In January, I traveled to Colombia on a delegation with Witness for Peace to meet with communities resisting displacement in Northern Cauca and with communities of internally displaced people near Bogotá and Cali. Since I got back, I’ve viewed my work differently, and here’s why:
I realized that in our advocacy we talk so much about “victims,” when the word we really should be using is “heroes.”
by Melinda St. Louis, Deputy Director, Jubilee USAon March 09, 2010
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act, which would get the U.S. government to push for an immediate cancellation of Haiti's debts to international institutions. Click here to ensure your representative votes for Haiti debt relief.
by Jennifer Johnson and Brian Ericksonon March 08, 2010
As we mark International Women’s Day, we remember Esther Chávez Cano, a powerful champion for women’s rights who struggled to eradicate gender-based violence and whose efforts raised worldwide attention to the ever-growing toll of unresolved murders of women and girls in Ciudad Juárez.
Although we rarely remember to celebrate it in the United States, today many of our partners in countries like Colombia, Mexico, and Guatemala are participating in marches, teach-ins, and even parties. Why? Because there are so many strong and brave women to honor and there's still so much more education to be done before we see equal rights and an end to violence against women in Latin America.
In Guatemala, violence against women has reached staggering levels in
recent years. Since 2000, over 4,700 Guatemalan women have been
brutally murdered with almost no accountability for a single
perpetrator of these crimes. On March 3rd, 2010, American University
hosted an event with the Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC)
called “Stop Femicide in Guatemala!” Internationally acclaimed human
rights advocate Norma Cruz spoke with students and professors about the
increasing rate of violence against women in Guatemala. The following
quotes were taken from that event.
On February 23, 2010, Orlando Zapata Tamayo died in a Havana hospital,
where he had been transferred from prison after an 83-day hunger strike
in Cuba. Mr. Zapata was among the 75 internal opposition activists
detained in Cuba in March of 2003. He and the others were quickly tried
and sentenced. Mr. Zapata was serving a 36-year sentence, extended
from an original three-year sentence. He was one of 55 Cubans who have
been designated by Amnesty International as “Prisoners of Conscience.”
The Latin America Working Group expresses our utmost sorrow at his
passing and our distress over this tragic and indefensible death. We
call upon the Cuban government to institute a thorough investigation
into Mr. Zapata’s death.
Action Center
