Condemnation and regional alert over the detention of Ecuadorian public health expert Juan Cuvi in Peru!
From the CLACSO Working Group on International Health and Health Sovereignty We express our deep condemnation and concern regarding the arbitrary, intimidating, and illegal detention of Ecuadorian healthcare worker Juan Cuvi at the airport in Lima, Peru.
Last Tuesday, December 10, 2019, Juan Cuvi, a member of the Latin American Association of Social Medicine (ALAMESEcuador/Platform for the Right to Health), a public health professor, and a social medicine activist, was prevented from entering Peru due to an international security alert issued by the United States government under the API (Advance Passenger Information) agreement against Juan Cuvi, which allows governments to alert about alleged links between passengers and terrorist activities worldwide.
Cuvi –as on several occasions during the last five years– was attending a regional meeting of social movements and organizations for the right to health at a National Health Conference.
I had to participate in the various activities and present a paper on the impacts of mega-mining projects in the Ecuadorian Amazon on the collective health of the communities.
According to the Peruvian immigration office's report, Juan Cuvi was denied entry to the country for "posing as a threat to the internal security of the Peruvian state." The reasons for this accusation were never specified, but it resulted in his detention at the Lima airport for 48 hours. He was then deported.
The seriousness of the case lies in the fact that the API agreement becomes an instrument to control and prevent the mobility of citizens who carry out activities of opposition and criticism of the governments that signed the aforementioned agreement.
This threat represents an unacceptable regression to the “national security” control mechanisms that prevailed in Latin America and the Caribbean during the Cold War, and which allowed the persecution, imprisonment, and disappearance of thousands of left-wing activists.
As Latin American academics and activists of critical thinking in health, it is impossible for us to remain silent in the face of these violations and scenarios of persecution that are increasing in the region.
El CLACSO Working Group on International Health and Health Sovereignty He expresses his solidarity with Juan Cuvi and joins in demanding answers from the relevant authorities of both the Government of Peru and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador.
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December 2019
CLACSO Working Group
International health and health sovereignty
