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We charitably termed the Obama Administration’s first year of Latin
America policy a “false start.” After the year was kicked off with a
promising beginning with a rousing speech at the Summit of the
Americas, a promise to close Guantanamo, the lifting of the ban on
travel to Cuba for Cuban Americans, and some principled words on human
rights to Colombian President Uribe, we had some hope for a new, less
ideological, more people-centered approach to the region. As the year
progressed, those hopes were dashed. But now we dare to hope again.
In two interesting analyses of elections in Latin America, Professor Doug Hertzler, associate professor of anthropology at Eastern Mennonite University and Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy remind us, and the U.S. government, to look closely at the reality in each country rather than viewing it in an ideological context.
Amanda Martin of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA provides this important update on the arduous search for justice in the cases of disappeared Guatemalans.
On December 3, 2009, a former military official and three former commissioners were sentenced to 53 years in prison for the forced disappearance and illegal detention of six people in El Jute, Guatemala in 1981. This marks the first time in Guatemalan history that a high-ranking military official has been sentenced for forced disappearance. In the sentence, thetribunal also ordered an investigation of former defense minister Angel Anibal Guevara, former head of Defense Security (EMD) Benedicto Lucas Garcia, and other officials and soldiers assigned to the same military base as the guilty parties in 1981.
The Amazon Rainforest is famously known as the “lungs of the earth.” In
the Ecuadorian Amazon, indigenous groups have united in an effort to
protect our proverbial lungs from multinational corporations who they
say have spent many years exploiting these sacred lands for profit and
harming the communities that live there.
On Thursday November 5th, 2009, the Center for Justice and
International Law (CEJIL), Amazon Watch and the Washington Office on
Latin America hosted an event that allowed members of the Ecuadorian
Indigenous Rights Movement to share their stories. The following quotes
were taken from Marlon Santi’s remarks at that event.
As I advocate for a U.S. policy towards the region based on justice and
human rights, I’ve had easier years during the Bush Administration. For
an administration that promised hope and change, both are in short
supply.
The international community initially celebrated an agreement
negotiated in Honduras, on October 28th, between coup regime leader
Roberto Micheletti and deposed President Manuel Zelaya, which could
have put an end to the crisis. But, less than a week later, the accord
started crumbling apart.
On November 5th, 2009, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) sponsored a briefing of
civil society leaders and activists on Capitol Hill to talk about the
human rights violations that have been occurring in Honduras since the
coup and give their vision for the future. The leaders’ visits were
coordinated by the Quixote Center and Just Associates, and LAWGEF
pitched in to help. The following quotes were taken from that briefing.
Once again, Central America is battered by natural disaster. As our partner the Share Foundation describes it:
“While the National Hurricane Center in the United States has downgraded Hurricane Ida to a Tropical Storm, El Salvador has experienced the full brunt of hurricane force winds and rain. Over the weekend, the storm destroyed more than 7,000 homes and damaged many more. The most recent data… indicates that approximately 130 people have been killed by the storm, and thousands more injured. This total is sure to rise as emergency relief workers continue to work their way through damaged buildings and areas that have experienced landslides.
After a long life, touching millions of people with her powerful voice
and commitment to social justice, Argentine folksinger Mercedes Sosa
passed away on Sunday, October 4th, 2009. Sosa set an incredible
example of how music can change the world.
Her deep, rich voice and emotionally charged performances became the
rallying cry for a generation of Latin Americans oppressed by
dictatorships. In a time of terror, she chose to be “the voice for the
voiceless ones” and sing words that were forbidden. In her more than
fifty-year career, she pioneered a new movement in music, which buried
itself deep into the soul of every listener, as personal as it was
political.
It seems that a day cannot go by without an article in the MSM
declaring that “Cuba is opening up to the world.” There’s a lot of
tricky logic going in such statements, and this past Sunday’s Concert
for Peace without Borders organized by Colombian pop star Juanes can
help us to reflect on this a bit, and also to act to change United
States restrictions on travel by Americans to Cuba.
Being the music lover that I am, before anything else I have to
comment: What a spectacular display it was! Well over a million people
– half of Havana’s population according to Cuban press sources – filled
the Plaza of the Revolution to see performances by Cuban artists living
on the island and abroad whose work most epitomizes their homeland,
such as Los Van Van, Orishas, Silvio Rodríguez, Yerba Buena, Carlos
Varela and Amaury Pérez. Hats off to saxophonist and music director
extraordinaire Juan Manuel Ceruto and an amazing ensemble that
accompanied many of the Cubans, as well as their foreign guests such as
Luis Aute, Miguel Bosé, Olga Tañón and Danny Rivera, among others. It
was great to see Cuban musicianship on display again here in the United
States, if only via an online video stream provided by Univisión,
something unheard of not so long ago.
