Dear Board of Trustees of César Vallejo University, University President Dr. Honoris Causa and faculty members, I would like to thank you very much for granting me this honorary doctorate. It is unquestionably a great honor for someone to have such reward.

I would also like to thank the students and all the attendees, and assure all of you that I will always remember this moment with great pride. Once again, I thank you all very much. 

Whoever fights for human rights and freedom of expression is a worthy person. I used to repeat such words to calm myself down whenever I was betrayed. Later, I realized that the advocate for freedom is the greatest thing that could ever be done in life, as life without freedom is worthless.

About five years ago, exactly in October 2012, I was here in Peru to participate in a conference organized by the World Movement for Democracy. At that time, I got noticed by people’s desire to build a civilized, democratic model. That did not surprise me because Peru is the Inca’s home whose civilization was an important addition to humanity.

For some unknown reason, I had a strong feeling then that I would be back here. I’m so thrilled to be here one again in such an atmosphere full of love, appreciation and respect.

When I was a child, my father, a former minister and a constitutional jurisprudence expert, used to talk to me seriously about political affairs, and I was always pleased to hear that because I had believed in the importance of what my father was discussing. My family, just like all others, was concerned with public affairs. On several occasions I have drawn attention to the profound impact of such positive climate on my later choices and work in the public sphere.  

I automatically found myself involved in advocating for freedoms and human rights. My early knowledge of international covenants, charters and agreements on political, civil and economic rights has benefited me greatly. Once involved in human rights activities, I decided to make what is stated in those covenants and agreements a ceiling of my ambition. My engagement in politics, human rights and press activities was mainly aimed to respect human rights and address human rights violations committed by the regime and its loyalists. This was the primary motive behind all my activities. I was struggling for inalienable rights and freedoms. 

The best thing I have done, as I think, is that I determined my position from the beginning. I aligned myself with prisoners of conscience, political opponents and change proponents in the face of their violators. I soon had extensive relations with human rights activists and organizations involved in the defense of human rights.

I chose freedom and human rights to be my cause, and this angered tyrants and and followers who have sought to defame me and my positions, as well as the concepts of freedom and human rights. People, however, were aware that what I was saying was right, encouraging me to be more determined to keep going on no matter what the difficulties.

To advocate for freedom does not mean to shirk obligations or responsibilities, but to maintain our dignity and humanity. In the end, freedom, as Albert Camus said, is nothing but a chance to be better. I think that those being deprived of freedom are unable to be tolerant or creative, or even to live naturally.   

I realized early on that it is dangerous to impose restrictions on people’s freedoms, so I decided to fight for freedom and therefore organized dozens of sit-ins and rallies in defense of the right of expression, the right to establish media outlets and journalists’ right to report without being censored or held accountable. 

Some wondered and still does: is freedom worth all this suffering? Should we pay expensive prices for freedom? I always answer: Yes. The freedom deserves it. Abdelkrim Al-Khattabi, a prominent resistance leader against French colonialism in Morocco, was cited as saying: there is no compromise solution regarding freedom.  

In Yemen, along with other activists, I set up what has become known as Freedom Square in front of the cabinet, where we used to hold a protest weekly. We thought it was our duty help our people to oppose the regime's policies based on marginalization, corruption and looting of public funds.

These efforts resulted in widening the popular protests against the regime of the then president Ali Abdullah Saleh who was later overthrown by the 2011 revolution that succeeded in enabling a peaceful transition of power before the coup led by the ousted president and the Houthi militia, an extremist group that claims to have the right to govern and confiscate public funds for racial reasons. 

Today, Yemenis are struggling against this coup and supremacism. Despite great difficulties, the future will be ours, and those who cause ruin and destruction everywhere have no future.

Let me tell you what is going on in the Arab world. There are oppressive regimes that plunder wealth, destroy human dignity and ensure their survival by making unfair deals with Western countries. This is a fact that many people are trying to overlook. The role of Western governments in supporting authoritarian regimes in the Middle East has been so clear that no one could miss it. These governments have lost respect among peoples of the region, who have distrusted their slogans of freedom and human rights. 

When Arab peoples moved to overthrow these tyrannical regimes, they committed themselves to peaceful struggle and non-violence. This was the real reason why these regimes have lost their legitimacy.

Whenever I think back to the year 2011 and the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolutions, I become more convinced that we have conducted an unprecedented peaceful struggle in human history. We have done it with great courage that occurs only in very rare cases. Our peaceful masses were facing bullets with roses and bare hands, refusing to move back while killers continued to spray bullets among them. They settled the bill for change. We had known what would happen to us, but we had a strong belief that martyrs do not die and that when their souls ascend into heaven they immediately grow and get reincarnated into other bodies and provide them with great courage and integrity. 

Today, after the rise of counter-revolutions, we become more confident that we have done the right thing. Yes, there is a great suffering, but we had no options while we were being deprived of our freedom. We were determined to maintain our freedom whatever the sacrifices.

It’s said: bad news travels fast. The rise of counter-revolutions coincided with the rise of political movements based on hatred and racism in many the world’s countries. Regrettably, a president of the world's greatest power is contributing to the spread of this epidemic that puts security and stability of the whole world in jeopardy.

Racism, hatred and terrorism are all our enemies, and therefore we have to join forces to put an end to all this. We must be brave while facing racism, terrorism and tyranny. 

Let me tell you that I absolutely do not support any separation between terrorism and tyranny. I have always said that they are two sides of one coin, and they are indeed so. Let’s get rid of hypocrisy and attempts to appease despots. The world would only begin to recover when it begins to prosecute and despise despots just like it deals with terrorists.

Those crushing human dignity and sending prisoners of conscience to the gallows are criminals in every sense of the word.

We must help our societies to achieve justice and equality among people, to combat racism and hatred. We have to hate injustice, but we must also hold oppressors accountable.

Despite all the bad news, I believe that the future is promising. Whenever I see people, like you, are eager to learn and be open to the others, I feel optimistic and hopeful.

Thank you, thank you for your love, thank you for your respect!