by Carly Quaglio, LAWG Intern
on April 12, 2012
In case you hadn’t noticed, it seems that Cuba has been popping up in mainstream news headlines a lot in the past week. From Ozzie Guillen’s comments about Fidel Castro to this weekend’s Summit of the Americas, Cuba is a hot topic these days. The strange thing is—Cuba isn’t in the news for what its people or government have done—it’s in the news because U.S. citizens and politicians are putting in their two cents about the country (as is so often the case).
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by Lisa Haugaard
on April 09, 2012
As the National Days of Action for Peace in Colombia begin this week, I wanted to share the original poem "They Don't Believe Us" that Colombian human rights defender, Orlando Bolaños, read aloud to me when I visited him on a human rights verification mission in December.
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by Lisa Haugaard
on April 12, 2012
I can tell you what should be on the table for discussion at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia: The safety of the region’s human rights defenders.
Alexander Quintero campaigned for justice for the victims of Colombia's 2001 Naya River massacre, committed by paramilitary forces. “He brought us all together, indigenous, Afro-Colombian and mestizo communities,” said a colleague. “It could have been any of us,” a sobbing defender said, as she told me about his May 2010 murder.
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by Carly Quaglio
on April 03, 2012
Dr. Reinerio Arce, President of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Matanzas, Cuba, participated in a briefing at Washington, DC’s National Council of Churches last week regarding the current reality of religious life and the role of churches in Cuba. Dr. Arce’s presentation focused on the current economic and social changes occurring on the island and how they have affected various faiths and churches. He also expressed deep support for small, but important measures taken by the Obama Administration in regards to religious travel--which he claims has greatly facilitated his seminary’s ability to carry out social projects. Dr. Arce began by stressing the importance of the relationships between U.S. and Cuban churches:
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by Carly Quaglio
on April 11, 2012
President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, was interviewed last week by Dr. Salim Lamrani, lecturer at Paris Sorbonne Paris IV University and expert on U.S.-Cuba relations, for publication in The Huffington Post. The interviewer and the interviewee produced an absorbing conversation on the state of U.S.-Cuba relations, particularly how the countries can cooperate to move forward—a step that Alarcón claims would benefit both sides of the Florida Straits. He should know. Prior to his position as President of the Parliament, Alarcón spent twelve years in the United States as Cuban ambassador to the United Nations. Throughout the conversation, the two men did not hesitate to discuss some of the touchier topics plaguing U.S.-Cuba relations: including migration, the current administration, normalized relations, and even Alan Gross. Read below for excerpts of the more compelling questions and responses:
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by Carly Quaglio
on March 30, 2012
Dr. Reinerio Arce, President of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Matanzas, Cuba, participated in a briefing at Washington, DC’s National Council of Churches last week regarding the current reality of religious life and the role of churches in Cuba. Dr. Arce’s presentation focused on the current economic and social changes occurring on the island and how they have affected various faiths and churches. He also expressed deep support for small, but important measures taken by the Obama Administration in regards to religious travel--which he claims has greatly facilitated his seminary’s ability to carry out social projects. Dr. Arce began by stressing the importance of the relationships between U.S. and Cuban churches:
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