A transgender woman with HIV who participated in an anti-government protest in Cuba in 2021 has been released from prison.

Luz Escobar, an independent Cuban journalist who lives in Madrid, on Saturday posted a picture of Brenda Díaz and her mother on her Facebook page.

“Brenda Díaz, a Cuban political prisoner from July 11, was released a few hours ago,” wrote Escobar.

Authorities arrested Díaz in Güira de Melena in Artemisa province after she participated in an anti-government protest on July 11, 2021. She is one of the hundreds of people who authorities took into custody during and after the demonstrations.

A Havana court in 2022 sentenced Díaz to 14 years in prison. She appealed her sentence, but Cuba’s People’s Supreme Court upheld it.

Escobar in her Facebook post said authorities “forced” Díaz to “be in a men’s prison, one of the tortures she suffered.” Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who directs the country’s National Center for Sexual Education, dismissed reports that Díaz suffered mistreatment in prison. A source in Cuba who spoke with the Washington Blade on Saturday said Díaz was held in a prison for people with HIV.

The Cuban government earlier this week began to release prisoners after President Joe Biden said the U.S. would move to lift its designation that the country is a state sponsor of terrorism. The Vatican helped facilitate the deal.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is Cuban American, on Wednesday criticized the deal during his confirmation hearing to become the next secretary of state. President-elect Donald Trump, whose first administration made the terrorism designation in January 2021, will take office on Monday.

Javier Milei’s rise to power marked a sea change in Argentine politics that profoundly impacted the country’s LGBTQ community.

His first year in office has seen a combination of hostile rhetoric and concrete measures that have dismantled historic advances in human rights.

“Javier Milei’s administration is fighting a two-way battle,” Congressman Esteban Paulón, a long-time LGBTQ activist, pointed out to the Washington Blade. “On the one hand, symbolically, with an openly homo, lesbo and transodiant discourse, and on the other, in concrete facts, such as the closure of the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, and INADI (the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism).”

The decision to eliminate these key institutions sent a clear message: Diversity policies are no longer a state priority. This dismantling left LGBTQ Argentines without national advocacy tools.

Some provinces have tried to fill this void, but many others have followed the national government’s lead. This trend, according to Paulón and other activists, has left LGBTQ Argentines even more vulnerable.

“What we are seeing is not only a setback in public policies, but also a direct attack on the dignity of thousands of people who, until recently, felt the support of the state,” said Paulón. 

One of Milei administration’s first acts was to close the Women, Gender and Diversity Ministry and INADI. These decisions, which Milei said was necessary to reduce “unnecessary public spending,” eliminated agencies that played an essential role in the promotion of human rights and the fight against discrimination.

“Without these institutions, the LGBTQ community has been left unprotected against violence and prejudice. Now, discrimination cases that used to be handled by INADI end up shelved or without follow-up,” Paulón warned. “The message this sends is that our lives don’t matter to this government.”

Paulón and other activists say one of the Milei government’s most alarming decisions is to allow employers to fire employees without legal consequences.

“Today, a person can be fired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, without the possibility of recovering their job,” warned Paulón. 

The new policy has left many employees — especially transgender people — without legal recourse. Advocacy groups say companies have taken advantage of this regulation to carry out selective firings. The freezing of a trans-specific labor quota has deepened employment discrepancies for one of the country’s most vulnerable communities.

Paulón told the Blade that anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from Milei and several of his ministers has also had an effect on Argentine society.

“Today, anyone feels they can say anything without consequences,” said Paulón, who noted that ultraconservative and religious sectors view Milei’s government as an ally. 

This rhetoric, according to Paulón, has yet to translate into widespread violence.

“We are not yet in a situation of systematic violence as in other countries, but the risk is there,” he said. “Every word of hate from power legitimizes violent actions.”

Congress, civil society leads resistance

In the face of this adverse scenario, resistance has taken various forms.

Paulón and other opposition lawmakers have worked on bills to protect LGBTQ rights and reverse regressive measures.

“We will not stand idly by. We put forward concrete proposals to guarantee access to health care, inclusive education and labor protections,” said Paulón.

Activists have strengthened alliances with their counterparts in neighboring countries, such as Brazil and Chile, and Mexico. They are also working with international organizations that have expressed concern about the situation in Argentina.

Although the outlook is bleak, Paulón said he remains hopeful. 

“Milei is going to pass, like all processes in democracy,” he said. 

Paulón stressed that marriage equality and the transgender rights law are deeply rooted in Argentine society, and act as barriers to stop further setbacks. The challenge now, he says, is to maintain resistance, organize the community, and strengthen international ties.

“We have an organized movement, tools to defend ourselves and a mostly plural and diverse society. This process will also come to an end,” said Paulón. “In this context, the struggle for LGBTQ rights in Argentina is a reminder that social conquests are never definitive and that resistance is vital to preserve the achievements made.” 

Ugandan Foreign Affairs Minister Henry Oryem has revealed U.S. and EU sanctions over the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act and other human rights violations have pushed Kampala to join the BRICS bloc.

Oryem noted Western powers’ decision to sanction other countries without U.N. input is against international norms, and Uganda needed to shield itself from such actions by aligning with the bloc that includes China, Russia, India, South Africa, Brazil, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran, and Indonesia. (Consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Ethiopia. Iran is among the countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death.)

Kampala officially became a BRICS member on Jan. 1, joining eight other countries whose applications for admission were approved last October during the bloc’s 16^th annual summit in Kazan, Russia.  

“The United States and European Union, whenever they impose sanctions, expect all those other countries to make sure they abide by those sanctions and if you don’t, you face penalties or even they sanction you,” Oryem said. 

Oryem spoke before parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

MPs asked him to explain the circumstances that led Uganda to join BRICS and the country’s financial obligation from the membership.      

“Now because of that and the recent events, you have realized that the United States and European Union have started freezing assets of countries in their nations without UN resolutions which is a breach of international world order,” Oryem said. “Uganda can’t just standby and look at these changes and not be part of these changes. It will not be right.”

Oryem also said President Yoweri Museveni’s Cabinet discussed and approved the matter before he directed the Foreign Affairs Ministry to write to the BRICS Secretariat about admitting Uganda into the bloc.

The U.S. and other Western governments condemned Museveni’s decision to sign the Anti-Homosexuality Act, and announced a series of sanctions against Kampala. 

Washington, for example, imposed visa restrictions on government officials who championed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, re-evaluated its foreign aid and investment engagement with Uganda, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and reviewed Kampala’s duty-free trade with the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act for sub-Saharan African countries.

The U.S. in May 2024 imposed sanctions on House Speaker Anita Among and four other senior Ugandan government officials accused of corruption and significant human rights violations.

Although the EU criticized the enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the 27-member bloc did not sanction Kampala, despite pressure from queer rights activists. The state-funded Uganda Human Rights Commission and several other human rights groups and queer activists, meanwhile, continue to pressure the government to withdraw implementation of the law.

UHRC Chair Mariam Wangadya, who called on the government to decriminalize homosexuality last month, has said her commission has received reports that indicate security officers who enforce the Anti-Homosexuality Act have subjected marginalized communities to discrimination and inhuman and degrading treatment

“As a signatory to several international and regional human rights conventions, Uganda is committed to ensuring non-discrimination and equality before the law,” Wangadya said.  “At the domestic level, Uganda’s constitution, under Article 21, prohibits discrimination based on gender, ensuring equality before the law, regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, or social status.”

Museveni’s son comes out against Anti-Homosexuality Act

Museveni’s son, Army Chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has also emerged as a critic of the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

“I was totally shocked and very hurt. Japanese are warriors like us. I respect them very much. I asked them how we were oppressing them. Then they told me about the AHA,” he said on X on Jan. 3 while talking about how the Japanese questioned him over Uganda’s persecution of queer people during his recent visit to Tokyo. “Compatriots, let’s get rid of that small law. Our friends around the world are misunderstanding us.”

Kainerugaba, who is positioning himself as Museveni’s successor, had already declared an interest in running for president in 2026 before he withdrew last September in favor of his 80-year-old father who has been in power for more than three decades.

In his X post, Kainerugaba also indicated that “we shall remove this Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2026.” He left the platform six days later after his posts threatened Uganda’s diplomatic relations.

“They (gays) are sick people, but since the Creator made them … what do we do? Even ‘kiboko’ (whips) might not work. We shall pray for them,” Kainerugaba said. 

The Supreme Court is currently considering a case that challenges the Anti-Homosexuality Act. The Constitutional Court last April upheld the law.