This content was published on March 17, 2023 – 4:56 p.m. March 17, 2023 – 4:56 p.m
Miami, 17 March (EFE).- The documentary “Dos patrias”, a work by Costa Rican filmmaker Hilda Hidalgo, which explores human rights violations in Cuba based on the testimonies of three activists from the Caribbean country, will be presented this Friday at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami.
Hidalgo, 52, told EFE that the documentary was based on the testimonies of three Cuban activists “who have in common that they have been accused of crimes they did not commit”.
The filmmaker, who knows the current situation on the island well, having studied at the San Antonio de los Baños International Film and Television School in Cuba in the 1990s, claimed that people living in countries with freedom “do not know exactly what it is like to live in a dictatorship”.
“The three cases are symbolic and I came to them after an investigation,” he explained.
Sebastián Arcos, deputy director of the FIU’s Cuban Research Institute, told EFE that this body, together with the Washington-based International Institute for Race, Equality and Human Rights, organized the presentation of the documentary this Friday in Miami.
The work of Hidalgo, director of the feature film “Del amor y otros demonios” (Costa Rica-Colombia, 2010), based on the novel by Gabriel García Márquez, presents the stories of three Cubans who make their problems public because they face the make government .
The activists are currently imprisoned Aymara Nieto Muñoz, Xiomara Cruz Miranda and Eduardo Cardet, a doctor who is a member of the Christian Liberation Movement.
“This is a very timely issue,” Arcos said after detailing that due to the human interest the documentary has, the Cuban Research Institute has also joined to allow it to be presented at the FIU’s Graham Center.
Along with Cardet, the documentary includes the testimony of Aymara activist Nieto Múñoz, who was sentenced in 2018 to 4 years in prison for the crimes of “assault” and “damaging property”, to which he added a new sentence of 5 years and 4 months for “disorder of public order” in prison.
The third person is the Lady in White Xiomara Cruz Miranda, who resides in the United States and is awaiting approval for permanent residency in that country.
The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights Latin America Programs Coordinator Johanna Villegas said in an interview with Miami-based Radio Martí that the documentary is “an effort that highlights the situation of prisoners who have been deprived of their liberty political motives in Cuba”.
Villegas said that “Dos patrias” is part of the organization’s initiative to reach different audiences and publicize human rights abuses in Latin American countries.
The documentary was supported by Costa Rican Producciones La Tiorba, where Hidalgo works as a director and screenwriter.
Hidalgo’s career includes the feature film Violeta al fin (Costa Rica-Mexico, 2017), as well as TV series and documentaries on social, gender and sustainable development issues, shot in Costa Rica, France, Italy and Bhutan, among others. EFE
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