponized the judiciary to persecute up to two hundred political prisoners and opponents, intimidate journalists, and manipulate elections. While elections still take place, they are neither free nor fair. Opposition figures are either imprisoned or forced into exile, while state institutions serve the interests of a political elite rather than the Bolivian people.
On the right of the political system, we see a warring trend in El Salvador, where President Bukele, even though he has been a good ally of some of the democratic leaders that are suffering under authoritarian regimes of the left, he has consolidated power by undermining democratic checks and balances. His government has eroded judicial independence, replaced the Constitutional Court with loyalists, and concentrated power in a way that threatens democracy. While his policies in a way have on the issue of security have gained him popularity, no leader—no matter how well-intentioned—should be above the law. The erosion of institutions today will create a path for potential repression of political opponents in the future.
And yet, despite the severity of this crisis in Latin America, created by authoritarian regimes, there are worrying signs of appeasement toward Maduro’s regime in particular, coming from unexpected places, from democracies. While Washington once took a firm stance against his dictatorship, we have seen attempts at backchannel diplomacy—especially in the first few days of the Trump administration—showing a willingness to negotiate with a man responsible for so much suffering, with a man responsible for crimes against humanity. Democracy cannot be restored through half-measures or accommodations with dictators. It must be defended with unwavering conviction. And just as Ukraine needs to have a strong say in the way any future peace is achieved with Russia, the world’s democracies, full support should be behind Edmundo Gonzalez and MarÃa Corina Machado, for them to lead their country back to democratic rule.
We must be clear: whether they come from the political left or the political right, authoritarian regimes around the world, are the greatest threat to human rights both around the world and in Latin America. These regimes thrive on fear, censorship, and the dismantling of democratic institutions. And if we, in the free and democratic world, allow them to continue unchecked, we risk losing the freedoms that so many have fought for.
The time to act is now. The international community of democracies, including the United States, Canada, Switzerland, the European Union, must take a firm stance against authoritarianism in all its forms. Now more than ever, instead of reducing it, we must increase our support for civil society organizations, independent journalists, and democratic movements that continue to resist repression, often at great personal risk. The people of Latin America as well as those in Hong Kong, China, Viet Nam, Iran, Eritrea, Belarus, Russia, those countries we have heard from today, they all deserve real democracy. One where elections are free and fair, and where politics are not reduced to the whim of a brutal dictator, but where it is truly the inherent right of every free citizen to decide the future of their country. The fight for democracy in every corner of the world is not just a moral imperative, it is a necessary condition for global harmony, peace and prosperity and it is a fight that we must not abandon.
