2012

By Eric Oliver and Vanessa Kritzer

This April, LAWG worked with a large coalition of faith-based and human rights organizations to make the 7th  Annual Days of Prayer and Action for Colombia a huge success.  Every week in Colombia last year, more than 2,250 people were violently pushed off their lands and left homeless.  With this in mind, we focused our efforts on spreading one simple message: everybody deserves a place to call home. 

In order to raise awareness about the scale of Colombia’s displacement crisis, more than 100 communities took part in our grassroots project, “A Place to Call Home: Hand in Hand for Peace in Colombia.” From San Francisco to New York, Chicago to Miami, people gathered in community centers, churches, and college campuses to learn about Colombia and join in the effort to create 5,200 paper houses to symbolize the yearning for home of 5.2 million displaced Colombians. The results were inspiring and imaginative.  These homes were displayed publicly throughout April to raise awareness, and photos of the events were shared on our facebook page to show solidarity between groups in the U.S. and Colombia. In May, these houses will be delivered to the White House along with 15,000 postcards asking President Obama to make meaningful changes in U.S. policies towards Colombia.

But that’s not all! In addition to crafting, activists made their voices heard through organizing lobby days, holding prayer services, and signing an online petition asking Congress to stop funding the war and to increase aid for displaced people and refugees.  We planned our main weekend of action to coincide with the Summit of the Americas, in which leaders from across the Western Hemisphere gathered in Cartagena, Colombia. Through letters to the editor, radio interviews, and coordinating with Colombian partners planning a vigil in Cartagena, we focused press attention onto the displacement crisis and amplified our call to support victims of violence and those working for peace in Colombia.

We owe a big thanks to everyone who helped us with this wonderful project. By working together, we have gained amazing momentum in the movement for better U.S. policies towards Colombia. Now we can’t wait to start planning for next year!

From death, comes life. With the death of a son, a father gives life to a movement.

In March 2011, 24-year-old Juan Francisco Sicilia was found brutally murdered outside of Cuernavaca, Mexico. Like the tens of thousands of families across Mexico who have lost their sons, daughters, fathers and mothers to violence, Juan’s father, Javier Sicilia, was devastated. With the loss of his son, this well-known poet  lost his ability to write poetry as well. Yet, he did not lose his voice. Instead, this tragedy propelled Javier Sicilia to speak out in a new way -- against the violence and suffering that the drug war has delivered to countless families across Mexico.  By sharing his painful, personal story, he has given voice to thousands, voices that came together to ignite the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD).

Many who have lost loved ones to violence had to deal with not only a painful loss, but also the fear that neighbors, friends, relatives would interpret the murder as indisputable proof that their loved one was involved in organized crime. President Calderón perpetuated this assumption, stating that criminals accounted for 90 percent of all killed in drug related violence. To address this pervasive and painful stigma,  the MPJD has organized caravans that have served as a mobile forum for victims’ families to share their stories – and call for justice. More than just interrupting the Mexican government’s interpretation of the rising death tally, the caravans and other MPJD events have provided a platform for civil society to push for a shift away from the current militarized approach to violence, and towards accountability and revitalizing the social fabric that has been worn so thin in recent years.  

The groundswell of activity in Mexico to promote justice and peace is inspiring. However, the problems perpetuating this violence require actions from those of us north of the border as well. The United States is not only the primary consumer of drugs trafficked through Mexico, but a key source of firepower for organized crime as well.  Yet, many Americans fail to recognize our role in this crisis. To build relations and promote understanding, the MPJD is embarking on a caravan this summer throughout the United States, starting in San Diego and ending in Washington, DC. This caravan hopes to raise awareness of how the United States contributes to these problems in Mexico and, more importantly, how we can become part of the solution. 

To promote awareness about gun smuggling into Mexico and its destructive impact, a powerful photo exhibit called "A Farewell to Arms. Contraband on the Border," will travel with the caravan. An estimated 70% of firearms captured at crime scenes in Mexico during 2009 and 2010--and submitted for tracing--originated in the United States, according to a congressional report released last year. Lax gun policies have made the United States a source of cheap and easily attainable weapons for drug cartels. The powerful images in this exhibit provide a glimpse of the impact of arms trafficking on communities and families across Mexico. A realization of the heavy price paid by families who have lost loved ones to smuggled guns is unavoidable. A petition to President Obama to curb gun smuggling will accompany the exhibit to give viewers the opportunity to contribute to a solution. In late summer, petition signatures of thousands of people from Mexico, the United States and all over the world, will be delivered to Washington, DC and, hopefully, the White House. This is one crucial way, among many, that the United States can change from a passive facilitator of violence into an active defender of peace. 

To sign the petition, go to: http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-illegal-gun-smuggling-that-fuels-violence-in-mexico

Click here to download a PDF version of the declaration in English

Click here to download a PDF version of the declaration in Spanish

                                                                                                                           
The Public Hearing on the Human Rights Situation in the Peasant Communities of Bajo Aguán, Honduras, was convened by nine organizations and international networks that in recent years have been monitoring the human rights situation in Honduras and in particular that of the peasant communities in the Bajo Aguán region.  This monitoring effort has been carried out in coordination with local organizations.

Yesterday in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Policy Enforcement a bill proposed by Representative David Rivera (R-FL-25) was heard. His bill H.R. 2831 aims to amend the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1996  to " prohibit Cubans who claim political asylum in the United States from returning to the island nation. The proposal would revoke the residency status of any Cuban national who returns to Cuba after receiving political asylum and residency in the United States under the Cuban Adjustment Act," says the Miami Herald's "Naked Politics" blog. 

Wow.  What an incredible display of solidarity we saw this year!

Thanks to your help, this year’s 7th Annual Days of Prayer and Action for Colombia was a huge success!  Here at LAWG we are super impressed with how many of you got involved.  Whether by creating paper homes, sending postcards to President Obama, or signing our Petition to Congress—you helped make sure our message was heard loud and clear: everybody deserves a place to call home.  Together, we raised our voices to call for an end to the world’s largest displacement crisis that’s left millions of Colombians homeless. 

Monday, May 28 marked the two-year anniversary of the death of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, a San Diego resident who was brutally beaten, tased, and ultimately killed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in 2010. Unfortunately, those responsible have yet to be held accountable for his tragic death.

First things first, we want to apologize for the quietness on our end these past few weeks. There have been several weighty developments in U.S.-Cuba policy which we've been working on the ground, pushing back. This is a catch-up email to get us all back on the same page and provide you with a couple actions by which to re-activate your constituent (and clicking) power!

1. Tell Congress to address April's terrorist attack in Miami

2. Let the State Department know that you denounce the visa denials of Cuban academics

Many of the displaced residents of Buenaventura live in the La Playita neighborhood. The homes sit on stilts over the water, and the roads usually flood in the daily rains. (Christian Fuchs — Jesuit Refugee Service/USA)

(Buenaventura, Colombia) May 21, 2012 — Between the Western-most range of the Colombian Andes and the Pacific Ocean in the Department of Valle de Cauca lays the city Buenaventura — Colombia's principal port city and also one of its deadliest. 

While there are few international headlines that highlight the ongoing nearly 50-year-long armed conflict, Buenaventura has received massive numbers of displaced Colombians in recent years fleeing violent displacement by armed groups. Buenaventura also has one of the highest rates of intra-urban displacement, and struggles with a 60% unemployment rate.

Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Phone: María Isabel Alfonso, 786-529-5123

Cuban Americans For Engagement

http://www.cafeporcuba.com

(Bogota) May 14, 2012 — It is easier to be optimistic about the humanitarian situation in Colombia from within the confines of the vibrant city centers of Bogota, Cartagena and Barranquilla. There the thriving economy, spurred by a surge in foreign investment, reports of a growing middle class and the general warmth of the Colombian people can lull you into feeling that all is well in Colombia, that the nearly 50 years of civil war have been left behind and that the shadowy illegal armed groups who leave terror in their wake have all but been defeated.