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EARTHA MELZE
Friday, March 18, 2005
Gay rights advocate and internationally known revolutionary figure Dora Maria Tellez has been denied a visa by the U.S. State Department for alleged involvement in terrorist activities.
Tellez, who became one of Latin America’s most prominent figures following her leadership role in the Nicaraguan Sandinista insurrection, was scheduled to begin teaching classes on Latin American history and gender issues at Harvard University this spring as the Robert F. Kennedy visiting professor of Latin American studies.
A U.S. government official confirmed that the visa denial is related to Tellez’s role in the Sandinista insurgency — a rebellion that unseated the Somoza family dictatorship that had ruled Nicaragua for 50 years. The Sandinistas are not on the State Department list of terrorist organizations, and though voted out of power in 1990, remain an active and recognized political party within Nicaragua.
An official within the State Department suggested that Tellez’s visa may have been denied because her name came up on the Terrorist Exclusion List — a “non-public” list created under the Patriot Act that consular offices check when processing visa requests.
A State Department official explained that individual immigration cases are confidential, but pointed to section 212 A-3B of the U.S. Immigration & Nationality Act, which may apply in this case.
The section defines “terrorist activity” as any activity that is unlawful under the laws of the place where it is committed and involves hijacking or sabotage of any type of transportation, or the seizing or detaining and threatening to kill, injure, or continue to detain another individual to compel a third party to do something.
“This is an extremely serious matter,” said Tellez from Managua in a phone interview with the Blade. “If the State Department has that consideration and the Bush administration is waging a war against terrorism … I feel threatened.”
Tellez appealed to the Nicaraguan courts for protection against the United States and received an order guaranteeing her “personal liberty and integrity.” Tellez said she hopes that the foreign ministry will take appropriate measures to address the situation.
Tellez declined to discuss her sexual orientation; a State Department official insisted that the visa denial was not related to Tellez’s sexual orientation.
Tellez was known as “Commander 2” and served as the political commander in the takeover of the national palace in 1978, according to multiple international media reports. The action was seen as a demonstration that the Somoza dictatorship could be overthrown. In 1979, during the final Sandinista offensive, Tellez led the takeover of the city of Leon, one of Nicaragua’s largest cities.
After the revolution, Tellez served in several high-ranking government positions including as a representative in Congress and as Minister of Health. In these roles she was an outspoken advocate for gay and lesbian rights, women’s rights and health education including one of the world’s first government-sponsored education campaigns on AIDS.
“I think it is a tremendous loss to any person who would’ve come in contact with her,” said Roberta Sklar, communications director at the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
Sklar said that the feminist and lesbian civil rights movements in the 1980s identified with the Sandinista liberation movement in Nicaragua, which was bringing dramatic change to women’s lives there.
During the early 1980s the Sandinistas redistributed land and focused heavily on literacy and health care issues.
Sklar was part of a delegation of pro-Sandinista U.S. groups that went to Nicaragua in 1983, and said that of Americans visiting and supporting Nicaragua at that time, lesbians were very heavily represented.
Eartha Melzer can be reached at emelzer@washblade.com.
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