Human Rights Museum directors resign alleging homophobia

Four of the five members who resigned from the board of directors of the Fundación Democracia y Libertad, the entity that manages the Museum of Liberty and Human Rights, say that the position of the majority of its members does not respect or understand the basic principles of rights of all people, without distinction of gender or sexual orientation.

Betty Brannan Jaén de Berger , Daniel Pichel, Alonso Illueca, Nelva Marissa Araúz Reyes and Ricardo González de Mena left their positions on Wednesday, June 23. The five also made up the museum’s content committee.

The group released a joint statement to announce that their resignation was due to disagreements with decisions adopted by the majority of the board of directors, after June 4, the day an event of the LGBTIQ + community was held. Four of them released the resignation letters that they sent to the president of the Raúl A. Morales R. Foundation.

Betty Brannan Jaén is the founder of the museum. She acknowledges that disputes within the board of directors for the recognition of the rights of the LGBTIQ + community were the reason why, in 2019, she resigned as president. Although they were difficult moments, then he was deluded with the incorporation of Alonso Illueca (October 2020) and Nelva Marissa Araúz Reyes (April 2021), both lawyers specializing in human rights, which – she thought – would allow the board of directors to handle the issues “With more, understanding and modernism.” In that she was wrong.

“The majority position on this board of directors continues to be one that neither respects nor understands basic principles of human rights, and that – indeed – does not respect those of us who are committed to those principles. So in recent weeks, the majority of members of the board of directors have said deeply disrespectful and insulting things and even made a secret decision to surprise imposition as a fait accompli. When this last stage of insults, bad faith, and foul play are added to homophobia and misogyny already evident for some time, it is clear to me that I cannot continue in this directive, ”says Brannan Jaén in her note to Morales.

After the celebration of the LGBTIQ + movement, the majority of the board of directors authorized the celebration of an event of a “pro-family” movement, headed by Juan Francisco de la Guardia, who publicly rejects the union and the recognition of civil rights in couples of the same sex.

In his resignation letter, Illueca reports that the positions taken by a plural number of the board deviates from his vision and understanding of what a human rights museum should be, “where there should be no space for discrimination, homophobia, and misogyny ”.

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