LAWG Blog - Latin America Working Group

A Tragic Death

by Mavis Anderson on March 05, 2010

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.

:2010, Blog Posts, Cuba, Mavis Anderson

We Have Things to Share with Cubans: LAWG Briefs House on New Bill on Travel (and Ag Sales) to Cuba

by Travis Wheeler on February 25, 2010

While some historic snowstorms and the President's Day recess sidetracked our congressional advocacy work in the first couple weeks of February, the introduction of the Peterson-Moran Cuba bill (HR 4645) has helped us regain our "travel for all" momentum and represents our best chance to end the travel ban on Cuba in 2010.

:2010, Blog Posts, Cuba, Travis Wheeler

Mavis Anderson's Congressional Briefing Remarks

by Paulo Gusmao on February 25, 2010

Mavis Anderson, senior associate for Cuba policy at the Latin America Working Group, gave the following remarks at a congressional briefing for House staff on February 24, 2010. The briefing's panelists included Former Secretary of Agriculture under President Ronald Reagan, John Block; Father Juan Molina of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops; Chris Garza of American Farm Bureau; and moderating, Tom Garofalo of the New American Foundation. The briefing took place on Thursday February 24, 2010.

:2010, Congress Watch, LAWG Analysis, LAWG Press Releases

Our Best Chance to End the Travel Ban in 2010

by Paulo Gusmao on February 23, 2010

Today in Washington, Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN), Congressman Jerry Moran (R-KS), and at least 31 of their House colleagues introduced new legislation (HR 4645) that would put the United States and Cuba firmly on a path towards engagement by (finally) restoring U.S. citizens' right to travel to Cuba and facilitating needed U.S. agricultural sales to the island that were initially approved by Congress in 2000.