by Lisa Haugaard
on June 22, 2010
Guatemalans dreaming of and campaigning for a nation governed by the
rule of law were devastated June 7th when the head of a UN-supported
body set up to investigate organized crime resigned in frustration.
Carlos Castresana had labored valiantly, as head of the International
Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), to investigate the
organized crime that has penetrated the nation.
Read more »
by Lisa Haugaard
on June 04, 2010
President Obama was elected with a campaign of hope, and change. Those
of us who care about Latin America hoped that U.S. foreign policy
towards the region, too often unilateral and focused on military
solutions, would also change.
A year ago, at a summit of Latin America’s leaders, President Obama hit a
note that resonated well with his counterparts: “I pledge to you that
we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior
partner in our relations.”
After that hopeful moment, though, the new administration stumbled at
the starting gate. 2009 was a rough year for U.S. policy toward Latin
America and the Caribbean. Latin American governments and civil society
groups were disappointed by the Obama Administration’s inattention,
vacillation on democracy and human rights, and failure of imagination in
creating more humane policies, especially after it secretly negotiated a
defense agreement with Colombia and backed off from efforts to urge
resignation of the coup regime in Honduras despite an admirably united
Latin American and OAS response to protect the democratic order.
Read more »
|
by Kelsey Alford-Jones, GHRC/USA
on June 14, 2010
Here’s an update on the recent natural disasters that have hit Guatemala from Kelsey Alford-Jones of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA (GHRC/USA):
A week after Guatemalans experienced a dual assault from Pacaya Volcano and Tropical Storm Agatha, volcanic ash still hangs in the air. Over 80,000 people wait in emergency shelters—the homes, crops and livelihoods of many completely destroyed.
by Lisa Haugaard
on May 06, 2010
As an official “Truth Commission” was inaugurated May 4th in
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, leading Honduran human rights groups expressed
serious concerns and announced an alternative commission.
Saying that a real truth commission “should provide a space which has
been denied to the victims, in which they can be heard and injury to
their rights repaired,” the groups criticized the official commission
for “exclusion of the victims” and the “lack of processes to ensure
effectiveness and impartiality.”
|
by Kelly Miller and Vanessa Kritzer
on June 07, 2010
The pursuit of justice “is a challenge that we have been called to take on, and we have no idea how far this journey will lead us,” said Guatemalan human rights defender Jesús Tecú Osorio at a reception in his honor on May 17th, 2010. Human Rights First and the Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC) organized this gathering to celebrate Tecú’s selection as winner of the 2010 Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award for international human rights defenders.
Read more »
by Vanessa Kritzer
on May 03, 2010
“Each of us represents a force that has a great capacity to create.” These words rang out on the colorful and majestic voice of Honduran activist and musician Karla Lara during an empowering concert at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC on April 23rd, where she taught us about the values that are central to the movement of peaceful, civic resistance that has been ongoing since the June 2009 coup. Lara, who for years has been making music that inspires people to be a part of constructing a better reality in places across Central America, now is a leader of the feminists-in-resistance and artists-in-resistance who are a part of the struggle for human rights, justice, and democracy going on in her own country.
Read more »
|
Action Center
