by Lisa Haugaard
on April 20, 2009
As our President addressed the gathering of the hemisphere’s leaders,
the Summit of the Americas, in Trinidad-Tobago, he got the tone right.
“There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations; there
is simply engagement based on mutual respect and common interests and
shared values,” he said in his official speech. In other settings, he
went farther: “If our only interaction with many of these countries is
drug interdiction, if our only interaction is military, then we may not
be developing the connections that can, over time, increase our
influence,” he said, noting that Cuba’s sending of doctors to care for
the poor in other countries offered an example to the United States. He also stated he is “absolutely opposed and condemn any efforts at
violent overthrows of democratically elected governments” (reported in The New York Times here and in The Washington Post, “Obama Closes Summit, Vows Broader Engagement with Latin America,” April 20, 2009).
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by Christa Schelter and Jenny Johnson
on April 10, 2009
Call or email President Obama and let him know that you support comprehensive immigration reform, humane border policy, and a new approach to Mexico that recognizes our country’s “shared responsibility” for violence plaguing Mexico.
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by Jenny Johnson
on April 14, 2009
In just two days, President Obama will embark on his first official trip to Latin America as he travels to Mexico following a string of visits from high-level U.S. officials in recent weeks. Comments made by visiting U.S. officials mark a shift in the U.S. stance towards Mexico’s challenges with drug cartels - a shift that indicates the Obama Administration’s willingness to recognize U.S. responsibility for spiraling violence in Mexico. This sentiment was clearly expressed by Secretary of State Clinton when she said, “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade…Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”
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by Paulo Gusmao
on March 31, 2009
On Tuesday, March 31 at noon, Senators Dorgan (D-ND), Enzi (R-WY), and Dodd (D-CT), along
with representatives of the American Farm Bureau, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
and Human Rights Watch, publicly announced S. 428, "The Freedom to Travel to
Cuba Act" in a press conference so well attended that reporters were standing in
the halls. LAWG was there capturing the excitement of the moment and
representing all of you.
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by Lisa Haugaard
on April 13, 2009
"For 25 years we knew absolutely nothing," said Alejandra García Montenegro, 26, who was a baby when her father, labor leader Fernando García, left for a meeting in February 1984—when Guatemala was under military rule—and never came home. "It was as if the earth had swallowed up my father and he had never existed," she said.
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by Travis Wheeler and Lisa Haugaard
on March 25, 2009
Another wave of threats has once again swept across Colombia, this time warning of an imminent “social cleansing” of “undesirable” individuals from Colombian society. Colombian churches and others are reporting that the violence unleashed by these alleged paramilitary threats has already left three young people and seven fishermen dead in Chocó.
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