The situation in Honduras has only worsened since the coup on June 28th when the Honduran military rousted President Manuel Zelaya from his bed, and flew him to Costa Rica in his pajamas.
by Millie Moon and Vanessa Kritzeron July 02, 2009
“Money for the victims, money for the displaced. No more money for
murder and waste!” Chanted the crowd gathered outside the White House
on Monday, June 29th. Inside, Colombian President Uribe was trying to
get the same approval from President Obama that he received from the
Bush Administration, and activists from around the city came to make
sure that he would not get it. Attracting media attention and stopping
traffic, they exposed the human rights abuses committed by the
Colombian military and demanded that the U.S. change its policies to
support victims of the ongoing violence.
by Travis Wheeler, Vanessa Kritzer, and Lisa Haugaard on June 24, 2009
So it's going to happen. Colombian President Uribe will make his first
visit to the Obama White House next Monday to discuss the future of
Plan Colombia and the stalled U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
with President Obama. While the two leaders met at the Summit of the
Americas in April, this could be the moment when President Obama makes
clear his positions on Colombia. It's up to us to use this opportunity
to make sure that he sets the right course from the get-go by making
human rights a priority in U.S. policy towards Colombia.
Military vehicles with machine guns rolled through the streets of
Tegucigalpa, Honduras as the Honduran military ousted President Jose
Manuel Zelaya yesterday, June 28. This marks the first military coup
in Honduras in thirty years and brings back ugly memories of darker
times for democracy in Latin America.
As President Uribe visits the White House, the scandal regarding the Colombian intelligence agency Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) is widening daily. According to Colombia’s Attorney General, over the last seven years the DAS systematically and without warrants tapped the phones and email of Colombia’s major human rights groups, prominent journalists, members of the Supreme Court (including the chief justice and the judge in charge of the parapolitics investigation), opposition politicians, and the main labor federation. Not only did DAS personnel spy on their targets, they spied on their families. This includes taking photos of their children, investigating their homes, their finances, and their daily routines. DAS even wrote a detailed manual of spying methods for personnel to follow.
In recent years, thousands of military-style rifles and other firearms have been purchased in the United States and trafficked over our southern border, ultimately ending up in the hands of Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). If the U.S. is to hold true to its promise of being a good neighbor, we know that bold moves must be made to effectively stem this illicit flow of U.S.-sourced firearms into Mexico. Yet the question arises: What steps need to be taken to achieve this?
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