Blog

From rock concerts to jailed “dissidents” to impacts on Cuban health and well-being . . . all roads lead to ending the embargo. 

Check out the CNN video about the Juanes “Peace Without Borders” concert scheduled in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución for September 20 here and embedded below. 

The Latin America Working Group mourns the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy, a crusader for human rights and social justice in our nation and around the world.  As the Woodrow Wilson Center's Cynthia Arnson describes his remarkable efforts in Latin America, including his outspoken efforts to denounce human rights abuses following the 1973 coup in Chile,  “His name is recognized and revered among a whole generation of Latin Americans who were persecuted or forced into exile during the years of the dictatorships.”

We were disappointed and troubled to learn last week that the U.S. government had released the chunk of Merida Initiative funds that were supposed to have been withheld until the State Department reported that Mexico had demonstrated progress in key areas of human rights.

Soon after the news of the release was confirmed, the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, and the Fundar Center for Analysis and Investigation, three prominent Mexican human rights NGOs, released a public statement condemning the U.S. government’s action, as the “human rights obligations remain unfulfilled as Mexican security forces commit widespread, unpunished violations against the civilian population.”