Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY) introduced S 489 which would prohibit the President from regulating or prohibiting travel to or from Cuba by U.S. citizens or legal residents or any of the transactions ordinarily incident to such travel, except in time of war or armed hostilities between the United States and Cuba, or of imminent danger to the public health or the physical safety of U.S. travelers.
DeMint Amendment
Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduced an amendment to the 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill that would require the construction of hundreds of new miles of tall, pedestrian fencing on the border by mandating that existing or planned low-rise vehicle barriers and virtual fencing could not count toward the 700 miles of barrier construction mandated by Congress. Those members marked with an X on the scorecard voted against this harmful amendment.
Here is a catalog of how your senator voted on the most important initiatives regarding Latin America policy in the past year. An X means your member of Congress voted correctly on an amendment, sponsored a positive bill or signed a helpful congressional letter.
Click here to see our honor roll of those senators who deserve special mention for their dedication and work for improved U.S. policy toward Latin America.
Click here to read a brief explanation of the measures.
Here is a catalog of how your representative voted on the most important initiatives regarding Latin America policy in the past year. An X means your member of Congress voted correctly on an amendment, sponsored a positive bill or signed a helpful congressional letter.
Click here to see our honor roll of those representatives who deserve special mention for their dedication and work for improved U.S. policy toward Latin America.
Click here to read a brief explanation of the measures.
Like us, you must be hearing the tale of loss and destruction coming from
Haiti and wondering what you can do to help. Here at the LAWG, we will
be working to encourage a generous response from the U.S. government to
this devastating earthquake, including for long-term reconstruction.
But right now, the most important action we can all take is to contribute to one of the many caring organizations providing relief.
Did you have a restful holiday? We hope you did because now that the
new year is here we're going to be putting you back to work in pushing
for real change in U.S. policies towards Colombia.
As we pointed out in a recent blog post reflecting on "Obama's First Year,"
although the administration promised us a foreign policy that would
bring us hope and change, Colombia policy is still falling far short.
Giving Colombia a free pass on the human rights conditions, signing
military base agreements, continuing high levels of military aid—these
actions are a bitter disappointment. Yet we have seen some good signs,
especially when President Obama raised real concerns about human rights
and democracy when Colombian President Uribe came to visit the White
House. This year, no excuses: We want our government to use both words and deeds to say that respect for human rights does matter.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
has sought to assure us all that human rights are a priority for the
administration. Unfortunately, the policies in place to secure the
U.S.-Mexico border have hardly been humane. That’s why Thursday,
December 10th, Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) sponsored a showing
of The 800 Mile Wall in honor of the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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.
Director of The 800 Mile Wall, John Carlos Frey, is asking all the right questions of our U.S.-Mexico border.
"Do we need to spend billions of dollars on fencing and technology?
Does it work? Should the thousands of migrant lives lost on U.S. soil
be recognized and taken into account? Should we do anything about the
deaths? Is there a solution?"
If you're wondering when the opportunity will arise to demand that our
legislators begin asking these questions, the time is now!
As a final reflection for the month, Leslie Berestein of the San Diego
Union-Tribune has called attention to another function of the fence: a
place for artistic expression.
Elections took place Sunday, November 29th in Honduras with National Party leader Porfirio Lobo declared the winner.
But
elections carried out under a state of emergency, with visible military
and police presence, by a government installed by coup, with a
significant movement opposed to the coup calling for abstention, and
with the deposed President still holed up in the center of the capital
city in the Brazilian Embassy, are no cause for celebration. As we wrote to the State Department
on November 24th, “a cloud of intimidation and restrictions on assembly
and free speech affect the climate in which these elections take place…
basic conditions do not exist for free, fair and transparent elections
in Honduras.”
I have just returned from Honduras, and I can tell you, there is no
possible way that there are the basic conditions for free and fair
elections on November 29th.
“Vote? Me? No way? For what?” said the young man, almost spitting out the words. “What is there to vote for in this election?”
All over Honduras, youth “in resistance,” women in resistance, artists
in resistance, lawyers in resistance, well-dressed and blackberried
political party leaders in resistance, campesinos in resistance, are
saying no to these November 29th elections. While the word
“resistance” may conjure up images of masked guerrillas, this image is
totally misleading. As I could see in a trip this week to Tegucigalpa,
it is, so far, in general an extraordinarily peaceful, civic
resistance.
This year, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) gave its annual Human Rights Award to the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center from the state of Guerrero in Mexico. This award honors the bravery and dedication of organizations and individuals defending human rights in Latin America.
LAWG has great respect for Tlachinollan’s work and we were moved by the beautiful words that Abel Barrera, the director of Tlachinollan, used in his acceptance speech. The following is an excerpt from that speech. To read the full speech click here. Para leer todo el discurso, haga clíc aquí.
On Friday, November 13th, some influential thinkers from both
the United States and Mexico gathered at the Woodrow Wilson Center
Mexico Institute to discuss how our two nations must begin Rethinking
the U.S.-Mexico Border.
The current model, as described by former Deputy Foreign Secretary of the Government of Mexico Andrés Rozental, is a system characterized by “irritation, inefficiency, illegality, and now, violence.”Moving forward, he stated, we need “cooperative solutions to shared problems.”
In every province of Colombia, women long to know what happened to
their husbands, to their daughters, to their sons. Children want to
know what happened to their fathers, to their mothers.
Even Colombia’s associations of families of the disappeared have long
estimated that at most the disappeared totaled 15,000. And many did
not believe the toll was so high.
But as forensic teams are conducting exhumations following the partial
paramilitary demobilization, prosecutors are interviewing paramilitary
leaders, Colombia’s National Search Commission is soliciting
information from the victims, and victims are organizing to know the
truth, the scale of the human catastrophe is slowly being unveiled.
We have a real challenge with the Obama Administration. President Obama gets that we need to work together with the rest of the world. That’s great. But his administration hasn’t found its voice on human rights and backed up its words with action. They think that by mentioning more about human rights than the Bush Administration did, it is enough. So far, they haven’t been willing to actually change U.S. policy to support victims of violence in places like Mexico and Colombia, even though they must do so if they want to become part of the solution, not the problem.
Public
Campaign , a non-profit campaign finance research group, just released the most extensive study
of Cuban-American political donations to date. The conclusion: big
money from political action committees is the reason for our stagnant
Cuba policy.
Across the world, individuals this week celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. While this anniversary reminds us of the historical significance walls have served as barriers to the flow of goods, ideas, and people, many individuals forget the current realities of a similar wall being constructed along our southern border.
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.
On Friday, November 6th, the U.S. government finally released itsestimate of how much coca was cultivated in Colombia in 2008. The result is the first reduction in coca-growing since 2002-2003, a significant drop from 167,000 hectares measured in 2007 to 119,000 hectares in 2008. (A hectare is equal to 2.47 acres.) This brings the U.S. government’s coca cultivation estimate to its lowest level since 2004. (The U.S. government has not yet released 2008 coca data for Peru and Bolivia.)
This matches a downward 2007-2008 trend – though not the number of hectares – that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime announced (PDF) back in June.
A reduction in coca cultivation is good news. But what caused it?
We're hitting the ground running with Human Rights NOW and we need you to join us in a taking an urgent action today.
Our mission?Convince as many congressional representatives as possible before December 7th
to sign on to a letter calling for real change in U.S. policy towards
Colombia, so that it can be sent out ASAP to Secretary of State
Clinton.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin recently traveled to Cuba in order todiscuss hurricane preparedness with the country’s leading experts. Inthe aftermath of the Mayor’s trip, the need to reinstate a workingrelationship between the United States and Cuba could not be moreapparent. Considering Cuba’s remarkable hurricane response system andproximity to New Orleans, it is logical to collaborate (or at leasecommunicate) about natural disasters. But the trade embargo and travelrestrictions against Cuba make co-operation rather difficult.
After months of a virtual standstill in Honduras between democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya and regime leader Roberto Micheletti, we might be seeing the end of what one writer called, “The Little Coup That Couldn’t.” On October 29th, Honduras’ defacto leader Roberto Micheletti agreed to step down, allowing the Honduran Congress to decide whether President Zelaya would be returned to power. But, the fate of democracy in Honduras still remains to be seen.
On October 23rd, Crude made its debut in D.C. at the Landmark E Street Cinema. Crude, a documentary about the $27 billion dollar “Amazon Chernobyl” case, is making similar debuts across the nation in 2009. Here in Washington, viewers piled into the theater, even at the10:15 PM showing, only to be greeted by director Joe Berlinger whoopened the film stating, “I don’t want to say enjoy the film, because it’s not enjoyable. I hope that it’s provocative so that we can talk about it.” And talk about it we did.
UPDATE: The United Nations has voted 187 in favor, 3 against (US, Israel, Palau), and 2 abstentions (Micronesia, Marshall Islands) to condemn the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.
The United Nations General Assembly will vote on a resolution whichcondemns the U.S embargo against Cuba on Wednesday, October 28th, forthe 18th year in a row. According to a CBS news report written afterthe 2008 U.N vote, “The U.S. embargo has cost Cuba $230 million a yearin foreign investment and caused the country more than $93 billion ineconomic damage since its inception, according to Cuban officials.”
Hear LAWG's director talk on Chicago Public Radio's Worldview program about the "two Colombias": The one in which the war is winding down and all is going well; and the other one, in which hundreds of thousands of people are still fleeing their homes from violence, the army as well as guerrillas and paramilitaries are killing civilians, and the government is illegally wiretapping the institutions that are the basic building blocks of democracy.
Click here to listen to it on the Chicago Public Radio website.
“If that kind of barbarity can be directed against the highest-ranking
person in the country, what will happen to the rest of us?” asked the
activists at COFADEH, the Committee of Families of Detained and
Disappeared in Honduras, right after the June 28th coup that sent
President Manuel Zelaya into exile. Now the answer to that question
can be seen in COFADEH’s hard-hitting October 22nd report, “Statistics
and Faces of Repression.”
LAWG celebrates—and I personally celebrate—that yesterday the
U.S. House of Representatives approved H.Res. 761, introduced by Rep. Jim
McGovern and 33 co-sponsors. This resolution remembers and
commemorates the lives and work of the six Jesuit priests and two women
who were murdered in El Salvador nearly twenty years ago, on November
16, 1989.
As a newcomer to the LAWG team, and inside the beltway advocacy, I have
been surprised over the last few months to learn what it actually takes
to achieve the change we want. Before I started, I assumed that if we
could simply bring the facts about real people who are suffering as a
result of U.S. policies in countries like Mexico and Colombia, we could
make it happen. But it turns out that there's so much more that goes on
in DC every day than I could have anticipated.
Writing a few days ago in El Espectador, columnist Felipe Zuleta
reported that mothers of young men killed by the Colombian military
have begun receiving anonymous threats.
The mothers live in the poor Bogotá suburb of Soacha, where in 2008
elements of the Colombian Army abducted young men, killing them and
later presenting their bodies as those of illegal armed group members
killed in combat. When news of the Soacha killings broke in September
2008, the scandal forced the firing of 27 Army personnel. Murder trials
have been proceeding very slowly, with an increasing likelihood that
some of those responsible may not be punished.
Soon after its world premier at the Sundance Film Festival this past January, multiple awards began recognizing Crude
as one the most poignant documentaries hitting theaters this year. For
all of you deeply concerned about human rights violations, the
displacement and destruction of indigenous cultures, increased
environmental degradation, or irresponsible development by
multinational corporations, Crude is being recognized as an
artistic masterpiece that tells the story of the “Amazon Chernobyl” case
in which all these areas of concern intertwine. The final result is the
creation of a powerful message for increasing awareness among
individuals of how the gas they pump has tangible effects on
individuals in other parts of our world.
An invitation from Wayne Smith, Former Chief of the U.S. Interests
Section in Havana and Senior Fellow and Director of the Cuba Program at
the Center for International Policy
This conference in New Orleans on disaster preparedness seems to open a new and critical door for bilateral exchange.
Cuba and the U.S. Gulf Coast are both in the path of hurricanes, which
are striking with increasing frequency and ferocity. It is therefore
of marked importance that they cooperate with one another against these
onslaughts, exchanging information and providing assistance to one
another as needed. The Cubans have indicated their full willingness to
do so. It is fitting that Cubans and Americans gather in New Orleans,
the American city that was most damaged by and had the highest losses
in lives from Hurricane Katrina, to discuss how this cooperation can
best be achieved.
The Washington Ballet debuted a fantastic production of Don Quixote at
the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this week. The highlight
was an awe inspiring performance by Viengsay Valdés, the Primera
Bailarina of the Ballet Nacionál de Cuba. Ms. Valdés, a product of
Cuba’s world renowned ballet schools, played the lead role of Kitri in
a spectacular rendition of Cervantes’ classic Spanish novel. Many in
the crowd didn’t even know about the special guest, who tip-toed into
DC almost unnoticed. But the audience adored the Cuban ballerina and
interrupted the show frequently with extended applause. And out came
Cuban flags with the endless standing ovation for such a rare and
delightful performance.
Despite the Micheletti government’s announced intention following
international and national pressure to lift the state of siege, the
notice has not yet been published in the official gazette, and rights
violations continue. The de facto government issued a new decree
allowing the government’s telecommunications agency to revoke licenses
for radio and television stations that transmit messages that promote
“social anarchy,” ensuring that censorship can continue. Police
continued excessive use of force against protestors, and some
protestors remain in detention. Meanwhile, hopes for dialogue increased
as the Organization of American States negotiators arrived, but no end
to the crisis is yet in sight.
Becoming Better Neighbors: Normally $15, now only $12!
Becoming Better Neighbors: Tales from Organizing for a Just U.S. Policy toward Latin America captures 25 years of LAWG's history through interviews with staff, coalition partners and activists. Learn how we worked together to move U.S. policy from war to peace in Central America, lift the ban on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba, and increase attention to human rights and the needs of victims of war in Colombia—among many other successful campaigns.
A Compass for Colombia Policy: $2, now for $1.50.
A Compass for Colombia Policy makes a detailed, persuasive case for a new U.S. strategy that would achieve our current policy goals while ending impunity and strengthening respect for human rights.
The Other Half of the Truth: Only $1.50.
The Other Half of the Truth: Searching for Truth, Justice, and Reparations for Colombia's Victims of Paramilitary Violence explores the limited opportunities for truth, justice and reparations available to victims of paramilitary violence through the official process established by the Colombian government following a demobilization agreement with paramilitary forces.
Ready, Aim, Foreign Policy!: Also $1.50.
The Defense Department's leadership of foreign military aid and training programs is increasing. The State Department, which once had sole authority to direct and monitor such programs, is ceding control. Moreover, changes to the U.S. military's geographic command structure could grant the military a greater role in shaping, and becoming the face of, U.S. foreign policy where it counts--on the ground.
The Forgotten Border: You guessed it, $1.50!
The nature of transborder migration and human rights violations against migrants at Mexico’s southern border has received scant attention. The Forgotten Border: Migration & Human Rights at Mexico's Southern Border sheds light on the abuse and exploitation experienced by too many transmigrants as they journey northward, as well as trends in Mexico’s practices regarding immigration and border enforcement policies.
Below the Radar: $1.50
Below the Radar: U.S. Military Programs in Latin America, 1997-2007 reflects LAWGEF's decade-long commitment to monitoring U.S. military programs in our hemisphere, a project that began out of concern that poor access to information made public and congressional oversight of such programs impossible.
Retreat from Reason: $1.50
Retreat from Reason: U.S.-Cuban Academic Relations and the Bush Administration, written by an international team of U.S. and Cuban scholars, examines the history of and regulations on academic, scientific, and cultural exchange between the United States and Cuba.
As some 30,000 paramilitaries are demobilized in Colombia, little discussion has taken place about what will happen to the land they stole through violence. Longing for Home: Return of Land to Colombia's Internally Displaced Population calls for steps to return land to its original owners and provide other assistance to Colombia's massive internally displaced population.
Tarnished Image: $1.50
Latin America’s tilt to the left has been used to explain a surge in “anti-American” sentiment. Tarnished Image: Latin America Perceives the United States locates a major source of this sentiment instead in recent U.S. policies to which Latin American publics, leaders, and press are reacting.
Erasing the Lines: $1.50
Erasing the Lines documents current trends in U.S. military programs with Latin America that blur the distinction between civilian and military roles and increase the Pentagon’s control over foreign military training.
Scapegoats of Juárez: $1.50
Scapegoats of Juárez: The misuse of justice in prosecuting women's murders in Chihuahua, Mexico details the history of the 410 women who have been murdered in Cuidad Juárez and Chihuahua City since 1993. The Mexican Government's failure to bring the perpetrators to justice is examined through an indepth look at the victims and their cases. The report makes recommendations for officials on both sides of the border for bringing the guilty to justice.
Blueprint for a New Colombia Policy: $1.50
Blueprint for a New Colombia Policy presents a positive set of recommendations on how to improve U.S. policy towards Colombia. At the expiration of the original six-year Plan Colombia, Blueprint urges the U.S. government to take a tougher stance on human rights, prioritize social aid rather than limitless military assistance, and urge peace negotiations with truth, justice, and reparations for victims.
September's Shadow: $1.50
September's Shadow examines how the U.S. response to 9/11 has affected U.S. - Latin American relations. Using polls, op-eds, aid trends, and case studies of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, and Cuba, the report details the fallout from the Bush Administration's foreign policy, as well as Latin American governments' cooperation on practical counterterrorism measures.
Blurring the Lines: $1.50!
Blurring the Lines: Trends in U.S. Military and Training Programs in Latin America reveals that the number of Latin American troops trained by the United States jumped 52% in one year and U.S. training increasingly blurs the line between military and civilian roles. This short, graph-filled publication gives you a snapshot of U.S. military programs in the hemisphere.
Going to Extremes: $3.00, now for $2.00.
Going to Extremes: The Aerial Spraying Program in Colombia examines the U.S.-funded aerial spraying program to eradicate coca production in Colombia. The report concurs that addressing drug abuse in the United States is a laudable goal. However, it suggests that this controversial strategy has harsh human and environmental costs, while doing little to curb drug abuse in the United States.
The Wrong Road: $1.50
The Wrong Road outlines Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's controversial security policies. These include permitting police and army to search homes and offices, tap phones and detain people without warrants, suspending basic civil liberties in war zones, and employing armed civilians as soldiers and informants.
Paint by Numbers: $1.50
U.S. military aid and training programs with Latin America have nearly tripled since the early 1990s. Paint by Numbers: Trends in U.S. military programs with Latin America and challenges to oversight, an analysis of U.S. military programs in Latin America, is based primarily on the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Training Report for 2002.
Troubling Patterns: The Mexican Military and the War on Drugs: $1.50
Troubling Patterns: The Mexican Military and the War on Drugs examines the human rights impact of the Mexican military’s growing role in the war on drugs. By analyzing 27 cases of human rights violations committed by the Mexican military during anti-drug activities, this study identifies distinct patterns of military abuse in carrying out counternarcotics missions.
We Will be Known by the Company We Keep: was $3.00, now only $2.00!
We Will Be Known by the Company We Keep draws upon the experience of U.S. Cold War policy in Latin America to offer eight simple lessons for the United States in the war on terrorism.
Although we now have new leadership in Washington, they still don't
understand what they need to do to stand up for human rights. They
think that by saying more about the importance of human rights and
democracy than the Bush Administration did, they are making progress.
But we know that until they actually change U.S. policies to support
victims of violence in places like Mexico and Colombia, they will
continue to be a part of the problem, not the solution.
Now, if we can get them to hear what we hear from people in Mexico and
Colombia and know what we know, they might change their tune.
So, this month we are launching a "Human Rights NOW" campaign, which will use innovative tactics to get them to make human rights come first in U.S. policy.
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.
Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are bringing national attention to a frightening dynamic developing along the U.S.-Mexico border. In spite of a large drop in immigration numbers, migrant deaths this year are threatening record increases!
As violence linked to organized crime in Mexico continues to mount and spending on a militarized approach to public security challenges expands, reports of human rights violations by members of the security forces are increasing. Policymakers in the United States and Mexico need to ask some hard questions about how to curb drug-related violence more effectively while respecting human rights. One answer includes a focus on improving and increasing accountability over police forces rather than drawing military forces into local law enforcement.
On September 17, 2009 LAWGEF joined with the Washington Office on Latin
America and the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center to tackle
these questions as part of a forum regarding police reform in Mexico.
As international and domestic concern mounts over the suspension of
constitutional rights declared by de facto Honduran President Roberto
Micheletti on September 26th, the government promises to restore
rights, but does not yet act to do so, and human rights violations
continue.
This seems like a simple concept. But lately, the Obama Administration
and the State Department seem to have forgotten it when dealing with
Latin America. Despite serious human rights abuses by Colombian and
Mexican security forces alike, the State Department just went ahead and
declared that both countries were meeting the human rights requirements
needed in order to receive more U.S. military aid.
Apelamos al gobierno de facto de Honduras para que restablezca las libertades civiles garantizadas en la Constitución, respeten los derechos humanos y la libertad de expresión, acepte la supervisión y mediación internacional, y retome el diálogo con la administración del constitucionalmente elegido Presidente Manuel Zelaya. Apelamos a todos los hondureños para que resuelvan este conflicto por medios pacíficos.
Estamos muy preocupados por la decisión del gobierno de Micheletti de suspender, mediante el decreto publicado en el boletín oficial el 26 de septiembre de 2009, las libertades civiles garantizadas constitucionalmente. También nos preocupan las violaciones a los derechos humanos y a la libertad de expresión que vienen teniendo lugar desde que regresara a Honduras el Presidente Manuel Zelaya el pasado 21 de septiembre. Apelamos al gobierno para que cese de inmediato con el uso abusivo de la fuerza por parte de los efectivos policiales y militares contra protestantes pacíficos; con las detenciones arbitrarias; y con el acoso, la vigilancia y los ataques contra defensores de los derechos humanos. Exhortamos al gobierno a poner fin a los actos de hostilidad y acoso dirigidos contra de la Embajada brasileña. Estamos sumamente preocupados por las restricciones que tiene la libertad de prensa, entre ellas la suspensión de las garantías de libertad de expresión ordenada en el decreto del 26 de septiembre y las medidas de corte de energía, ocupación y clausura de los medios de comunicación.
Exhortamos al gobierno de facto a aceptar de inmediato a los mediadores de la Organización de Estados Americanos y apelamos a la Corte Suprema y al Congreso de Honduras para que accedan al pedido de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos de realizar una visita para verificar las denuncias de abusos a los derechos humanos desde el 21 de septiembre. Asimismo apelamos al gobierno para que permita el ingreso de otros relatores especiales de la ONU y la OEA para vigilar la situación de los derechos humanos.
Por último, exhortamos al Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos a que abogue decididamente por la protección de los derechos humanos y las libertades civiles, y a que utilice todos los medios diplomáticos para restituir el orden constitucional en Honduras y propicie, junto con la Organización de los Estados Americanos, un proceso de diálogo nacional.
We call on the de facto government of Honduras to restore
constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties, respect human rights and
freedom of expression, accept international monitoring and mediation,
and establish dialogue with the constitutionally elected administration
of President Manuel Zelaya. We call on all parties in Honduras to
resolve this conflict through peaceful means.
We are greatly concerned about the Micheletti government’s decision to
suspend constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties through the decree
published on September 26th, 2009 in the official government
newspaper. We are also concerned about the violations of human rights
and freedom of expression that have taken place since President Manuel
Zelaya returned to Honduras on September 21st. We call upon the
government to immediately cease excessive use of force by police and
military directed at peaceful protestors; arbitrary detentions; and
harassment, surveillance and attacks against human rights defenders.
We urge the government to cease acts of hostility and harassment
directed at the Brazilian Embassy. We are gravely concerned about
restrictions upon the freedom of the press, including the suspension of
guarantees of freedom of expression included in the September 26th
decree and actions to cut off power to, occupy and close media outlets.
We urge the de facto government to immediately accept Organization of
American States mediators, and call upon the Honduran Supreme Court and
Congress to accept the request of the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights to conduct a visit to verify the reports of human rights
abuses since September 21st. We further call upon the government to
provide access to other UN and OAS special rapporteurs to monitor the
human rights situation.
Finally, we urge the U.S. State Department to advocate strongly for
protection of human rights and civil liberties, and to use all
diplomatic means to restore constitutional order in Honduras and
support, in conjunction with Organization of American States, a process
for national dialogue.
Jean Stokan
Director Institute Justice Team, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Reverend John L. McCullough
Executive Director and CEO Church World Service
Vicki Gass
Senior Associate for Rights and Development Washington Office on Latin America
Robert E. White
President Center for International Policy
Jennifer Atlee
Co-Director Quixote Center
Viviana Krsticevic
Executive Director Center for Justice and International Law
Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo, Executive Minister Michael Neuroth, Policy Advocate on International Issues United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
LaMarco Cable
Program Associate for Advocacy and Education Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ
James E. Winkler
General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society United Methodist Church
John A. Nunes
President and CEO Lutheran World Relief
T. Michael McNulty
Justice and Peace Director Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Sarah Stephens, Executive Director Bart Beeson, Program Associate Center for Democracy in the Americas
Mary B. Campbell
Associate Director for Companionship, Advocacy,
and Education for Latin America and
the Caribbean, Global Mission Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Erin Kliewer
Executive Director STITCH
Amanda Martin
Director Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
Eric LeCompte
National Organizer SOA Watch
John Lindsay-Poland and Susana Pimiento Chamorro
Co-Directors Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean
Marie Dennis
Director Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Nan McCurdy
President CEPRHI, Ecumenical Committee of English Speaking Church Personnel, Nicaragua
Stephen Coats
Executive Director US Labor Education in the Americas Project - USLEAP
Kristen Moller
Executive Director Global Exchange
Dave Robinson
Executive Director Pax Christi USA: National Catholic Peace Movement
Roz Dzelzitis
Executive Director May I Speak Freely Media
Laura Carlsen
Director, Americas Program Center for International Policy
Barbara Mecker
Staff Liaison, Latin America/Caribbean Committee Loretto Community
Sharon Hostetler
Executive Director Witness for Peace
Mary Ellen McNish
General Secretary American Friends Service Committee
Sarah Aird
Board Member Amnesty International USA
Manuel Pérez Rocha
Associate Fellow Institute for Policy Studies, Global Economy Project
Jim Vondracek
Managing Director Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN)
Jose Artiga
Executive Director SHARE Foundation
Ruth Messinger
President American Jewish World Service
The democratically elected President, Manuel Zelaya, is back in
Honduras! During the past three days, thousands of people have been
gathering in the streets outside the Brazilian Embassy--where Zelaya is
currently staying--to show their support. But the Honduran security
forces have used tear gas and violence to break up this demonstration.
What does this mean for a concerned activist in the United States like you? If you were ever going to act, now is the time!
On September 21st, President Manuel Zelaya returned clandestinely to
Honduras and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in the capital city
of Tegucigalpa. Honduran police fired tear gas to disperse Zelaya’s supporters gathered around the embassy. They alsolaunched tear gas at the human rights group COFADEH,
where men, women and children had taken refuge after the attack at the
embassy. People detained for violating a newly established curfew are
being held at the football stadium, where observers saw people who had
been severely beaten. The situation in the capital and elsewhere is
extremely tense.
Do you remember Kevin Costner's blind determination in the movie Field of Dreams
to build a baseball field based on the direction of a mysterious voice?
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has heard a similar voicing stating, "If you
build it, they won't come."
Today, LAWGEF joined labor, environmental, human rights, development and faith-based organizations in submitting written comments to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in response to a formal request to the public for opinions on the pending trade agreement. In their comments, these groups outlined the specific human rights and labor problems in Colombia, and urged the Obama Administration to insist upon seeing fundamental improvements on these issues before going forward with a free trade agreement. Violence against trade unionists and other obstacles to worker rights were outlined by the AFL-CIO and US Labor Education in the Americas Project. Some groups also outlined the potential impact of the trade agreement on the rural poor, including Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities.
Last week, a group of intrepid activists came together to raise awareness about the serious human rights issues that the Colombian government is seeking to hide with their recent campaign “Discover Colombia through its Heart.” Here are some great pictures shot of actions during the week by Brandon Wu from Public Citizen.
Just as the Bush Administration did countless times before, the Obama
Administration certified on September 8th that Colombia meets the human
rights conditions in law. The conditions, which refer to gross
violations of human rights by Colombia’s security forces and
collaboration between those forces and paramilitary or other illegal
armed groups, are attached to thirty percent of Colombia’s military aid.
You heard that right. With a massive humanitarian crisis on their hands, the Colombian government is spending $800,000 on an installation of more than forty, 8-13 ft tall heart sculptures in DC and New York this fall. This campaign, called "Colombia Is Passion," was supposedly designed to educate Americans about the "real" Colombia, a fun and beautiful country in which violence and human rights abuses are a thing of the distant past.
At this point, you might be asking, "Why this? Why now?"
On September 3, 2009, President Obama made some of his campaignpromises official, related to the Cuban-American community; the Officeof Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the Department of the Treasuryreleased new Cuba regulations. This was a step forward for theCuban-American community, but what about the rest of U.S citizens - you and me? These changes in OFAC regulations are welcomed, but are long past due. They don’t mean that we can stop urging a change for a just policy for everyone.
Check out the CNN video about the Juanes “Peace Without Borders” concert scheduled in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución for September 20 here and embedded below.
The Latin America Working Group mourns the passing of Senator Edward
Kennedy, a crusader for human rights and social justice in our nation
and around the world. As the Woodrow Wilson Center's Cynthia Arnson describes his remarkable efforts in Latin America, including his
outspoken efforts to denounce human rights abuses following the 1973
coup in Chile, “His name is recognized and revered among a whole
generation of Latin Americans who were persecuted or forced into exile
during the years of the dictatorships.”
We were disappointed and troubled to learn last week that the U.S. government had released the chunk of Merida Initiative funds that were supposed to have been withheld until the State Department reported that Mexico had demonstrated progress in key areas of human rights.
Soon after the news of the release was confirmed, the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, and the Fundar Center for Analysis and Investigation, three prominent Mexican human rights NGOs, released a public statement condemning the U.S. government’s action, as the “human rights obligations remain unfulfilled as Mexican security forces commit widespread, unpunished violations against the civilian population.”
As the media has been spinning many different stories about Merida Initiative funding, we've
been glad to see fellow human rights advocates getting the truth out there.
In recent months the Washington Post has provided useful and
hard-hitting coverage of some of the brutal tactics employed by
Mexico’s military and the Mexican government’s failure to hold soldiers
accountable for human rights violations. However, on August 13th the
Post’s editorial board published a disappointing op-ed arguing that
U.S. government could best assist Mexico by turning a blind eye to
these human rights violations. So earlier this week, Kenneth Roth,
Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, and Jorge G. Castañeda, the
former foreign minister of Mexico, challenged this short-sighted
assertion in a powerful letter to the editor.
Colombian pop star Juanes has planned his second “Peace without borders” concert for September 20th -- UN International Peace Day -- in Havana, Cuba. Cuban stars Silvio Rodriguez and salsa band, Los Van Van, along with Puerto Rican singer Olga Tañon have also committed and there is speculation that some U.S. artists have been invited too. Juanes has formally requested to sing in the Plaza of the Revolution between the statue to José Martí and the grand image of Che Guevara. The show will be free and open to a huge Cuban audience. Juanes’ intention is to "transcend politics,” so what’s the big deal?
Torture, illegal raids, and forced disappearances carried out by government soldiers with no accountability. Is this what we want our government to be funding in Mexico? No.
We know that you are anxious for a resolution of the situation in Honduras and are wondering what is going on. Where is President Zelaya? Will he return? What is the U.S. doing to move the negotiations forward?
Why is the United States expanding its military bases in Colombia?
What does this mean for U.S.-Colombia relations?
What does this mean for the region?
These are the questions on the lips of many Latin American leaders and activists as they react to the deal under works between Colombia and United States that would grant the U.S. military access to at least five additional Colombian military bases. This deal with Colombia comes quickly after Ecuador decided to end its agreement with the U.S. that allowed the U.S. military access to the Manta airbase on Ecuador’s Pacific coast.
On Saturday, Cuban President Raul Castro, while addressing the Cuban parliament, again announced that his government stood ready to discuss anything with the Obama Administration.
President Castro’s statement both reaffirms his government’s commitment to the principles of the 1959 revolution and his willingness to reestablish a cordial relationship with the United States. See coverage here.
We need democracy now, not later. And while all of us tell stories, time is going on, and it is the poor people who are suffering from torture and persecution. My last message is do not be silent during this time. To be silent is to be complicit. We need people speaking out; we need people like you to speak up for the Honduran people.
Activist groups nation-wide continue to rally against the travel ban. The Inter-religious Foundation for Community Organization/ Pastors for Peace’s annual U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan (video) successfully crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with 100 tons of aid bound for Cuba. Click here to see the press release about the crossing.
With the chaos following the June 28th coup and the shuttering of media outlets, it has been hard to learn about the state of human rights in Honduras. That’s why it’s so important to read the report that the Honduran Association of the Detained and Disappeared, COFADEH, released July 15t on the human rights situation in Honduras since the coup on June 28, 2009.
Outside the Base at Guantanamo Bay last week, the US Military and Cuban Frontier Brigade worked together in basic preparation for major disasters. This is not a new collaboration, but the Obama Administration opted to make the exercise public, in contrast to the previous Bush policy of keeping it secret. According to US Marine Corps General Jack Sheehan, the preparations are yet another sign of an “Incremental process” towards more cooperation. ''We've never advertised [the exercise]… because it was very controversial,'' he said. The Administration seems to be sending yet another “trial balloon,” with this announcement, following the talks on migration last week in New York.
The two neighbors are back at the negotiating table after a six year hiatus. Since President Obama pledged to relax travel restrictions for Cuban Americans in April, we’ve all been looking for signs of a next step from the administration.
These migration talks show a renewed willingness to engage in focused
discussions – one issue at a time. This limited engagement with Cuba
is part of a clear signal coming from Washington that diplomacy will
again be central to America’s foreign policy. And as Hillary Clinton
delivers a major speech this week at the Council on Foreign Relations
to outline her global priorities, Latin America has to be high on the
list.
“The Mexican army has carried outforced disappearances, acts of torture and illegal raids in pursuit of drug traffickers, according to documents and interviews with victims, their families, political leaders and human rights monitors.”
In a detailed exposé published on the front page of last Thursday’s Washington Post, reporters Steve Fainaru and William Booth draw on testimonies from victims, their family members, political officials and human rights monitors to illustrate some of the brutal tactics that the Mexican Army has employed in its efforts to combat drug related violence. Horrific and heartbreaking stories from rural and urban communities, including Puerto Las Ollas, Guerrero and Tijuana, Baja California, are representative of too many of the abuses that have occurred.
The coup deposing democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya that
took place in Honduras on June 28, 2009 has been condemned by the
Organization of American States and governments from around the
world --including the United States. Now the U.S. government needs to
stay on the right side of history and make its message unmistakable.
Will you take action to help ensure that the White House stands firmly
for democracy in Honduras and our Congress joins the deafening chorus
signaling, in no uncertain terms, that coups are a ghost of the past
and will not be tolerated?
*Please call your congressional representative. Tell her/him to support the Delahunt-McGovern House Resolution on Honduras!
“I urge all leaders in the Americas to see the Honduran crisis for what
it is: an urgent call for the profound social and institutional changes
our region has delayed for far too long.”
This is how Costa Rican President Oscar Arias closed his strongly
worded op-ed, which was published in the Washington Post on Thursday,
July 9th.
WOLA and LAWGEF would like to bring your attention to the July 9 Washington Post article “Mexico Accused of Torture in the Drug War: Army Using Brutality to Fight Trafficking, Rights Groups Say.” To read the full article, click here.
The article underscores the disturbing trend of the Mexican army carrying out forced disappearances, acts of torture, rape and illegal raids in pursuit of drug traffickers, as documented through interviews with victims, their families, political officials and human rights monitors. The growing number of military abuses is illustrated by amount of complaints received by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH). During the first six months of 2009 the CNDH received over 2,000 complaints against the army, a dramatic increase from the 1,231 registered for all of 2008.
“In Puerto Las Ollas, a mountain village of 50 people in the southern state of Guerrero, residents recounted how soldiers seeking information last month stuck needles under the fingernails of a disabled 37-year-old farmer, jabbed a knife into the back of his 13-year-old nephew, fired on a pastor, and stole food, milk, clothing and medication.
In Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, two dozen policemen who were arrested on drug charges in March alleged that, to extract confessions, soldiers beat them, held plastic bags over their heads until some lost consciousness, strapped their feet to a ceiling while dunking their heads in water and applied electric shocks, according to court documents, letters and interviews with their relatives and defense lawyers.”
Impunity for these abuses remains the norm as Mexico repeatedly fails to hold members of the armed forces who commit human rights violations accountable, undermining efforts to strengthen rule of law, reduce violence and improve public security. A CNDH official notes that “army doctors covered up some torture cases by omitting physical evidence from medical reports before suspects were handed over to civilian authorities.”
Both WOLA and LAWGEF have called attention to the risks associated with continued deployment of the Mexican military in counter-narcotics and other public security tasks that should rightfully correspond to the civilian police. However, as noted in this article, the “U.S. government has encouraged and, in part, funded, Calderón’s risky strategy of using the army to fight the cartels…” To build success in the long term, remedies to drug-related violence in Mexico require strong, accountable police forces and civilian institutions and a robust judicial sector―with the support and trust of the civilian population.
In the upcoming weeks, the U.S. State Department will deliver to Congress a report on Mexico’s human rights record, as obligated by requirements included in the first two tranches of U.S. counternarcotics assistance package to Mexico, the “Merida Initiative,” including information on Mexico’s efforts to improve police transparency and accountability, ensure investigations into human rights abuses by the federal police and military, consult with civil society on the implementation of this aid package and enforce the prohibition of testimony obtained through torture. As noted in the article, approximately $90.7 million―fifteen percent of the counter-narcotics and military funds allocated to Mexico as part of the Merida Initiative’s first two installments―cannot be released until Congress accepts the State Department’s findings. This is apart from the $24 million subject to the 15% withholding included in the FY09 supplemental appropriations bill that President Obama signed on June 24.
WOLA and LAWGEF strongly urge members of Congress to carefully examine this report and other documentation regarding the lack of accountability for abuses perpetrated by the Mexican army, such as those detailed in this article, when considering release of these funds.
Well, it wasn't the ringing call for respect for human rights and freedom of expression that we longed for --that's for sure. But when President Obama met with Colombian President Uribe on June 29th, it was clear that he had been listening to our message on Colombia.
LAWG calls for the restoration of democratic order in Honduras,
including return of democratically-elected leader Manuel Zelaya and the
restoration of full civil liberties and freedom of the press.
Today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Honduran President
Zelaya and announced, following the meeting, that Costa Rican President
Oscar Arias has agreed to act as a mediator and has been accepted by
both President Zelaya and the leader of the de facto government,
Roberto Micheletti.
“But it has been my view for several days that the most useful role
we could play is to convince all that are directly concerned, not only
President Zelaya, but also the de facto regime, the OAS, the UN,
everyone, that we needed to have a process where the Hondurans
themselves sat down and talked to each other,” said Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton at the daily press briefing. “And that is –
that’s been my goal, and I believe that we are on the brink of that
happening. I’m hoping that it actually occurs soon. So we have tried
through our good offices to get people to this point. And we’re very
grateful for the willingness of President Arias to serve in this
position, and we’re also appreciative of the efforts of the OAS as
well.”
Deeply concerned after learning of an assassination attempt against
human rights defenders in Guerrero, including Margarita Martín de las
Nieves, the Latin America Working Group, Human Rights Watch, the
Washington Office on Latin America and Due Process of Law Foundation
issued a letter to Ambassador Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, the Mexican
Assistant Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, urging
state and federal authorities to take immediate action to ensure the
safety of Margarita Martín de las Nieves and fully implement security
measures necessary to make certain that human rights defenders in
Guerrero can safely carry out their work without fear of reprisals. These protective measures
include those agreed to by the Mexican government within the context of
proceedings before the Inter-American system of human rights.
The situation in Honduras has only worsened since the coup on June 28th when the Honduran military rousted President Manuel Zelaya from his bed, and flew him to Costa Rica in his pajamas.
“Money for the victims, money for the displaced. No more money for
murder and waste!” Chanted the crowd gathered outside the White House
on Monday, June 29th. Inside, Colombian President Uribe was trying to
get the same approval from President Obama that he received from the
Bush Administration, and activists from around the city came to make
sure that he would not get it. Attracting media attention and stopping
traffic, they exposed the human rights abuses committed by the
Colombian military and demanded that the U.S. change its policies to
support victims of the ongoing violence.
Military vehicles with machine guns rolled through the streets of
Tegucigalpa, Honduras as the Honduran military ousted President Jose
Manuel Zelaya yesterday, June 28. This marks the first military coup
in Honduras in thirty years and brings back ugly memories of darker
times for democracy in Latin America.
As President Uribe visits the White House, the scandal regarding the Colombian intelligence agency Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) is widening daily. According to Colombia’s Attorney General, over the last seven years the DAS systematically and without warrants tapped the phones and email of Colombia’s major human rights groups, prominent journalists, members of the Supreme Court (including the chief justice and the judge in charge of the parapolitics investigation), opposition politicians, and the main labor federation. Not only did DAS personnel spy on their targets, they spied on their families. This includes taking photos of their children, investigating their homes, their finances, and their daily routines. DAS even wrote a detailed manual of spying methods for personnel to follow.
So it's going to happen. Colombian President Uribe will make his first
visit to the Obama White House next Monday to discuss the future of
Plan Colombia and the stalled U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
with President Obama. While the two leaders met at the Summit of the
Americas in April, this could be the moment when President Obama makes
clear his positions on Colombia. It's up to us to use this opportunity
to make sure that he sets the right course from the get-go by making
human rights a priority in U.S. policy towards Colombia.
In recent years, thousands of military-style rifles and other firearms have been purchased in the United States and trafficked over our southern border, ultimately ending up in the hands of Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). If the U.S. is to hold true to its promise of being a good neighbor, we know that bold moves must be made to effectively stem this illicit flow of U.S.-sourced firearms into Mexico. Yet the question arises: What steps need to be taken to achieve this?
The Obama administration’s State Department has released a “Summary and Highlights” document for its 2010 foreign assistance request, which offers some significant clues about where future aid is headed.
You and I know that military hardware isn't the
solution to Mexico's challenges--and it sure isn't the way to acknowledge the
United States' "shared responsibility" for spiraling drug violence. We need to
act today.
As a newcomer to the LAWG team, and inside the beltway advocacy, I have
been surprised over the last few months to learn what it actually takes
to achieve the change we want. Before I started, I assumed that if we
could simply bring the facts about real people who are suffering as a
result of U.S. policies in countries like Mexico and Colombia, we could
make it happen. But it turns out that there's so much more that goes on
in DC every day than I could have anticipated.
