Ms Ana Suarez

Country Expert — Latin America and the Caribbean: Human Rights, Political Situation & Asylum Cases

Expert at The Human Rights Experts, an international expert witness organisation.

We provide expert witness reports for asylum cases worldwide, covering human rights violations, political persecution, and systemic oppression. Our reports are trusted by lawyers, courts, and immigration authorities, in full compliance with procedural standards and tribunal requirements in the UK (CPR Part 35, Upper Tribunal PD, First-tier Tribunal IAC PD), USA (Federal Rules of Evidence), Canada, and the EU.

Occupation

• Country Witness Expert on Latin America and the Caribbean
• Human Rights Specialist
• Legal Researcher and Academic Consultant
• Sociologist specialising in Migration, Displacement, and State Accountability

Expertise

I provide expert analysis on all five Refugee Convention grounds — political opinion, religion, ethnicity, membership of a particular social group (including LGBT and gender-based cases), and nationality — with a focus on the following countries:

Venezuela: Venezuela faces a severe humanitarian and political crisis marked by authoritarian governance, systematic persecution of political opposition, and the dismantling of democratic institutions. Security forces and pro-government armed groups operate with impunity, carrying out arbitrary detentions, torture, and extrajudicial killings. Religious communities operating independently of state control face surveillance and harassment. LGBT individuals encounter widespread discrimination and violence, with minimal legal protection. Gender-based violence remains endemic, and the ongoing economic collapse has triggered one of the largest displacement crises in the Western Hemisphere.

Colombia: Colombia continues to experience the consequences of decades of internal armed conflict, including violence by armed groups, forced displacement, and targeted killings of human rights defenders, social leaders, and former combatants. Despite the 2016 peace agreement, implementation gaps leave rural and indigenous communities exposed to violence from dissident guerrilla factions, paramilitary successor groups, and drug trafficking organisations. Afro-Colombian and indigenous populations face systemic discrimination and land dispossession. LGBT individuals, particularly in rural areas, are at heightened risk of violence. Religious minorities in conflict-affected zones face pressure from both armed groups and conservative social structures.

Peru: Peru faces persistent political instability, with frequent changes of government and a pattern of heavy-handed security responses to social protests. Indigenous and campesino communities in the Andean and Amazonian regions face discrimination, land rights violations, and environmental destruction. Political opponents and protest leaders face criminal prosecution under terrorism and public order legislation. Gender-based violence is widespread, with inadequate state responses. LGBT individuals lack comprehensive legal protections and face discrimination in employment, healthcare, and public life. Religious minorities encounter social hostility in conservative rural areas.

Ecuador: Ecuador confronts escalating security challenges from the expansion of transnational organised crime, including drug trafficking cartels that have established territorial control in coastal and border regions. The state of emergency declared in response to the security crisis has led to documented abuses by security forces, including arbitrary detention and excessive use of force. Indigenous communities in the Amazon face environmental destruction and threats from extractive industries. Political activists and journalists critical of government policy face intimidation. LGBT individuals encounter discrimination and violence, particularly outside major urban centres. Gender-based violence remains prevalent with limited access to justice for victims.

Bolivia: Bolivia faces political polarisation and recurring social unrest, with state authorities using criminal charges and political pressure against opposition figures and protest leaders. Indigenous communities, despite constitutional protections, continue to face economic marginalisation and conflicts over land and resource extraction. Evangelical and non-traditional religious communities face social resistance in predominantly Catholic rural areas. LGBT individuals experience discrimination and violence, with limited legal protection despite some legislative advances. Gender-based violence is widespread, and women in rural areas face particular barriers to accessing justice and protective services.

Argentina: Argentina experiences periodic political instability and economic crises that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. While the country has relatively advanced legal frameworks for LGBT rights, implementation gaps and societal prejudice persist, particularly in northern provinces. Gender-based violence remains a serious concern, with high rates of femicide despite legislative reforms. Indigenous communities in northern and southern regions face land dispossession, discrimination, and limited access to public services. Political activists and trade union leaders face periodic harassment. Religious minorities encounter discrimination in regions with strong conservative social structures.

Chile: Chile has undergone significant political change following mass social protests, with ongoing debates about constitutional reform and social justice. Security force abuses during the 2019 protests, including torture and sexual violence, remain largely unaddressed. Indigenous Mapuche communities in the southern regions face criminalisation of land rights activism and disproportionate use of anti-terrorism legislation. LGBT individuals benefit from recent legal advances but continue to face discrimination and hate crimes. Gender-based violence is prevalent, and migrant communities, particularly from Haiti and Venezuela, face xenophobia and systemic barriers to integration.

Uruguay: Uruguay is generally regarded as having strong democratic institutions, but challenges persist regarding discrimination against Afro-Uruguayan communities, who face systemic economic marginalisation. Gender-based violence remains a significant concern despite legislative reforms. LGBT individuals benefit from progressive legal frameworks but encounter social prejudice in rural areas. Migrant populations face barriers to accessing employment and social services. Political freedoms are broadly respected, though concerns exist regarding police conduct in marginalised urban neighbourhoods.

Paraguay: Paraguay faces systemic challenges including corruption, weak rule of law, and land concentration that disproportionately affects indigenous and campesino communities. Indigenous peoples face severe poverty, discrimination, and forced displacement related to agribusiness expansion. Political opposition figures face harassment and selective prosecution. LGBT individuals encounter widespread discrimination and violence with minimal legal protection. Gender-based violence is endemic, with limited state capacity to provide protective services in rural areas. Religious minorities outside the dominant Catholic and Evangelical communities face social exclusion.

Brazil: Brazil confronts widespread human rights challenges, including police violence disproportionately affecting Black and Afro-Brazilian communities in urban favelas, extrajudicial killings by security forces, and the criminalisation of poverty. Indigenous communities in the Amazon face land invasions, environmental destruction, and targeted violence from illegal mining and logging operations. Political violence, including assassinations of elected officials, human rights defenders, and journalists, remains a serious concern. LGBT individuals face extremely high rates of violence, with Brazil recording among the highest numbers of hate-motivated killings globally. Gender-based violence is pervasive, and religious intolerance targeting Afro-Brazilian faiths has intensified.

Guyana: Guyana faces deep ethnic polarisation between Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese communities that permeates political life and state institutions. Domestic violence and gender-based violence are widespread, with limited access to justice for victims. LGBT individuals face criminalisation under colonial-era legislation and encounter social hostility and discrimination. Indigenous communities in the interior face marginalisation, land rights disputes, and limited access to public services. Political tensions around elections have historically led to ethnic violence and intimidation. The rapid expansion of the oil sector has created new governance challenges and exacerbated existing social inequalities.

Suriname: Suriname faces challenges related to weak governance, corruption, and limited rule of law capacity. Indigenous and Maroon communities in the interior face land rights violations, environmental degradation from mining activities, and inadequate access to healthcare and education. Gender-based violence is prevalent, with limited protective services available. LGBT individuals face social discrimination despite the absence of explicit criminalisation. Political opposition figures have faced intimidation and legal harassment. The country's diverse ethnic composition creates both social cohesion challenges and discrimination patterns affecting minority communities.

Honduras: Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the Western Hemisphere, with extremely high rates of homicide, gang violence, and impunity. Criminal organisations, including MS-13 and Barrio 18, exert territorial control and subject communities to extortion, forced recruitment, and sexual violence. Political opponents and human rights defenders face targeted killings and criminalisation. Indigenous and Garifuna communities face land dispossession and violence related to development projects. LGBT individuals, particularly transgender women, face alarming rates of violence and murder. Gender-based violence is endemic, and state protection mechanisms are largely ineffective due to corruption and institutional weakness.

El Salvador: El Salvador has implemented mass incarceration policies under successive states of exception, resulting in documented arbitrary detention, torture, and deaths in custody affecting tens of thousands of individuals. While these measures have reduced gang-related homicides, they have created new patterns of human rights abuse, including the detention of individuals without criminal affiliation based on appearance, neighbourhood of residence, or social media associations. Political opposition and critical media face increasing restrictions. LGBT individuals face violence and discrimination from both state and non-state actors. Gender-based violence remains pervasive, and the country maintains one of the world's strictest abortion bans, criminalising women who suffer obstetric emergencies.

Guatemala: Guatemala faces entrenched structural violence, corruption, and impunity that disproportionately affect indigenous Maya communities. Activists defending land, environmental, and indigenous rights face criminalisation, violence, and assassination. Political interference in the justice system has weakened anti-corruption institutions. Gang violence, forced recruitment, and extortion affect urban and peri-urban communities. LGBT individuals face discrimination, violence, and social exclusion, particularly in rural indigenous areas where traditional gender norms are strictly enforced. Gender-based violence is pervasive, with femicide rates among the highest in the region and extremely low conviction rates.

Nicaragua: Nicaragua has experienced a severe authoritarian turn, with the systematic dismantling of democratic institutions, mass imprisonment of political opponents, and the forced exile of hundreds of dissidents. The government has revoked the citizenship of critics, closed civil society organisations, and expelled religious congregations, including Catholic bishops and nuns. Independent media has been shut down or forced to operate from exile. LGBT individuals face state-sanctioned discrimination and social hostility. Religious communities critical of the government face direct persecution. The climate of total repression has triggered significant emigration, with many Nicaraguans seeking asylum in neighbouring countries and beyond.

Panama: Panama faces challenges related to corruption, inequality, and the treatment of indigenous communities in the Darien and Ngabe-Bugle regions, who face land rights violations and limited access to services. The Darien Gap has become a major irregular migration corridor, creating humanitarian concerns. Gender-based violence is prevalent, with limited state capacity to provide protection in rural areas. LGBT individuals face discrimination despite some legal protections. Political activists and environmental defenders face intimidation related to large infrastructure and mining projects. The country's role as a transit point for migration has created tensions regarding the treatment of migrant populations.

Costa Rica: Costa Rica maintains relatively strong democratic institutions, but challenges persist regarding discrimination against Nicaraguan migrants and refugees, who face xenophobia and barriers to integration. Indigenous communities face land rights disputes and limited access to public services. Gender-based violence remains a significant concern. LGBT individuals benefit from progressive legal advances, including same-sex marriage, but face social prejudice in rural areas. Political freedoms are broadly respected, though concerns exist regarding labour rights in the agricultural sector and the treatment of undocumented migrant workers.

Belize: Belize faces challenges related to gang violence, particularly in Belize City, and the influence of transnational drug trafficking organisations. Indigenous Maya and Garifuna communities face land rights disputes, discrimination, and limited access to justice. LGBT individuals face criminalisation under colonial-era legislation and encounter social hostility. Gender-based violence is prevalent, with limited state capacity for protection and prosecution. Political opposition figures have faced harassment and intimidation. Religious minorities outside the dominant Christian denominations encounter social exclusion in rural communities.

Mexico: Mexico confronts a pervasive security crisis driven by organised crime, with extremely high rates of homicide, enforced disappearances, and torture. Journalists and human rights defenders face targeted killings with near-total impunity. Indigenous communities face discrimination, land dispossession, and violence related to resource extraction. Migrants transiting through Mexico face kidnapping, extortion, and trafficking. LGBT individuals, particularly transgender women, face alarming rates of violence. Gender-based violence and femicide are endemic, with structural impunity enabling continued abuse. Political opposition at local levels faces threats from both criminal organisations and state authorities engaged in corruption.

United States of America: The United States faces ongoing human rights challenges, including racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, with disproportionate incarceration and police violence affecting African American and Latino communities. Immigration enforcement policies raise concerns about detention conditions, family separation, and the treatment of asylum seekers. Indigenous communities face persistent inequalities in health, education, and land rights. Gender-based violence and domestic violence remain widespread. LGBT individuals face discrimination that varies significantly by state, with rollbacks of protections in some jurisdictions. Religious minorities face hate crimes and surveillance, particularly Muslim and Jewish communities.

Canada: Canada addresses reconciliation with Indigenous peoples following the legacy of residential schools, with ongoing concerns about discrimination, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and inadequate access to clean water and services in First Nations communities. Immigration detention practices and the treatment of asylum seekers at irregular border crossings have drawn scrutiny. Religious minorities face hate crimes, with Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents on the rise. LGBT individuals benefit from comprehensive legal protections but face discrimination in certain communities and institutions. Gender-based violence affects Indigenous women and girls at disproportionate rates.

Haiti: Haiti faces a catastrophic humanitarian and security crisis, with armed gangs controlling large portions of the capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. The collapse of state institutions has left the population without effective police protection, functioning courts, or basic public services. Sexual violence, particularly against women and girls, is used systematically by armed groups as a tool of territorial control. Political instability following the assassination of the president has created a governance vacuum. LGBT individuals face severe social hostility and violence. Religious practitioners of Vodou face discrimination and periodic attacks. Displacement, food insecurity, and the complete absence of rule of law drive mass emigration.

Cuba: Cuba maintains a one-party authoritarian system with severe restrictions on political freedoms, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly. Following the unprecedented mass protests of July 2021, the government carried out hundreds of criminal prosecutions against demonstrators, including minors, with documented cases of torture and disproportionate prison sentences. Independent journalists, artists, and activists face surveillance, arbitrary detention, and forced exile. Religious communities operating outside state-approved structures face monitoring and harassment. LGBT individuals have seen some legal advances but continue to face discrimination and police harassment. Economic hardship and political repression have driven a historic wave of emigration.

Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic faces serious human rights concerns regarding the treatment of Haitian migrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent, including mass deportations, statelessness, and racial discrimination. Gender-based violence is pervasive, with high rates of femicide and limited access to justice for victims. LGBT individuals face widespread social discrimination and violence. Political opposition and independent media face periodic pressure. Religious minorities outside the dominant Catholic faith encounter social hostility. The security situation in border areas and certain urban zones involves gang violence and drug trafficking, with documented excessive use of force by police.

Jamaica: Jamaica faces significant security challenges, with high homicide rates driven by gang violence and political tribalism. LGBT individuals face severe persecution, including violence, extortion, and displacement, driven by widespread societal homophobia and reinforced by colonial-era criminal legislation. Gender-based violence and sexual assault are prevalent, with limited state capacity for protection and prosecution. Political violence around elections affects communities in urban constituencies. Religious minorities face social pressure in a strongly Christian society. Mental health services and protections for persons with disabilities are severely inadequate. Youth in inner-city communities face forced recruitment into gangs and exposure to extreme violence.

Trinidad and Tobago: Trinidad and Tobago confronts security challenges from gang violence, drug trafficking, and high homicide rates. LGBT individuals face criminalisation under colonial-era legislation and widespread social discrimination. Gender-based violence is a major concern, with limited protective services. Religious and ethnic tensions between the diverse population groups occasionally manifest in discrimination. Political opposition and civil society actors face periodic pressure. Venezuelan migrants and refugees face xenophobia and barriers to regularisation. Youth in disadvantaged urban areas face gang recruitment pressure and violence.

Antigua and Barbuda: Antigua and Barbuda faces challenges regarding gender-based violence, with limited specialised services for victims. LGBT individuals face criminalisation under colonial-era laws and social discrimination. Migrant communities from other Caribbean islands face barriers to integration. Political opposition voices face pressure in the small-island political environment. Religious minorities encounter social exclusion. Access to justice is limited by resource constraints and the small scale of the justice system.

Bahamas: The Bahamas faces challenges related to the treatment of Haitian migrants, who face detention, deportation, and discrimination. Gender-based violence is prevalent, with high rates of sexual assault. LGBT individuals face social discrimination despite decriminalisation. Gang violence affects certain urban areas of Nassau. Political freedoms are generally respected, but concerns exist regarding police conduct and detention conditions. Religious minorities face social pressure in a predominantly Christian society.

Barbados: Barbados faces challenges regarding gender-based violence and the treatment of LGBT individuals, who face criminalisation under colonial-era legislation and social stigma. Migrant workers face exploitation and limited labour protections. Political freedoms are broadly respected. Religious minorities encounter social pressure. Access to mental health services is limited. The small-island economy creates vulnerabilities for marginalised populations.

Dominica: Dominica faces challenges related to indigenous Kalinago community rights, including land disputes and discrimination. Gender-based violence is prevalent with limited protective services. LGBT individuals face criminalisation and social hostility. Political opposition figures face pressure and allegations of electoral manipulation have created tensions. Religious minorities encounter social exclusion. The country's vulnerability to natural disasters creates additional humanitarian concerns for marginalised populations.

Grenada: Grenada faces challenges regarding gender-based violence, with limited state capacity for protection and prosecution. LGBT individuals face criminalisation and widespread social discrimination. Political opposition voices face pressure in the small-island political environment. Religious minorities outside dominant Christian denominations encounter social exclusion. Youth unemployment and limited economic opportunities create vulnerabilities. Access to justice is constrained by resource limitations.

Saint Kitts and Nevis: Saint Kitts and Nevis faces concerns regarding gender-based violence, with limited specialised protective services. LGBT individuals face criminalisation under colonial-era laws and social discrimination. Gang activity in certain urban areas creates security concerns. Political opposition faces pressure in the small dual-island political system. Religious minorities encounter social pressure. Migrant workers face exploitation and limited legal protections.

Saint Lucia: Saint Lucia confronts challenges related to high homicide rates driven by gang violence. Gender-based violence is prevalent, with limited state capacity for protection. LGBT individuals face criminalisation and severe social hostility, including violence. Political opposition and media face periodic pressure. Religious minorities encounter social exclusion. Youth in disadvantaged communities face gang recruitment and violence. Access to mental health and social services is limited.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines faces challenges regarding gender-based violence, with limited protective services particularly on the Grenadine islands. LGBT individuals face criminalisation under colonial-era legislation and social discrimination. Indigenous Garifuna heritage communities face cultural marginalisation. Political opposition voices face pressure. Religious minorities encounter social exclusion. The country's vulnerability to volcanic activity and hurricanes creates additional humanitarian concerns for marginalised populations.

Experience

• Expert Witness (2000—Present): Over 25 years of experience providing expert reports and testimony in asylum and human rights proceedings across the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada, covering all countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Authored over 100 country condition reports on political persecution, state violence, gender-based violence, and discrimination.
• Sociologist and Academic Researcher: Extensive academic career researching migration, displacement, and state accountability across the Americas, with field research conducted in conflict-affected and crisis regions throughout Latin America.
• Consultant to International Organisations: Provided expert analysis and policy recommendations on human rights, migration, and displacement to legal practitioners, NGOs, and international organisations operating across the Americas.
• University-Affiliated Researcher and Lecturer: Academic teaching and research appointments focused on Latin American politics, human rights, and forced migration, contributing to the training of legal practitioners and human rights professionals.
• Expert Member of The Human Rights Experts: Senior expert at The Human Rights Experts international expert witness organisation, contributing to analytical frameworks and quality standards for expert reports covering the Americas region.

Full professional experience is available in the CV. Please email us to receive the detailed expert CV.

Publications

Available upon request and detailed in the expert CV.

Languages

• Spanish (Native)
• English (Fluent)
• Portuguese (Reading Proficiency)

Religious Groups Expertise

All religious groups

Contact Email

info@thehuman-rights.com