Via Madre (see below for a link to take action):
On November 3, just a week before she was supposed to speak before audiences in the US about her work for sexual rights in Nicaragua, activist Silvia Martinez of the Trans Network of Nicaragua (REDTRANS) was denied a travel visa by the US embassy.
This decision came as a shock for several reasons:
- Silvia has been issued visas by other countries in the past. In 2007, she traveled to Panama to present recommendations of the LBTTTGI community to government representatives attending a session of the Organization of American States.
- She has an invitation through MADRE, a leading 26-year-old women’s human rights organization. MADRE has brought activists from around the world to speak in the US on previous occasions without a problem.
- She is firmly rooted in her community in Nicaragua and holds an important position in an organization (REDTRANS) that depends on her work in Nicaragua. There is no reason for her to give this up in order to live in a far less desirable situation in this country, away from her network of friends and allies.
Yet no member of the consulate even bothered to call MADRE to verify these facts.Silvia clearly meets the above criteria that the US Department of State commonly uses to determine visa eligibility. The denial of this visa fits a broader pattern of the US embassy systematically rejecting visa applications from transgender people.
This discrimination constitutes a violation of internationally recognized human rights, which the US is obligated to uphold.
On a personal note, this is a huge disappointment because Martinez was planning to deliver a keynote lecture at the University of Louisville and many in the Louisville community were looking forward to meeting her and attending her lecture. Please take a moment and click here to send a letter to the Consular Section of the US Embassy in Nicaragua.
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