Save the Date & Kick off your Holiday Season in a Spirited Fashion!
Join the Latin America Working Group Education Fund staff, friends, and fellow Latin Americanists for our holiday happy hour at The Passenger in Washington, D.C.
Why: To support the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, mix and mingle with LAWGEF staff and fellow Latin Americanists, and kick off your holiday season in a spirited fashion!
The Latin America Working Group Education Fund will receive 10 percent of the total sales from our group during this special time. We hope that you will join us and bring along a few friends!
For more information, please check out our Facebook invite or contact Ruth I. Robles at
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or 202-546-7010 ext. 103.
See you there!
P.S. In the spirit of the holidays and OUR way to show appreciation of you all, the first 10 people to purchase a drink will receive a LAWG tote bag!
We were proud to join with YOU and so many partners and allies in hosting Mexico’s Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity here in our nation’s capitol last month. Highlights of their 3-day stop in Washington, D.C. included a TV-camera crowded press conference on the steps of a Capitol Hill church and a ‘lobby day’ where teams of victims and advocates deployed all over Capitol Hill to tell their stories to individual members and congressional aides. The historic visit ended with a moving vigil and march through Columbia Heights to a final event in Malcolm X Park, a dramatic poetry reading by the Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, whose reaction to his son’s murder sparked the movement, and a stirring speech by the legendary farmworker union leader, Dolores Huerta.
In September, LAWG and other partners hosted Mexico's Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity for their 3-day stop in Washington, D.C. In D.C. the Caravan was a success thanks to your support and that of the greater D.C. community. Watch this slideshow to learn more about how they spent their time in D.C.
Since August 12, 2012, Mexico's Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity has traveled 6,000 miles across the United States calling for the U.S. to do its part to stop violence in Mexico. The caravaneros are calling for an end to the failed drug war that has left over 60,000 dead and 10,000 disappeared in Mexico over the last five years.
Join us on Wednesday, September 12th in the House of Representatives, Rayburn 2226 from 12-1:30 p.m. as U.S. Caravan Riders Tell their Stories. Join LAWG's Executive Director, Lisa Haugaard, and the caravaneros as they brief Congress demanding new policies that will Foster peace, justice and human dignity on both sides of the border.
For the past couple of months, LAWG and other organizations have been organizing a series of events for the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity's final stop in Washington, D.C. from Monday, September 10th - Wednesday, September 12t. If you are in the D.C. area please join us for these unique series of events.
On Monday, September 10th, the Caravan will arrive to Washington, DC, the final stop of the Caravan. Poet and movement leader Javier Sicilia and victims who have lost loved ones to violence in Mexico will be here to make their voices heard in our nation’s capital – and we ask you to JOIN US and add your voice in calling for an end to the failed policies, an end to bloodshed.
If you live in or near D.C. we hope you can join us for this and other Caravan events. Don’t live in DC, but know someone who does? Do your part by spreading the word.
Here’s the full list of events. Please join us – and spread the word!
6:00-7:30pm U.S. Guns and Violence in Mexico: A Bi-national Call for Solutions Sponsored by LAWG, the Washington Office on Latin America, and the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University 1957 E Street Northwest Lindner Family Commons To RSVP, please click here.
Wednesday, September 12th 5:30- 9pm Vigil and Procession for Peace 5:30- Welcome at St. Stephen & the Incarnation Episcopal Church (1525 Newton St. NW) 6:30-Procession begins from St. Stephen’s down 16th St. towards Meridian Hill Park/Malcolm X Park 7:30-9-Music & Caravan Closing (16th St. & Euclid St.)
We still need help setting and cleaning up for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, not to mention marshalls to help direct people for the rally on Monday and Vigil on Wednesday night. Email Ruth Robles at
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if you’d like to help!
Can’t make it to anything, but wish you could? We’ve got you covered. We understand life gets in the way sometimes so stay tuned for pictures from the Caravan’s stop in DC. Click here to check out the Caravan’s photo stream!
Sergio Aguayo Professor, Center for International Studies, El Colegio de Mexico (Mexico City)
Tom Diaz Senior Policy Analyst, Violence Policy Center
(Speaker from the Caravan for Peace, TBD)
Lindner Family Commons Elliott School of International Affairs George Washington University 1957 E Street Northwest Tuesday, September 11, 2012 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
For more information, please contact Clay Boggs at
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Countless families across Mexico have been devastated by drug-related violence, with an estimated 60,000 drug-related deaths since Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in 2006. In 2011, the son of Mexican poet Javier Sicilia was found murdered, presumably by organized crime gunmen. Out of this grief, a peace movement in Mexico has emerged. This influential movement has mobilized and united thousands across Mexico to call for an end to the violence, joining in cross-country marches, holding vigils and processions, and engaging in dialogue with Mexico’s highest political leaders.
On August 12, 2012, over 100 members of the Peace Movement crossed the border from Tijuana to San Diego to start a month-long caravan across the United States to raise awareness about violence in Mexico and to engage in dialogue with victims of violence in the United States.
The Peace Movement has identified U.S. arms trafficking to Mexico as a critical bi-national issue. According to the ATF, 70 percent of guns recovered by Mexican authorities and submitted for tracing in the past three years are of U.S. origin. The United States must do its part to stop the massive flow of weapons across its borders. If powerful assault weapons are readily available close to the border, they will continue to make their way into the hands of criminal groups.
Please join us for this timely and important discussion about the violence in Mexico, arms trafficking from the United States, and the role of the Peace Movement in a bi-national campaign to stem the flow of arms across the border.
Our Campaigns 
ovember 19, 5 – 8 p.m. 
