2010

On February 26, 2007, the New York Philharmonic performed in Pyongyang, North Korea. This was the first time a U.S. cultural organization had stepped foot on North Korean soil; and not only were the musicians  welcomed into the insulated country, but they were given a five minute round of applause during their final bows.

The Philharmonic’s performance, dubbed “Symphonic Diplomacy” by the New York Times,  didn’t create instant harmony (even though there is harmony in dissonance, so I’m told by my friend, Emily) between Washington and Pyongyang. But the performance did make an impact.

On Friday, January 25th the Obama Administration’s new travel regulations were published in the Federal Registry, effective immediately and apparently with no comment period. Guidelines are still being drafted by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and that is where the details of the new regulations will become clear. OFAC says that the guidelines will be released “soon.”

We are horrified and deeply saddened by the violent shooting attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, her staff, and community members this past weekend in Tucson, Arizona. The Latin America Working Group’s thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of those who were tragically killed and gravely injured.

For many months—almost two years actually—we’ve focused on congressional action that would definitively end the ban on travel to Cuba; we felt that we had a real opportunity in the 111th Congress to radically alter the stale debate that had developed in Washington DC during the Bush Administration. We succeeded in changing the debate, but so far the policy has not changed. 

The LAWGEF joins with groups across Mexico and around the world in expressing our deep sadness and denouncing the violence that led to the murder of Marisela Escobedo Ortiz, a woman who fought tirelessly to bring justice for the murder of her daughter, Rubi Frayre, as well as press authorities to end the impunity for the hundreds of feminicides that have occurred in the state of Chihuahua. On December 16th, Marisela Escobedo was gunned down at close-range in front of the governor’s palace in Chihuahua City while holding a peaceful vigil demanding justice in her daughter’s murder case. 

Monday, December 20 – SPECIAL UPDATE: On Saturday morning, the Senate failed to gather the 60 votes needed to break a Republican-led filibuster and move the DREAM Act forward for a final vote. Despite this disappointing outcome, we are encouraged that a majority of Senators supported the DREAM Act on Saturday by a vote of 55-41, including several unexpected “yes” votes from Democrats who voted against the bill just two years ago. Even more inspiring was the dedication and courage of the DREAMers—mostly young undocumented students—who led a nonviolent moment across the country, and took great risks to support this legislation. The LAWG remains committed to standing alongside these young people in their struggle for sensible and humane immigration reform that will allow them to pursue their dreams.  Thanks to everyone who joined us in our commitment and made a call, sent a fax, or wrote an e-mail in support of the DREAM Act this year.

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This is it.  Your Senators will be voting tomorrow morning on the DREAM Act. We need your help to make sure we get the 60 Senate votes to make the DREAM Act a reality.

Please call your Senators now and urge them to support the DREAM Act (S.3992)!

Find your Senator’s contact information here, or click here to be directly connected.

In this winter moment when we begin to think of “peace and good will to all,” we thought you might like to see this report by our colleague Virginia Bouvier of the US Institute for Peace. Her insights offer a bit of cautious hope for the prospects for peacemaking in Colombia.

This past August, the horrific massacre of 72 Central and South American migrants in northern Mexico brought to the world’s attention the daily violence and exploitation suffered by migrants on their way to the United States.  There is no question: migrants in their journey to jobs and loved ones in el norte confront unimaginable dangers and abuses, as chronicled in the recently released documentary The Invisibles.

As we join with our families to celebrate Thanksgiving, we also remember the many thousands of immigrant families who continue to suffer and struggle in the absence of needed immigration reform. The passage of the DREAM Act can make a huge difference in the lives of undocumented youth who were brought to the U.S. by their parents and now, after working and studying hard to graduate from our neighborhoods’ high schools, confront obstacles to their future because of their legal status. By removing such barriers, the DREAM Act will allow immigrant students to pursue their dreams.

We expect you have been pondering the impact of the recent elections on the work we have been doing together to end the travel ban on Cuba and move our two countries toward a respectful, humane relationship. We have been doing the same, and we want to share some thoughts with you.

The electoral outcome has left us, as they say, “Close, but no cigar.”  (We could skip the cigar  . . .  although a mojito, maybe two, could help after working so hard these past couple of years.)

How do you unearth the many narratives of violence, repression, and displacement of families and communities that have never made it into Colombia’s official history? How do people who have experienced so much destruction and death even find the strength to tell these stories, relive this pain? And how do you make sure that these people, if they do speak out, are heard?

Click here to find out how you can amplify the voices of Colombia’s silenced.

Migrants in our region are experiencing a human rights crisis, particularly those who journey northward through Mexico en route to the United States.  Just this past August, 72 migrants from Central and South America were found massacred in northern Mexico. Far from an isolated occurrence, this incident is a terrifying example of the experiences that countless migrants suffer on a daily basis. 

Click here to read the letter that LAWG and concerned faith, labor and human rights groups sent to President Obama urging him to demonstrate leadership at home to promote and protect the migrants’ human and civil rights, as well as work with counterparts in Mexico to ensure that migrants receive the basic rights inherently afforded to all humanity. 

Cultural exchanges have always been an important element of expanding one’s knowledge about countries throughout the world. While certain countries may possess different political ideologies, religious beliefs, or speak different languages from the United States, “intercambios” allow citizens to become familiar with everyday people from cultures that are different from ours. And knowing the people encourages understanding and peaceful co-existence. For countries that are polar opposites on the political and/or social spectrum—like Cuba and the United States, for  example—exchanges  between students, artists, faith groups, farmers, sports teams (fill in your own community here) help humanize the “other.” And in more cases than not, these exchanges assist all parties to find common ground and shared experiences, despite outward differences.

For the 19th consecutive year the United Nations General Assembly has voted against the United States’ policy toward Cuba.  This year the vote, occurring October 26, a day or two sooner than expected, was 187 (supporting Cuba’s non-binding resolution condemning the embargo) to 2 (voting against the resolution:  the United States and Israel), with 3 abstaining (Palau, the Marshall Island, Micronesia). See an article on the vote here.

On October 6, nearly 10 months after the devastating earthquake tore through Haiti, Refugees International (RI) released the report “Haiti: Still Trapped in the Emergency Phase” detailing the continuing crisis. “Action is urgently needed to protect the basic human rights of people displaced by the earthquake,” RI reported. “Living in squalid, overcrowded and spontaneous camps for a prolonged period has led to aggravated levels of violence and appalling standards of living.”

Mounting pressure from rights groups in Mexico and the Obama Administration, and a ticking clock on an order by the Inter-American Court, spurred President Calderón to unveil his long-anticipated proposal to reform Mexico’s military justice code. But while reform is desperately needed to end the historic impunity for members of the Mexican military that have committed human rights abuses, Mexican and international human rights groups agree that President Calderón’s proposal doesn’t do nearly enough.

We’ve got just one simple, but crucial action for you to take today:

Join our new Facebook campaign “Stand for Land Rights in Colombia” and help us grow the movement for change in U.S.-Colombia policy.

We know that Juanes’ good looks and smooth voice holds a special power over throngs of fans worldwide, but it wasn’t until last month that we learned that he can actually stop bullets. When Juanes returned to his hometown of Medellín to join local musical and civil society groups in a concert on International Peace Day in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, Comuna Trece, they convinced hundreds of members of the city’s violent gangs to commit themselves to peace.

Afro-Colombian communities in the past year have faced increasing threats of displacement and violence. On September 21st, LAWGEF joined the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and other partner organizations in organizing a public event in DC where Clemencia Carabali Rodallega, a prominent Afro-Colombian leader, spoke about the dire situation that many communities are in today. The following video and quotes were taken from that event.

It isn’t news that journalists around the world risk their safety and security everyday to cover the stories that keep us informed and hold the powers that be accountable, but many people are surprised to learn that neighboring Mexico is an increasingly hostile environment for reporters. Press freedom watchdog International Press Institute (IPI) recently ranked Mexico as the most dangerous country for journalists and media personnel in the world so far this year.

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa “returned safely to the presidential palace… after spending hours held by police inside a hospital room outside Quito,” according to CNN. While attempting to talk with rioting police demanding that a law be revoked that they believed would cut their salaries, Correa had tear gas lobbed at him and had been taken to the hospital. Later he was rescued by soldiers and returned to the palace. Correa characterized the events as an attempted coup. He stated, “I leave as president of a dignified nation, or I leave as a cadaver.” 

History was made on Thursday when a U.S. District Court Judge in Southern Florida, William J. Zloch, sentenced former Guatemalan special forces soldier Gilberto Jordán to ten years in federal prison. Jordán was convicted of lying on his citizenship application to hide his role in the 1982 massacre of hundreds of unarmed civilians in Dos Erres, Guatemala. In condemning Jordán to the maximum time allowed by law for naturalization fraud, Judge Zloch made clear that he intended the ruling to send a clear message that “those who commit egregious human rights violations abroad” cannot find “safe haven from prosecution” in the United States. The sentence marks the first time that any of the dozens of Kaibil special forces who carried out the murders almost 28 years ago has been prosecuted.

They did it again. Despite the fact that not a single soldier responsible for human rights violations has been held accountable by civilian authorities in the years since the onset of the Merida Initiative, the State Department released its second report on September 2nd  affirming that the Mexican government has met the Merida Initiative’s human rights requirements. This report not only recommends the release of roughly $36 million in Merida funds that had been previously withheld from the 2009 and 2010 budgets, but also sends the wrong message to Mexico on human rights.

In 2005, I visited the community of San José de Apartadó, Colombia. A group of poor farmers who had been repeatedly displaced from their homes by violence, they had decided to call themselves a “peace community” and reject violence from all sides—paramilitaries, guerrillas and the army.  Yet the community was subjected to ever more harassment and violence, including by the local 17th army brigade.  Some 170 members of the peace community have been assassinated since 1997. My visit came soon after seven members of the peace community, including three children, and a local farmer had been massacred and dismembered.  The community members had left their army-occupied town to construct a bare-bones, dirt-floor village down the road.

For a lot of people, the day after Labor Day is the time to get down to business. For us, it's just September 7th. Why? Because when you're going for change as big as we are on U.S.-Colombia policy, you never stop working hard.

Persistence, local organizing, effective advocacy and international pressure have ultimately won out in bringing justice to Raúl Hernández Abundio, an indigenous rights defender from Guerrero, Mexico who was targeted by authorities and unjustly imprisoned. Since we wrote about his case in July, international and local human rights groups have been working tirelessly to clear his name of the murder charges for his exposure of abuses committed by soldiers and local authorities.

I wanted to write a quick, exciting update on the situation with the Afro-Colombian community La Toma:

We stopped the eviction!

Today, August 25, three key congresspersons sent a letter to President Obama lauding the rumors (that we believe are substantiated) that his administration is on the brink of an announcement easing the ban on travel to Cuba – which is within the executive purview of the President (both President Clinton and President Bush took advantage of the authority of the executive to revise and reinterpret the regulations governing travel to Cuba by limited categories of U.S. citizens).

Colombia's Constitutional Court issued an important decision last week which sent Colombia's new administration back to the drawing board to secure approval for a U.S.-Colombian military base agreement.  The decision effectively struck down the contentious agreement, chastising the Colombian executive for having failed to get approval from Colombia's Congress, and requiring them now to seek congressional endorsement before moving forward. 

On August 13th, a car bomb was detonated near the Caracol Radio headquarters, one of the largest networks in Colombia. LAWGEF and its partners issued the following statement in response:

Stop the eviction of this
incredible community!If the Colombian government does not change its mind, tomorrow the 1052 families that make up the Afro-Colombian community La Toma will be evicted from the land that they have lived on for almost 400 years. We cannot let this happen.

Take action now to support the community and stop the eviction!



Across the nation, SB 1070 has arguably become one of the most notorious bill numbers in recent history (certainly among state legislation). Mere mention of this bill number has become synonymous with threats of racial profiling, counterproductive “attrition through enforcement” approaches, and criminalization of “driving while Latino” – a sad political commentary for a SW border state with strong historic, cultural and economic ties to neighboring Mexico.

Run, don’t walk, to your computer to check out Presumed Guilty (Presunto Culpable in Spanish), an incredibly powerful and insightful documentary on the injustices in Mexico’s criminal justice system.  You can see the film in its entirety on the PBS/Point of View website through August 4th.  To watch it online, click here.

We've been doing everything we can--pulling out all the stops, as they say--to restore U.S. citizens' freedom to travel to Cuba. That's why we've come to you time and time again (and time and time again), asking you to make one more email or one more phone call to your congressperson; but we've also been mobilizing new advocates and as-of-yet untapped networks throughout the country to give us the best chance of getting the job done this year, in this Congress.

A big white teddy bear sat on top of one of the little coffin boxes, and red roses on the other three. The remains of the four sisters were finally being returned to their mother, Blanca Nieves Meneses.

“I never thought that this is the way they would be returned to me,” said their surviving sister Nancy. “I always kept hoping that they would be returned alive.”

On Thursday, July 22nd, Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor became the latest House member and the first from Florida’s congressional delegation to join the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (H.R. 874). The act, introduced in the 111th Congress by Reps. Delahunt (D-MA) and Flake (R-AZ), aims to restore the right of each and every U.S. citizen to travel to Cuba, a policy shift endorsed recently by Cuba’s most prominent opposition figures and 64 percent of Cuban Americans.

In their work to promote and defend indigenous peoples’ rights in the Costa Chica region of Mexico, a highly militarized zone in the state of Guerrero, members of the Me’phaa Indigenous People’s Organization (OPIM) and their partner organizations have had to overcome repeated harassment, threats, and even murders of leading members. Now add imprisonments and baseless prosecutions by the government to that list.

In April 2008, Raúl Hernández and four fellow OPIM members were arbitrarily arrested and charged with the murder of a suspected army informant—a murder which Mr. Hernández did not commit. The other four human rights defenders were released due to lack of evidence.  But even though the only witness that directly identified Mr. Hernández as having taken part in the murder was found to have lied, he has remained in prison for over two years.  

This week marked the 10th year since the infamous U.S. aid package known as “Plan Colombia” was signed into law. And while some U.S. and Colombian officials have been celebrating it as a “success” and pushing to use it as a model for other countries like Afghanistan or Mexico, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) chose to commemorate this anniversary by releasing a report that describes exactly why that analysis is not only misguided but also dangerous.

In early June, we released Waiting for Change, a report on President Obama’s first-year policies toward Latin America. We aren’t the only ones aware of limited progress: Latin Americans are also less enthusiastic than at last January’s inauguration.

On June 17, the Pew Research Center released its most recent 22-nation Global Attitudes Survey, with Mexico, Argentina and Brazil representing Latin American opinion. Though U.S. favorability ratings in these nations jumped after Obama’s election, this year’s poll shows that fewer people in Argentina and Mexico have confidence that Obama “will do the right thing in world affairs,” than did one short year ago. Brazil, which has received special attention from the Obama Administration, consistently responded more favorably to this poll than did the other two Latin American countries represented.

It's not every day that we get to write you about a historic legislative victory for a more humane, sensible, and just U.S. policy towards Cuba; but today isn't just any old day. In a thrilling "mark-up" session Wednesday in the House Committee on Agriculture, H.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act was passed by 25 votes to 20, putting us one step closer to ending the travel ban this year, in this Congress.

After a momentous week in the nation’s capital, advocates of lifting restrictions on U.S. citizens’ travel to Cuba have reason to celebrate.

On Wednesday, June 30, the House Committee on Agriculture held a mark-up session of H.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act. While out-of-touch hardliners on the committee tried to amend and motion Ag Committee Chairman Peterson and Congressman Jerry Moran’s bill to death, it ultimately received a favorable 25 to 20 vote, putting Congress on the verge of voting on ending the travel ban, rather than simply shutting down its checking account, for the first time in history.

Over two thousand civilians intentionally killed by army soldiers seeking to beef up their body counts and score days off. A massive illegal wiretapping operation by the president’s intelligence agency targeting Supreme Court judges, journalists, opposition politicians and human rights defenders. Seven human rights defenders and leaders of displaced communities killed in May alone, in a nation where threats and attacks against defenders are rarely effectively investigated and government officials’ denunciations of them place them in danger. In which authoritarian country opposed to the United States did these abuses take place? In none other than Colombia, often called “the United States’ best ally in the Western Hemisphere.” And we, the U.S. taxpayers, bankrolled this friendship to the tune of more than $6 billion.

Far Worse than Watergate reveals the inside story about a wiretapping scandal in Colombia.  It documents how the Colombian government’s intelligence agency not only spied upon major players in Colombia’s democracy—from Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges to presidential candidates, from journalists and publishers to human rights defenders, unions and faith-based organizations, from international organizations to U.S. and European human rights groups—but also carried out dirty tricks, and even death threats, to undermine their legitimate, democratic activities. 

Read our publication Far Worse than Watergate (PDF)
Lea nuestra publicación Mucho peor que el Watergate (PDF)

On Wednesday, June 30, the House Agriculture Committee votes on H.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, which restores U.S. citizens' right to travel to Cuba, creates jobs in the U.S., and puts food on Cubans' tables. What happens Wednesday will determine if this landmark legislation sees the light of day on the House floor this summer or dies in committee. The LAWG Cuba Team will be on the Hill (in 1300 Longworth) for the vote on the bill, championed by Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota (picture right), at 2pm EST. You can follow our "live-tweets" via Twitter or tune in online through the Agriculture Committee's website. Live video coverage can be found here once the "mark-up" begins.

Photo Credit: aflcio

Freedom to travel's moment has arrived. Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 30, the House Agriculture Committee will vote on H.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, championed by Ag Committee Chairman Collin Peterson. What happens Wednesday will determine if this landmark legislation--which restores U.S. citizens' right to travel to Cuba, creates jobs here at home, and puts food on Cubans' tables--sees the light of day on the House floor this summer or dies in committee.

We’ve seen up close how the production and trafficking of illicit drugs has fueled a war in Colombia, corrupted governments in Central America and brought terrifying violence to Mexican communities.  We know about the devastating effects of drug abuse in our own neighborhoods in the United States.  What has become clear is that solutions the U.S. government has pursued, such as the massive aerial spraying campaign in Colombia which destroys food as well as illicit drug crops or aid that encourages the Mexican army to police the streets and checkpoints do not solve the problem. Instead, it leads to more devastation and violence.

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.

The year was 2004. I was contacted by Colombian human rights activists. Would I please come to Colombia to join them in a book launch of the second edition of The Authoritarian Spell? They were worried that the book, a collectively written critique of what they saw as authoritarian tendencies by the administration of President Alvaro Uribe, would provoke a reaction, and wanted international accompaniment. I said yes, and went to one of the book launches in Medellín, where a professor at the local university spoke and introduced me and several of the book’s coauthors, and we had a genteel, scholarly discussion of current events, in an auditorium filled mainly with students and professors. 

Little did we know that the book, criticized by the government as exaggerated, was in fact far too light a critique of the government’s authoritarian tendencies.

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.

Many in the United States Congress continue to hem and haw when it comes to repealing the unjust ban on U.S. citizens' travel to Cuba, but the head-honchos of Cuban civil society know where they stand -- and, presumably tired of the hardliners invoking their name in opposition to any change to the status quo, they've decided to set the record straight. In a letter made public on June 9th, 74 Cubans urged members of Congress to vote in favor of H.R. 4645, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, legislation currently being considered by the House Committee on Agriculture that would restore the right of each and every U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, without getting a permission slip from Uncle Sam, and ease the sale of U.S. food to the island.

Colombia’s outgoing President has launched an assault against his country’s courts for taking some initial steps to bring high-ranking military and government officials to justice for their role in murder, illegal wiretapping, disappearances and torture.  This is no abstract political debate. When the President takes to the airwaves to denounce those working for justice, the judges, lawyers, witnesses and victims’ families know that death threats, and sometimes murder, often follow.  The threats and attacks usually appear to be from paramilitary groups. Colombia’s Supreme Court made a call for help:  “We make an appeal to the international community to accompany and show solidarity with the Colombian judicial system which is being assaulted for carrying out its duties.” 

Just days ago, Sergio Adrián Hernandez Güereca, a 15-year-old from Ciudad Juárez, was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent on the banks of the Rio Grande, not far from downtown El Paso.   The fatal shooting of this teen came on the heels of the death of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, a longtime San Diego area resident and father of five U.S.-born children, who died from injuries suffered when Border Patrol and other federal officers responded with a baton and taser gun when he resisted deportation. His death has been ruled a homicide by the San Diego coroner’s office.  LAWG extends our condolences to both families.

On Tuesday night, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in Colombia; by today she'll be in Barbados. During her 24 hours in Colombia, do you think she heard much about the rise in threats and attacks against Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities in Colombia? Did President Uribe talk with her about the illegal wiretapping that part of his special intelligence service used to sabotage the work of human rights defenders, journalists, and Supreme Court judges? Or would you guess she talked with any of Colombia's almost 5 million internally displaced people about how they have been robbed of their land and forced to live in misery?

We doubt it. But these issues are exactly what she must be thinking about as the State Department prepares to make its most important decision on U.S.-Colombia policy this year.

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.

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.

Death threats, attacks and assassinations. Human rights defenders and indigenous, afro-descendant, and IDP leaders in Colombia often face these terrors, but lately there has been a major spike in these actions—and we’re worried. This past week, LAWGEF and our partners released a public statement to the Colombian and U.S. governments, calling on the Colombian government to take action now to investigate and prosecute these threats and attacks, protect the people at risk, and make it publicly clear that human rights defenders’ work is legitimate and important.

May 27, 2010 – SPECIAL UPDATE: The Senate Rejected Border Amendments that Would Have Resulted In More of the Same. Today, all 3  “border security first” or “enforcement-only” amendments were defeated during debate on a supplemental appropriations package. Thanks to all who called and took a stand for sensible solutions for the SW border region!

Now we need to see the President and Congress get serious about comprehensive reform and long-term solutions – not quick fix ‘solutions’ like military hardware - to address organized crime related violence in Mexico – efforts that should include strengthening the judicial system, improved accountability for the police and robust protection of human rights. Rather than offering serious solutions, some policymakers have offered more of the same, band-aid, window dressing measures that score political points but don’t solve the problem. That includes President Obama’s decision, announced earlier this week, to send 1,200 National Guardsmen to the border. His decision directly contradicted the facts and what his own administration has been saying for months. Sending the National Guard to the border will not solve our immigration crisis.

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Your senators need to hear from you NOW to halt efforts to further militarize the U.S.-Mexico border region. We understand that the Senate will be voting TODAY on a trio of harmful amendments seeking to expand misguided, enforcement-only approaches along our Southern border.

LAWGEF, along with partner U.S. and international human rights organizations, today issued a memo to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging the State Department to recommend in its next report to the U.S. Congress on human rights requirements in the Merida Initiative that the conditioned funds for Mexico not be released until the Mexican government demonstrates concrete and measurable advances in meeting these requirements.  

To read the full memo, click here. Otherwise, below you will find an executive summary of the memo.

As I listened to mothers and sisters and sons describe how they found their loved one in the morgue of a Colombian army base, dressed up in a guerrilla uniform when they knew he was a civilian, I was not only saddened, I was stunned by the striking similarity of the cases. From Casanare, Meta, Cauca, the facts were so similar. Witnesses saw the person being taken prisoner by a group of army soldiers.  They went looking for him, thinking he’d be detained on the army base. Then they were shown a photo or the body of their relative, dead and claimed by the army as killed in combat.

Waiting for Change reviews the first year of the Obama Administration’s Latin America policy, especially regarding military relationships and aid trends. Barack Obama’s message of change resonated in Latin America, but we’re still waiting for real shifts in policy. This report by the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, Center for International Policy and the Washington Office on Latin America offers a detailed evaluation of what has been modified, and what remains the same, in U.S. policy towards the region.

Read our publication Waiting for Change (PDF)
Lea nuestra publicación Esperando el cambio (PDF)

In response to President Calderón's meeting with President Obama and address to Congress, LAWG, WOLA, and our counterparts in Mexico issued a joint statement urging our respective elected officials to move beyond the empty platitudes that typically characterize such meetings and instead capitalize on this historic visit to make concrete and meaningful commitments to transform the rhetoric of shared responsibility into reality.  Given the shared challenges posed by organized crime, arms trafficking and illicit drug use, it is critical that both countries move beyond ineffective and worn-out strategies and propose concrete, comprehensive solutions to address the root causes of these problems. 

To read the full statement, click here.

Micheline Fleuron lives with her two boys in the median on the road in Carrefour, Haiti. Her home, the pile of rubble across the street from where she is now, collapsed during the earthquake and killed her seven-year-old daughter. Before the earthquake Micheline had a small business selling food items. She lost that in the earthquake. She says food aid has been distributed near where she is but she has not been able to get any of it. She says hunger is difficult and "dust from the street is eating us." 

On March 24th, President Obama sent his request to Congress for a supplemental spending bill to support relief and reconstruction efforts in Haiti. Millions of people in Haiti like Micheline could use that aid to feed their children and begin rebuilding their lives, but Congress still has not passed this crucial bill.

As Colombians go to the polls May 30th, they will elect a president who will have a historic opportunity to change the lives of millions of Colombians affected in profound and tragic ways by the country’s enduring armed conflict. The Latin America Working Group and partner organizations have sent an open letter to Colombia’s presidential and vice presidential candidates to ask them how they will lead the nation in building a more just and inclusive society that promotes and respects the rights of all its citizens. 

There are some memories you never forget, and some of those memories may even change the course of your life. I’ll never forget the excitement of seeing my first National Football League game. A twelve year old at the time, my father and I glimpsed perfection in the Metrodome of Minneapolis as the Minnesota Vikings embarrassed the Chicago Bears by a score of 48-22 – my fate was sealed as a life-long Vikings fan. 

Then my family moved to Arizona – so I tried to acclimate as best I could by making the Phoenix Suns my basketball team. But with the proximity of the U.S.-Mexico border beckoning for my acknowledgment of reality, I suddenly found myself seated in a circle with the women and children of Lomas del Poleo, listening to their struggle with the injustices of minimalist wages and blatant civil and human rights violations committed against women both as they work in and travel to the maquiladoras that figure ever so prominently along the Mexican landscape that bumps up against the international line. 

About two weeks ago there was an explosion aboard BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig, tragically killing at least 11 rig-workers and eventually triggering a pipe-break that's now spewing an estimated 5,000 barrels into the Gulf of Mexico daily. As the oil slick has spread from its epicenter 50 or so miles off the coast of Louisiana to the Gulf state's shores, so have concerns that the disaster could severely harm the livelihoods of individuals--fishermen, for instance--and industries who depend on the vibrant, wildlife-rich ecosystem.

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.”

The early months of 2010 have been a roller-coaster of anticipation and tension within the immigration debate. Expectations were running high in March when a Senators Schumer and Graham released a framework for reform days before crowds of over 200,000–unified in their chants of “immigration reform now” – gathered blocks from the capitol.

Weeks later, a heat wave of anger erupted when Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed SB1070, a draconian and dangerous legislation that has sparked both swift and widespread responses.

“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.

“It's important to talk about the terrible things that are happening, but the media always covers the negative. It’s more important to talk about what is rarely discussed—that the people are organizing themselves. Not much has been said about how the country is different now, or at least that there are new ideas now about what policies should be like and how we can change things. I wanted to bring that sense of hope and possibility here. The belief that a new America is possible, a different order is possible.”

Human rights organizations are joining together to condemn and call for urgent action following the horrific attacks against an international human rights caravan in Oaxaca earlier this week. 

On Tuesday, April 27th a caravan of 25 human rights observers, reporters and teachers was ambushed by an armed group of paramilitaries in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Two members of the delegation were killed in this attack, Betty Alberta Cariño, the director of Center for Community Support Working Together (CACTUS) along with Tyri Antero Jaakkola, a human rights observer from Finland, with 15 more reported injured.  

“How many years has this been going on? Why didn't they change the way they investigate everything?”  These are the questions that linger on the mind of Irma Monreal after nearly nine years of struggling to find a semblance of justice after her daughter, Esmeralda, was raped, tortured and murdered in Ciudad Juárez in 2001. 

Take a look at a quality analysis by Salvador Sarmiento of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights of the road to travel between an apparently successful donors conference and the actual delivery of well-targeted aid, published on the Center for International Policy’s Americas Program blog. 

Speaking recently before a university audience in Kentucky, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shared her thoughts about the future of U.S.-Cuban relations. She touched on many headline-grabbing issues, but her comment that it's her “personal belief that the Castros do not want to see an end to the embargo and do not want to see normalization with the United States, because they would then lose all of their excuses for what hasn’t happened in Cuba in the last 50 years" is what got Cuba's, and the international media's, attention.

Although months have passed since the massive earthquake that devastated Haiti, our partners believe that a lot more should be done to help Haitians recover and rebuild.

In March, two major annual human rights reports on Colombia were released by the State Department and the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights’ office in Colombia. They highlight some advances, most notably a decline in killings of civilians by the army (extrajudicial executions), but point to numerous ongoing problems, including the major scandal of illegal wiretapping by the government’s DAS intelligence agency, a pronounced slowness in achieving justice in extrajudicial execution cases, threats and attacks against human rights defenders and failures by the government in protecting them, a resurgence of illegal armed groups following the paramilitary demobilization, and sexual violence in the context of the conflict.

We don't typically take action on state-level legislation. However, we find a bill recently passed by Arizona's state legislature and currently on its way to Governor Jan Brewer's desk –- SB1070 –- so dangerously misguided that we feel we cannot sit back silently.  And you shouldn't either!

If allowed to pass into law by Gov. Brewer, SB 1070 would effectively force police to engage in racial profiling, criminalize unauthorized migrants for 'trespassing' into Arizona, and permit anyone to sue local agencies if they believe that the law isn't being adequately enforced.  Such policies are as sweeping as they are dangerous.

Over the last couple weeks, from Tempe, Arizona to Duluth, Minnesota, Olympia, Washington to Jackson Heights, New York, people like you have been creating hundreds of portraits of our Colombian sisters and brothers and have been showcasing them in your community centers, churches and city streets. And people are paying attention!

But to make a real impact, we need Washington to get in on the conversation, too.

Extremely serious human rights violations have taken place since the inauguration of Honduran President Porfirio Lobo on January 27th. Since that date, there has been a notable increase in attacks against people opposed to the June 28th coup d’état and their family members, as well as a surge in attacks against journalists. A teacher was slain in front of his class. Three campesino leaders from the community of Aguán were assassinated.  

Earlier this week, Arizona state legislators voted in favor of legislation that – if signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer - would institutionalize discriminatory and dangerous policies by effectively pressuring police to engage in racial profiling, criminalize unauthorized migrants for 'trespassing' into Arizona, and permit anyone to sue local agencies if they believe that the law isn't being adequately enforced.  Such policies are as sweeping as they are dangerous. 

The National Days of Action for Colombia have begun! As we write you this update, people all across the country are gathering their materials, friends, and families, and are preparing to "face the displaced." Are you?

Click here to get involved!

If this is the first time you're hearing about it, don't worry; it's not too late. Here are four ways you can get involved in the movement to stand with those working for peace in Colombia.

Charles Bowden’s Murder City: Ciudad Juárez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields is an unflinching look at the violence on the U.S.-Mexico border and the failing solutions by both countries to address it.  With an intense sympathy for the many victims but also a degree of understanding even for a contract killer who finds God, the author doesn’t let the reader find comfort in anything.  The book, just published by Nation Books (New York: 2010), can be found at your local bookstore or online distributors.  Here are a few selections from this devastating catalog of violence.

If you ascribe to the old saying that "actions speak louder than words," then March 21st, 2010 may become a historic moment. On that day, an estimated 200,000 plus families, students and concerned individuals from Delaware to Oregon participated in the "March for America" in Washington D.C. to remind Congress and President Obama that we're tired of empty promises and want to see action towards immigration reform - and we want to see it now!

Working to protect human rights in the heavily militarized mountain region of Guerrero, Mexico is never easy; and threats and harassment are not new for the Mexican human rights defenders who work for the Organization of the Me’phaa Indigenous People (OPIM) and the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights. But we have been alarmed to see a rise in threats against them because of their outspoken advocacy, including their accompaniment of two indigenous women, Inés Fernández Ortega y Valentina Rosendo Cantú, who were raped and tortured by soldiers in 2002.

We know you want to see a  just U.S. foreign policy to Latin America.

We're working on it.  But we need your help. We need you to stay active and keep those calls and letters coming. And we need you to generously support our work, with a non-tax-deductible gift to the LAWG for our advocacy efforts. Or give a tax-deductible gift to the LAWGEF for our educational work.

24 de Marzo de 2010

Hoy, como todos ustedes saben, nos une en este lugar el recuerdo imperecedero de Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero, guía espiritual de nuestra Nación.

Me conmueve profundamente poder compartir este día con ustedes, porque muchas veces en mi vida pensé que nuestra Patria no alcanzaría nunca la paz si no recuperábamos la memoria de Monseñor Romero.

Lo que jamás había imaginado era que yo mismo sería uno de los protagonistas de esta recuperación, al conducir los destinos del país.

On the 30th anniversary of the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero, Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes apologized for the role of the Salvadoran government in this cataclysmic event.

His words are so moving they require no further introduction.

For text of the speech in Spanish, click here.

For a New York Times article about President Funes' speech, click here.

An English translation of the speech follows.

Until two years ago, José Goyes had lived in the indigenous community of Honduras in Cauca, Colombia. But his life came under threat because of his role as a leader in his community's struggle for land rights in the face of abuses committed by a multinational corporation that owns a dam in their area. The threats got worse and worse until finally on July 5, 2008, as he was leaving his office, hitmen fired 4 shots at him. Luckily, he survived, but he was forced to flee to Bogotá.