Educational Packet for Members of Congress on Colombia
by Travis Wheeler
on February 11, 2009
LAWGEF Publishes "Compass for Colombia Policy"
by Travis Wheeler
on November 14, 2008
The Latin American Working Group Education Fund, Washington Office on Latin America, Center for International Policy, and U.S. Office on Colombia have just released Compass for Colombia Policy, which makes a strong case for a bold, new U.S. approach in Colombia aimed at ending impunity and strengthening respect for human rights.
With a human rights compass guiding them, President Obama and the new Congress must make clear that the United States will:
- Support and protect human rights defenders and victims. The U.S. must stand by and empower the truly courageous individuals—human rights advocates, victims, judges, prosecutors, trade leaders, and countless others—who are the driving forces for a more just and peaceful Colombia.
- Demand an end to the military’s human rights violations. Despite assurances that the Colombian army’s human rights record would improve with U.S. training, the army has carried out hundreds of extrajudicial killings of unarmed civilians. The U.S. must ensure that these abuses are investigated and ended.
- Actively support overtures for peace. The United States cannot continue endlessly bankrolling war. The immense suffering of the civilian population demands that the United States takes risks to achieve peace. Careful, renewed efforts could yield real progress.
- Invest in institutions and fight impunity. In Colombia, human rights violators are still rarely brought to justice for their crimes. The U.S. must invest in–and demand accountability from–the institutions charged with investigating human rights abuses and politicians’ ties to illegal armed groups.
- Get serious—and smart—about drug policy. The U.S. must stop bankrolling the inhumane and ineffective aerial spraying program, and instead invest strategically in alternative development projects for small farmers in rural Colombia and drug treatment programs here at home.
With a new administration and Congress, we will have an extraordinary opportunity to change U.S. policy in Colombia to reflect our values of peace, justice, and human rights—but to achieve that change we need you to take action.
Here’s what you can do to make real change a reality:
- Send a copy of the Compass to your representative and senators—especially important if they’ve just been elected.
- Meet with your member of Congress in their district office and encourage them to support a new direction in U.S. policy towards Colombia.
- Sign our petition to President-elect Obama here.
Now let’s get to work!
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Unleash Your Creativity for Human Rights!
by Travis Wheeler
on February 09, 2009
On Human Rights Day, our then president-elect shared his human rights vision:
"When the United States stands up for human rights, by example at home and by effort abroad, we align ourselves with men and women around the world who struggle for the right to speak their minds, choose their leaders, and to be treated with dignity and respect."
What human rights vision do you want to share with President Obama on U.S. policy towards Colombia?
We want to know! Organize your friends to create photo messages and then send them to us. With your permission, we will post the most inspiring photo messages on our website, Facebook, and MySpace—and we'll use them to motivate grassroots advocates like you and the Obama Administration to Stand by Colombia's Victims of Violence.
It can be about any issue you want (human rights, victims of violence, displacement, military aid, drug policy, peace, justice, etc.), so long as it's respectful and addresses some issue relating to U.S. policy. It's your opportunity to share your human rights vision for Colombia, so be creative!
In case you're having trouble getting started, here are some of our message ideas:
- "President Obama, Stand by Colombia's Victims of Violence"
- "President Obama, Demand an End to Impunity in Colombia"
- "President Obama, Send the Message that Human Rights Matter"
- "President Obama, Seek a Negotiated Solution to Colombia's Conflict"
- "President Obama, Invest in People and Institutions, not Military Might"
Sharing your photo message to President Obama with us is easy. You can either send them to Travis at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or post them on Flickr. Just tag them with "Latin America Working Group" and "Colombia" and we will track them down.
Use the "Share" feature on this page to tell your friends and get your social networks involved.
Most of all, don't forget to have fun and be creative!
Here are some photos we've already received:
International Mission on Extrajudicial Executions Final Report
by Travis Wheeler
on October 13, 2008
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Still So Far to Go: Human Rights in Colombia
by Travis Wheeler
on November 17, 2008
To: Foreign Policy Aides
From: Lisa Haugaard
Although it was heartening to learn the news of the freeing of FARC kidnap victims in July, many other indicators of human rights in Colombia remain extremely troubling. The rate of internal displacement in Colombia accelerated in 2007 compared to the previous year, and remains at record-breaking levels in 2008, indicating that the war continues to rage in the countryside, brutally affecting the civilian population. Threats and attacks against human rights defenders continue, with assassinations of trade unionists increasing in 2008. Killings of civilians by the army escalated in 2007 and erupted into a major scandal in the last two months, forcing the government in October 2008 to announce long overdue dismissals of officers and resulting in the resignation of the head of the army. Paramilitary forces, despite the demobilization, exercise control in many parts of the country and threaten and abuse communities. Guerrillas are hard hit by army offensives but still exert control over territory, plant landmines, kidnap, and kill.
Read more »
LAWG Overjoyed by Recent Release of FARC Hostages
by Travis Wheeler
on August 01, 2008
On July 2nd, Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate and mother of two, three American contractors—Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes—and eleven Colombian police and soldiers were freed after suffering many years of inhumane captivity by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Like so many in Colombia and around the world, we at the Latin America Working Group were overjoyed to learn of their release—finally, after being separated for so long, these hostages have been reunited with their loved ones and can go on with their lives.
Even after this release, the FARC still holds many hostages, in extremely harsh conditions, throughout Colombia. So, even as we celebrate the freeing of some, we also want to again express our solidarity with the remaining hostages and their families. We call on the FARC to unconditionally release the rest of their hostages and to explicitly renounce the practice of hostage-taking, which violates international law. We hope that the Colombian government seizes the opportunities of this dynamic moment by pursuing a just and lasting peace with the FARC guerrillas that will help bring to an end the human rights tragedy currently gripping Colombia.
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