News Jan 5, 2018 Venezuelan criminals are using food to recruit children into gangs (Miami Herald) – Venezuelan gangs are no longer recruiting youths in some poor areas by offering them easy money to buy clothes or the latest cell phones. Instead, they are offering food baskets.
Events Jan 3, 2018 PutinCon: First 360 View on Vladimir Putin in NYC on Mar. 16 NEW YORK (January 3, 2018) — On March 16, the Human Rights Foundation will host the world’s first Putin Conference (PutinCon) in the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City just days before the Russian presidential election.
News Dec 15, 2017 Venezuela’s opposition wins EU’s prestigious human rights prize Venezuela’s opposition has won the EU’s prestigious Sakharov prize for freedom of thought and urged the world to keep a close eye on a forthcoming presidential election, where it aspires to end two decades of authoritarian rule.
News Dec 14, 2017 HRF in the News — En El País sobre la crisis democrática en Bolivia El historiador boliviano Alcides Arguedas relata que, tras hacerse redactar una Constitución a medida en 1868, y mientras sus diputados elogiaban sus virtudes de estadista, el presidente Mariano Melgarejo interrumpió la tertulia palaciega y dijo:
News Dec 14, 2017 HRF in the News — En El País sobre la crisis democrática en Bolivia El historiador boliviano Alcides Arguedas relata que, tras hacerse redactar una Constitución a medida en 1868, y mientras sus diputados elogiaban sus virtudes de estadista, el presidente Mariano Melgarejo interrumpió la tertulia palaciega y dijo: “Sepan todos los honorables señores diputados que la Constitución de 1861, que era muy buena, me la metí en este bolsillo (señalando el bolsillo izquierdo de su pantalón); y la de 1868, que es mejor, según estos doctores, ya me la he metido en este otro (señalando el bolsillo derecho); y que nadie gobierna en Bolivia más que yo”.
Press Release Nov 30, 2017 HRF to OAS: Apply Democracy Clause to Authoritarian Bolivia NEW YORK (November 30, 2017) — In an unprecedented move this Tuesday, Bolivia’s highest court issued a decision eliminating presidential term limits, which will allow President Evo Morales to run for reelection indefinitely.
Press Release Nov 28, 2017 On Giving Tuesday, support freedom and democracy And this year has given us much cause for hope. Saudi Arabia finally granted women the right to drive, after years of tireless work by campaigners like Havel Prize laureate Manal al-Sharif.
News Nov 27, 2017 Beijing Hinders Free Speech in America I spent nearly seven years in a Chinese prison for being a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. I was freed in 1998, and the Chinese government let me leave the country.
News Nov 17, 2017 Venezuela opposition leader Ledezma flees to Colombia To learn more about human rights violations under Maduro’s authoritarian rule, watch HRF’s Oslo Freedom Forum talk by Antonietta Ledezma, daughter of Antonio Ledezma.
News Nov 14, 2017 Gobierno de Venezuela anuncia que controlará las redes sociales con gran severidad El Nuevo Herald (CARACAS) — El gobierno del presidente Nicolás Maduro anunció el lunes que el organismo regulador del sector de telecomunicaciones controlará las redes sociales con una severidad semejante a la que ha mostrado desde hace casi dos décadas con las estaciones de radio y televisión del país.
News Nov 9, 2017 Venezuela Constituent Assembly Cracks Down On Media (NPR) – The Assembly, created by Maduro in July and mainly composed of his supporters, bans any message transmitted through radio, television or social media that instigates hate …
News Nov 6, 2017 HRF to Cuba: Explain Disappearance of Human Rights Activists “On October 23, Cuban activists Robert Jiménez Gutiérrez and César Ivan Mendoza Regal were supposed to travel to the United States from Havana. Family and friends denounced that their whereabouts remain unknown ever since…”
News Oct 31, 2017 HRF in the News — September and October highlights Every month, through publications, interviews, and coverage, we help put a bigger spotlight on some of the world’s most effective and important dissidents, and we promote ideas on how best to challenge corruption and repression.
Press Release Oct 30, 2017 HRF to Spain and U.S.: Bring Venezuelan Dictatorship Cronies to Justice The four individuals were detained last Thursday in Madrid, Spain’s capital, during a joint operation carried out by the Civil Guard and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI).
News Oct 26, 2017 Parliament awards Sakharov Prize 2017 to Democratic Opposition in Venezuela “The Prize is for all Venezuelans in the world,” said Parliament President Antonio Tajani while awarding the prize. The President noted that the human rights situation in Venezuela was deteriorating and called for a “return to free elections with the participation of all so that the Venezuelan people can decide their future”.
News Oct 20, 2025 Cuban Dissidents in Electoral Challenge as Castro Era Nears End Under Cuba’s one-party system, civic associations of individuals whose will to participate in the political life is legitimate from the standpoint of a democratic society, are considered and treated as illegal, and criminalized by the government with the official labels of “worms,” “scum,” “mercenaries,” “terrorists,” and “counter-revolutionaries.”
Press Release Oct 14, 2017 HRF Awarded D&AD Wood Pencil Prize NEW YORK (October 14, 2017) — The Human Rights Foundation’s Flash Drives for Freedom program has been recognized by D&AD and Advertising Week as a big idea that is making a difference in the world by using creativity for good.
News Oct 13, 2017 Bolivia: President Evo Morales’ bid to extend term limits sparks mass protest Thousands of Bolivians have taken part in protests against President Evo Morales’ bid to run for a fourth term. Morales’ party asked…
News Oct 11, 2017 Are North Korea and Cuba Democracies? Watch this excellent defense of common sense by Cuba expert John Suarez who debated a British apologist of the Castro dictatorship, Mr. Robert Miller, regarding the most recent diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Cuban governments caused by a sonic attack that injured over 15 American diplomats in Havana. In the context of the debate and as he found himself out of arguments in defense of the Castro regime, Mr. Miller was cornered into stating on air that both the Cuban and North Korean totalitarian regimes were, in fact, democracies.
News Oct 9, 2017 Las víctimas olvidadas del Che Guevara La cara del Che Guevara adorna camisetas de muchos opositores a la pena capital, pero el hombre de carne y hueso exhibió un profundo desprecio por la santidad de la vida humana.