2011

With the debate over the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) intensifying, we’re pulling out all the stops to make our message heard. This week we’re taking over the internet and we need your help!

Watch our new two minute video opposing the U.S.-Colombia FTA and then spread the word about it:

Support Human Rights in Colombia - OPPOSE the U.S. Colombia Free Trade Agreement

From: The Honorable Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.
Current signers: Conyers, Moore (WI), Rush, Lee (CA), Payne, Grijalva, Michaud, Ellison, Hinchey, Jackson (IL)

Dear Colleague:
 
Please join me in signing the letter below supporting human rights in Colombia.  As we begin to debate the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia, it is important to recognize the rights of Colombia’s Afro descendents and indigenous populations and the need for the FTA to be considered within this context.
 
Colombia’s Afro descendents and indigenous populations have long faced violence, persecution, and lack of opportunity that has perpetuated the cycle of poverty.  As the moral and economic leader of the world, the United States must support policies that break this cycle.  Unfortunately in its current form, the FTA will only exacerbate the problem.
 
I urge you to sign this letter to ensure that the voices of Colombia's Afro descendents and indigenous populations will no longer be ignored.

If you have any questions, please contact our office at ext 5-1605.

Sincerely,

Hank Johnson
Member of Congress

June X, 2011

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,

We write to express our deep concern for the rights of Colombia’s Afro descendents and indigenous populations, and to affirm that the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) should not be considered as drafted.  We believe that the United States and the Colombian Government should take immediate steps to strengthen Afro-Colombians’ territorial rights and prevent further displacement of Afro-Colombians.

We are concerned that the FTA would stimulate business development in Colombia at the expense of these vulnerable populations.  Colombia has the world’s largest population of displaced people, an estimated 5.2 million, and 26% of Colombia’s population is Afro-Colombian.  These populations already experience disproportionate inequality in the labor sector and face major obstacles to unionization. For example, Afro Colombian workers are often forced into “Associative Labor Cooperatives” (CTAs), a labor model where workers are hired through sub-contractors, which substantially undermines worker protections and results in preventing workers from unionizing. Today, economic interests, including large scale mono-culture crop plantations and mining, continue to be a cause of displacement in Afro-Colombian areas.  The FTA and the April 7thAction Plan do not adequately address these issues.  Without adequate protections, the number of displaced persons will continue to increase and economic opportunity will continue to be beyond the reach of these populations.

We appreciate the Administration’s efforts to grow the economies of the United States and Colombia but we must do so in a way that benefits the citizens of both countries.  We must not tolerate economic inequality or persistent violence against Afro Colombians and indigenous people.

As you know, Members of Congress have consistently denounced the systematic paramilitary persecution and assassinations of Afro-Colombian, indigenous and labor rights activists in Colombia. We are concerned that our voices on this subject are not being heard and our concerns are not being adequately addressed.  Full implementation of the Colombian Action Plan Related to Labor Rights, and the reform of the CTA model, are critical to any serious discussion of free trade with Colombia. We insist that the Ministry of Labor and Justice’s protection programs, which the Action Plan seeks to broaden, include protection for Afro-Colombian labor activists who face political persecution.

We appreciate your attention and consideration to these matters and look forward to working with you in ensuring that labor and minorities rights in Colombia are protected if entering into a Free Trade Agreement between this country and the U.S.

Sincerely,

Studying abroad in Cuba was an experience that is impossible to forget. People’s eyes bulge whenever I mention that I lived in Cuba for five months. A torpedo of questions always follow; “Did you feel safe? How did you survive? Isn’t Cuba communist?” While I love to discuss my time spent in Cuba, it’s questions like these that make my mind race and my blood boil.

On May 31, 2011, one day before Honduras was readmitted to the Organization of American States, 87 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of State Clinton expressing concerns about the country’s human rights situation nearly two years after the military coup that promted Honduras’ OAS suspension in the first place.

To read the letter, click here.

Citing reported abuses against journalists, campesinos, human rights defenders, labor activists, and opposition voices, the letter urges the State Department to more actively press the Honduran government to end abuses by official security forces. The group of representatives also calls for the suspension of U.S. aid to the Honduran military and police until “mechanisms are in place to ensure security forces are held accountable for abuses.”

"As member States prepare to meet and reinstate Honduras to the OAS, it's important to remember that there are serious human rights issues in Honduras that urgently need to be addressed," Rep. McGovern said.

For the Spanish version of the letter, click here.

All across the country activists are coming together to stop the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA).  Check out these resources we've compiled on opposing the FTA, and get involved!

Whether you only have enough time to send an email or you want to visit your member of congress in person, this is the moment to make your voice heard!

We want to see just U.S. policy towards Mexico and the border region, and we know that you do too. Over the past year we have worked tirelessly for real policy change in Washington that prioritizes human rights, and we have made real progress. Collaborating with partners like you, we pushed  the U.S. to stop sending helicopters and other aid to the Mexican military, drew attention to the ways the U.S. fuels drug violence in Mexico, and alerted the White House to the humanitarian crisis of violence against migrants on both sides of the border. 

In 2008, as military operations in Ciudad Juárez surged, Josefina Reyes Salazar, an outspoken critic of pervasive violence against women, summoned her courage and determinedly denounced the militarization in her home state of Chihuahua. Not long after, her son Miguel Ángel was kidnapped by the military and her other son, Julio César, was brutally murdered. Josefina openly blamed the army for the slaying of her son and, despite persistent death threats, tirelessly voiced her demands for justice. In early 2010, Josefina herself was coldly executed by armed gunman on the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez.

It’s go time. The Obama Administration has started moving forward with the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). So we’re organizing immediate national actions to convince Obama and Congress that passing this FTA is wrong—and we need your help.

Join us on a National Conference Call this Monday, May 16th, at 8:30pm EST/ 5:30pm PST to learn what’s happening and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it !

A new government in Colombia that’s more open to dialogue, but continued threats and attacks against human rights defenders and displaced leaders. Budget battles in the U.S. Congress. Colombian peace communities in danger. Pressure increasing to approve the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

With all that’s been happening, we’ve had a busy last couple months in our advocacy and education efforts to promote human rights and peace in U.S. policies towards Colombia—and it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down any time soon. In case you’ve been busy too, here’s a review of some of what we’ve been working on:

Emergency Actions for Policy Change

When we saw momentum building in Washington to move the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, we leapt into action. We created a petition to President Obama asking him to not move forward with the Free Trade Agreement while labor and human rights violations continue, millions of people are still displaced from their lands, and small-scale farmers have no resources to help them compete with incoming subsidized agro-business. We collaborated with Change.org to reach out to thousands of new activists and we got everyone in our coalition spreading the word. The result? Over 11,000 messages going straight to the White House! (And it’s still live. If you haven’t signed yet, check it out here.)

Meanwhile, alarming reports of threats and attacks against human rights defenders, peace communities, and land rights activists in Colombia keep coming in. In April we heard from our partners that the communities living in humanitarian zones in Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó river basins in Colombia were in great danger. The Colombian military forces that usually form a protective perimeter around the outside of the communities had pulled out and paramilitary forces had been seen coming in. So we put out an emergency call to action and 1336 people responded, sending 5336 messages  to top Colombian officials asking them to send protection back to these brave communities. But so far the threats and violence continue. If you haven’t sent a message yet, please do so here. And check out this action alert with updates on various threats to Afro-Colombians and human rights defenders here.

Grassroots Education and Organizing

We still have to tally up the final numbers, but we can already tell that the 6th annual Days of Prayer and Action: Hand in Hand for Peace in Colombia has been a great success! Throughout April, thousands of activists have created hundreds of events across the country to stand with Colombia’s victims of violence. We are particularly energized by the response to the creative project this year, in which communities across the United States have traced and painted images of their hands onto banners and posters filled with messages of hope and solidarity that will be sent to peace communities and human rights organizations in Colombia. To learn more about it, click here.

New Media and Publications Outreach

We’ve continued getting our perspective out to a broader audience online on the Huffington Post and fostering good discussions on our “Stand for Land Rights in Colombia” facebook page, where activists new and old to the movement can share information and be alerted to key moments for action on U.S. Colombia policy. (Check out one of our recent articles on Colombia here and our facebook page here.

Meanwhile, we’ve been promoting Breaking the Silence: In Search of Colombia’s Disappeared  to lawmakers, academics, and activists alike. And our efforts have already paid off: our findings made their way into the United Nations’ recent Human Rights Report on Colombia, which spent a whole section on disappearances. (To read it yourself click here)

But as much as we’ve been doing, there’s still a lot of work ahead. What should you look out for?

Action to Stop the Free Trade Agreement: Despite huge problems left unresolved, the Obama Administration recently made it clear that they will push forward with the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement this summer. So now we’re taking it to Congress and we need your help. Starting this month, we will be organizing activists across the country to meet with their representatives, write to their local media, and do creative street demonstrations to raise awareness of why passing this trade agreement right now would be harmful and unethical. Want to participate? Send us an email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and check out our resources for lobbying here.

More Budget Battles: After barely avoiding a government shutdown by making some serious cuts in the 2011 budget, the new leadership in Congress is already taking out their knives to chop up the Obama Administration’s request for 2012. If we want to preserve aid we support like humanitarian assistance for refugees and internally displaced persons, we will need to keep up the pressure on our members of Congress so they know that these items are not negotiable.

To stay involved on all our Colombia work, make sure to join our email action list on LAWG’s webpage or “like” the “Stand for Land Rights in Colombia” page.

The LAWGEF stands with groups throughout Mexico and around the world in denouncing the bloodshed and impunity associated with President Calderón’s U.S.-supported “drug war” that has claimed over 36,000 lives. In early April, mass mobilizations and pointed criticism by groups and communities across Mexico marked some of the most heated and historic condemnation yet of the Mexican government’s increasingly unpopular military campaign to defeat organized crime. Since these April demonstrations, support for the movement calling for an end to violence and impunity in Mexico has grown exponentially and will culminate in a massive wave of marches and protests throughout the country this weekend.