2011

Imagine waking up to the sound of AK-47s in the morning and going to bed to the cries of grieving families at night. Imagine a place where children cannot play outside for fear of being caught in the crossfire or gunned down at a birthday party.

In too many communities across Mexico, such violence has become a frightening reality of daily life.  Over the past four years, roughly 40,000 people have been killed in Mexico’s  “drug war.”  And many of the guns that fuel this violence were smuggled over the border from the U.S. into Mexico. 

"We write to express our deep concern for the rights of Colombia's Afro descendents and indigenous populations, and to affirm that the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) should not be considered as drafted. We believe that the United States and the Colombian Government should take the immediate steps to strenghthen Afro-Colombians' territorial rights and prevent further displacement of Afro-Colombians." Read the full letter here (PDF).

List of Members who signed letter:

• Hank Johnson (D-GA-4)
• John Conyers (D-MI-14)
• Gwen Moore (D-WI-4)
• Bobby Rush (D-IL-1)
• Barbara Lee (D-CA-9)
• Donals Payne (D-NJ-10)
• Raul Grijalva (D-AZ-7)
• Michael Michaud (D-ME-2)
• Keith Ellison (D-MN-5)
• Maurice Hinchey (D-NY-22)
• Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL-2)
• Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX-18)
• Lynn Woolsey (D-CA-6)
• James McGovern (D-MA-3)
• Bob Filner (D-CA-51)
• Dennis Kucinish (D-OH-10)
• Maxine Waters (D-CA-35)
• Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-9)
• Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-9)
• Bennie Thompson (D-MS-2)
• Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1)
• Emanuel Cleaver (DD-MO-5)
• Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC-At large)
• Danny Davis (D-IL-7)