General

Dr. Reinerio Arce, President of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Matanzas, Cuba,  participated in a briefing at Washington, DC’s National Council of Churches last week regarding the current  reality of religious life and the role of churches  in Cuba. Dr. Arce’s presentation focused on the current economic and social changes occurring on the island and how they have affected various faiths and churches. He also expressed deep support for small, but important measures taken by the Obama Administration in regards to religious travel--which he claims has greatly facilitated his seminary’s ability to carry out social projects. Dr. Arce began by stressing the importance of the relationships between U.S. and Cuban churches:

Honduras was singled out for a visit by the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, in February 2012. The Honduran government, and the international community, should listen to what she had to say. You can find a complete version in English here, in Spanish here. The Special Rapporteur's recommendations and conclusions provide a road map for basic protections for Honduras' at-risk defenders. Let's hope that the Honduran government takes them to heart.

Information on Cuba can often be biased, misinformed and confusing.  Two recently published articles, one from the Wall Street Journal and the other from the Council on Foreign Relations, highlight this constant conflict in the U.S. media.  These articles provide two starkly different opinions of Cuba. When presented with two contradictory portrayals of the same topic, how do you know what to believe?

Happy International Women's Day from all of us at LAWG! In honor of this holiday, we are publishing the second half of an interview about the Putumayo Women’s Alliance, a network of women’s organizations and activists working together for peace and justice in the middle of a conflict zone. Human rights defender Nancy Sanchez recalls

"The women marched, they yelled slogans, they painted footsteps on the sidewalks and roads, they organized theater performances that demonstrated the pain of searching for disappeared family members. This protest was for all the mothers and women victims who became, because of the violence, political leaders, moved by love for their children, this love that forced them to search, to insist on knowing the truth of what happened to them, to demand justice, to demand rights, as a form of transforming pain into strength, and resistance to adversity.”