Rodrigo Diamanti is a Venezuelan

human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

, who is the founder and president of Un Mundo Sin Mordaza, a human rights NGO. His work includes advocacy for freedom of expression, fundamental rights, and democratic values in Venezuela and other authoritarian regimes.

Career

In 2006, Diamanti obtained a bachelor's degree in economics from the

Andrés Bello Catholic University Andrés Bello Catholic University () is a private university in Venezuela. One of the largest universities in Venezuela, UCAB has campuses in several cities, such as Caracas (main campus), Los Teques, Guayana Region, Guayana, and Coro region, Cor ...

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. His activism career began in 2007 when he co-founded the Venezuela Students Movement, which was established for transparent governance, freedom of expression and reconciliation in Venezuela. In 2008, he founded Futuro Presente, a non-profit organization focusing on mobilizing and educating young people on democratic values and rule of law in Venezuela; it received funding from the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

. Futuro Presente ran a program called LIDERA in association with Venezuela's leading business school IESA. Diamanti obtained a master's degree in political studies from Universidad Ortega y Gasset in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in 2008. In May 2009, Diamanti founded Un Mundo Sin Mordaza, a non-governmental organization which promotes human rights and freedom of expression using

artivism Artivism is a portmanteau word combining "art" and "activism", and is sometimes also referred to as "social artivism". History The term artivism in US English has its roots in a 1997 gathering of Chicano artists from East Los Angeles and t ...

. He was detained during the

2014 Venezuelan protests In 2014, a series of protests, political demonstrations, and civil insurrection began in Venezuela due to the country's high levels of urban violence, inflation, and chronic shortages of basic goods attributed to economic policies such as strict ...

, as he was targeted by

SEBIN The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (, SEBIN) is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela. SEBIN is an internal security force subordinate to the Vice President of Venezuela since 2012 and is dependent on Vice President Delcy Rodríg ...

agents as the creator of the global campaign SOS Venezuela. Un Mundo Sin Mordaza has created several campaigns and mobilized volunteers in more than 100 cities in the world. Upon release from detention, Diamanti fled from Venezuela. In 2015, he joined the

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

where he received an MPA degree, and later became a fellow at the

Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, formerly known as the Ash Institute, was established in 2003 and is part of the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The Center's miss ...

as well as the

Carr Center for Human Rights Policy Carr Center for Human Rights Policy is a research center at Harvard Kennedy School founded in 1999. The center's scholars address issues related to human rights, including human security, global governance and civil society, economic justice, and ...

at Harvard Kennedy School. Since 2018, Diamanti has led the Crimes Against Humanity Observatory, a non-profit documenting human rights violations in Venezuela for the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

. It was started as a joint project between Un Mundo Sin Mordaza and Defiende Venezuela. In 2019, Diamanti worked as a special representative of the interim government of Venezuela to the Republic of Italy. Diamanti was part of President Juan Guaido's delegation and oversaw diplomatic engagements with the Italian ministry as the official representative for Guaido. In 2020, Diamanti became the secretary of the Panel of Independent International Experts for

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

, presenting reports on crimes against humanity in Venezuela and meeting with international bodies, NGOs and embassies. In 2020, Diamanti and Un Mundo Sin Mordaza created a campaign for the reinstatement of

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

signal in Venezuela, denouncing the attacks on freedom of expression in the country. In 2021, he was nominated for Campaign of the Year at for the Alza La Voz campaign. In 2022, he received the

Thomson Reuters Foundation Thomson Reuters Foundation is a London-based charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, a Canadian news conglomerate. The Foundation is registered as a charity in the United States and United Kingdom and is headquartered in Canary Wharf, London. Ant ...

TrustLaw Collaboration Award for his report on Venezuelans seeking refuge in other countries. As of 2023, Diamanti is the founder and chairman of the board at Freedom Academy, which trains activists in non-violent methods for challenging authoritarian regimes.

Recognition

In 2012, Diamanti was recognized by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

as a Global Shaper. In 2013, he received the Medal of Rome from the

Mayor of Rome The mayor of Rome () is an elected politician who, along with the City Council of Rome, Rome City Council () of 48 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Rome. As Rome is a ''Comune, comune speciale'' since 2009, the office is d ...

. He was previously a senior fellow of Alliance of Youth Movements. In 2019, he was named one of the Freedom Fellows by

Human Rights Foundation The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a non-profit organization that focuses on promoting and protecting human rights globally, with an emphasis on authoritarian regimes. HRF organizes the Oslo Freedom Forum. The Human Rights Foundation was founde ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diamanti, Rodrigo Venezuelan human rights activists Venezuelan prisoners and detainees Harvard Kennedy School alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Venezuelan expatriates in the United States