Laritza Diversent serves as the executive director of Cubalex, a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance to Cuban citizens and advocates for human rights and democracy. Diversent also contributes to the project “Translating Cuba,” which translates articles by Cuban journalists into English in order to share stories of life under the regime with a broader audience. In 2016, Cuban officials raided Cubalex headquarters, stole hundreds of documents, and rescinded the organization’s legal authorization to work. Just before the Cubalex team fled the country, Diversent learned that Cuban authorities had opened a case against her, accusing her of breaking the law by offering legal counsel to the Cuban people and barring her from leaving the country. Diversent and Cubalex now work from exile in the United States. Diversent attended the seventh Summit of the Americas in Panama in 2015 and has spoken before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
