Exiled opponents denounce abuses by regimes of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua

Venezuelan Leopoldo López, Cuban Yunior García and Nicaraguan Santiago Urbina denounced abuses by their authoritarian regimes on Monday in an event at the Complutense University of Madrid.

The three opponents called for democratic elections in their respective countries to end the dictatorships of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, Miguel Díaz-Canel in Cuba, and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, three dictatorships that "act in a coordinated manner."

"They are partners in an authoritarian project," López said at the event titled “Voices of Repression,” organized by the Libertad Sin Ira collective.

López arrived in Spain more than a year ago after escaping from Venezuela. The Venezuelan regime is demanding his extradition to serve the remainder of the 14-year prison sentence imposed by the Chavista government, which accuses him of inciting violence.

Todos los derechos son para todas las personas y por eso nuestra lucha por la democracia en #Cuba 🇨🇺 , en #Nicaragua 🇳🇮 y en #Venezuela 🇻🇪 , no son luchas aisladas, nuestra lucha es contra los regímenes autoritarios; nuestra lucha es por todos los países del mundo entero. pic.twitter.com/PNxwy1bEtd

— Leopoldo López (@leopoldolopez) December 13, 2021

At the event, Yunior Garcia warned that over 800 young people remain detained in Cuba since the July protests for crimes that can carry up to 20 years in prison.

The thousands of Cubans who took to the streets in July were only demanding "food, medicine, and freedom," he explained. He also defended the fact that the opposition movement he founded, Archipiélago, is a group that has not received any foreign funding.

"A group of guys with telephones," said García, clarifying that the platform's objective is "to build a country as Jose Martí dreamed it: a country with everyone and for the good of everyone."

García arrived in Madrid last November with a three-month visa, denouncing the fact that he had been threatened for being one of the founders of the opposition group Archipiélago.

Ayer un grupo de estudiantes de extrema izquierda, de 1er curso de Ciencias Políticas @unicomplutense, intentaron impedir debate en el que participaban @sjurbinag 🇳🇮 @Leopoldolopez 🇻🇪 y @yuniortrebol 🇨🇺

No lo consiguieron.#CubaEsUnaDictadura#patriayvida

📹@LibertadSI_UCM pic.twitter.com/SrtqrwIaIP

— Prisoners Defenders (@CubanDefenders) December 14, 2021

Santiago Urbina, a member of the opposition party Blue and White National Unity of Nicaragua, said that his country, Cuba and Venezuela shared similar problems, including authoritarian governments, fraudulent elections, thousands of exiles and political prisoners.

Urbina accused Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega of conspiring against the will of the people along with other dictators, among whom he named Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.

Urbina explained how "authoritarianism uses ideologies to impose itself and control absolutely everything, in the north or south, the tropics, or the tundra."

What is happening in Nicaragua is "a version 2.0 of what is happening in Venezuela," he said. Until 2007, the Central American country "practiced a democracy that needed to be strengthened institutionally, but there was no sincere effort to make it work," he regretted.

Mi agradecimiento a @LibertadSI_UCM por permitirnos a @yuniortrebol @leopoldolopez y servidor recordar con vehemencia que el #autoritarismo se sirve de #derechas e #izquierdas por igual y en esta lucha debemos estar todos a una. #SOSNicaragua #LibertadParaLosPresosPoliticos

— Santiago Urbina (@sjurbinag) December 14, 2021