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According to Kelsey Alford-Jones, Acting Director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission USA, as Guatemalan political parties gear up for the 2011 presidential elections in September, human rights organizations are preparing for some of the most important war crimes trials in the country’s history. With a leading presidential candidate linked to one of the nation’s most high-profile and controversial human rights cases, Alford-Jones predicts that the way events play out in the next six months will be indicative of Guatemala’s ability to confront the entrenched impunity from the internal conflict.

On March 21, President Obama delivered his second major policy speech on Latin America, since assuming office, to an audience gather outside of the Palacio de la Moneda Cultural Center in Santiago, Chile.

Reports and analyses on the President’s Latin America tour are pouring in – keep checking our blog for ours – and we wanted to present a couple of them:

Yesterday, in a speech given at the Centro Cultural Palacio Moneda in Santiago, Chile, President Obama gave his first Latin America speech since the 2008 Summit of the Americas. While he spoke of many important issues regarding the region – and LAWG will be reviewing the speech in detail, so keep checking our blog and website for that – the Cuba team wanted to share the substantial Cuba portion of the speech with you today.

When you think of Cuba, the first things that come to your mind may be the “three C’s”: Caribbean climate, the Castro brothers, and Cohiba cigars; but that is by far not all that Cuba has to offer. Because of the United States’ foreign policy aimed at isolating Cuba (and therefore isolating us from Cuba), broad knowledge about the island and its people is limited. Many rely on exotic and stereotypical images of beautiful women on pristine beaches, Fidel Castro giving long-winded, animated speeches in front of the masses, and fine cigars to describe Cuba’s identity.