2011

Yesterday, in a speech given at the Centro Cultural Palacio Moneda in Santiago, Chile, President Obama gave his first Latin America speech since the 2008 Summit of the Americas. While he spoke of many important issues regarding the region – and LAWG will be reviewing the speech in detail, so keep checking our blog and website for that – the Cuba team wanted to share the substantial Cuba portion of the speech with you today.

When you think of Cuba, the first things that come to your mind may be the “three C’s”: Caribbean climate, the Castro brothers, and Cohiba cigars; but that is by far not all that Cuba has to offer. Because of the United States’ foreign policy aimed at isolating Cuba (and therefore isolating us from Cuba), broad knowledge about the island and its people is limited. Many rely on exotic and stereotypical images of beautiful women on pristine beaches, Fidel Castro giving long-winded, animated speeches in front of the masses, and fine cigars to describe Cuba’s identity.

Momentum is building fast in Washington to approve the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia. Just today there were two hearings in Congress about it! But we cannot let this unfair agreement move forward.

Click here to sign our petition calling on President Obama to say no to the FTA now!

For nine years Valentina Rosendo Cantú has been seeking justice for human rights violations committed against her by the Mexican military. In 2002, Valentina was raped by Mexican soldiers while washing clothes in a stream running through the indigenous community of Me’phaa in Guerrero state. In 2010, Valentina’s case reached the Inter-American court of Human Rights where the court issued a sentence mandating Mexico to make reparations for Valentina and re-open the criminal investigations in civilian courts. Mexico has yet to fulfill its obligation so Valentina continues to fight.

Major changes in the U.S. Congress. A new government in Colombia that’s more open to dialogue, but threats against human rights defenders and community leaders still on the rise. Pressure building to move forward with a harmful U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

With everything that’s going on right now, we can tell that we’ll need a lot of help from you to promote peace and justice in U.S. policy towards Colombia this year. So while you’re filling in your calendar for the next six months, we wanted to make sure you get these Colombia to-dos on the list: