2009

When we started working with faith-based and grassroots groups to plan this year's Days of Prayer and Action, Colombians were being forced to flee their homes at the staggering, almost unbelievable rate of 1,500 a day. By the time 2008 was said and done, nearly 400,000 had become internally displaced people (IDPs) and Colombia's displaced population had swelled to more than 4 million, overtaking Sudan in the seeming-blink-of-an-eye as the country with the world's most displaced people. We knew we had to do something to make this crisis visible to people here in the United State and to our government that has funded and supported so many of the policies that have exacerbated this humanitarian crisis.

It’s hard to believe—the Latin America Working Group has completed a quarter-century of campaigning for a just U.S. policy towards Latin America.  Right now we’re celebrating this history:  our collective work to shift U.S. support from war to peace in Central America; to increase U.S. aid for victims of hurricanes, earthquakes and war; to build U.S. counternarcotics policies that are more humane and effective; to promote border policies that respect the rights of border communities and migrants; and to end, once and for all, the Cuba travel ban. 

If you’ve called your member of Congress on these issues, if you’ve contributed to our cause, if you’ve sent our messages on to your friends, if you’re a member or supporter of any of the groups in our coalition—then this is your history, too.

The trial of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori “contributes to the strengthening of the rule of law and democracy in Peru and is a genuine milestone in the struggle against impunity in the region,” according to Jo-Marie Burt of George Mason University and Coletta Youngers of the Washington Office on Latin America. “It is the first time that a democratically elected head of state in Latin America has been found guilty of committing crimes against humanity.”

Last week Representative Raul Grijalva (AZ-7) introduced HR 2076, The Border Security and Responsibility Act of 2009.  The purpose of this bill is to restore the rule of law to the borderlands, protect communities, federal lands, and wildlife habitat from the destructive impacts of the border wall.

As our President addressed the gathering of the hemisphere’s leaders, the Summit of the Americas, in Trinidad-Tobago, he got the tone right. “There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations; there is simply engagement based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values,” he said in his official speech. In other settings, he went farther: “If our only interaction with many of these countries is drug interdiction, if our only interaction is military, then we may not be developing the connections that can, over time, increase our influence,” he said, noting that Cuba’s sending of doctors to care for the poor in other countries offered an example to the United States. He also stated he is “absolutely opposed and condemn any efforts at violent overthrows of democratically elected governments” (reported in The New York Times here and in The Washington Post, “Obama Closes Summit, Vows Broader Engagement with Latin America,” April 20, 2009).

In just two days, President Obama will embark on his first official trip to Latin America as he travels to Mexico following a string of visits from high-level U.S. officials in recent weeks.  Comments made by visiting U.S. officials mark a shift in the U.S. stance towards Mexico’s challenges with drug cartels - a shift that indicates the Obama Administration’s willingness to recognize U.S. responsibility for spiraling violence in Mexico.  This sentiment was clearly expressed by Secretary of State Clinton when she said, “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade…Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”

"For 25 years we knew absolutely nothing," said Alejandra García Montenegro, 26, who was a baby when her father, labor leader Fernando García, left for a meeting in February 1984—when Guatemala was under military rule—and never came home. "It was as if the earth had swallowed up my father and he had never existed," she said.

Call or email President Obama and let him know that you support comprehensive immigration reform, humane border policy, and a new approach to Mexico that recognizes our country’s “shared responsibility” for violence plaguing Mexico.

On Tuesday, March 31 at noon, Senators Dorgan (D-ND), Enzi (R-WY), and Dodd (D-CT), along with representatives of the American Farm Bureau, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Human Rights Watch, publicly announced S. 428, "The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act" in a press conference so well attended that reporters were standing in the halls. LAWG was there capturing the excitement of the moment and representing all of you.

Another wave of threats has once again swept across Colombia, this time warning of an imminent “social cleansing” of “undesirable” individuals from Colombian society. Colombian churches and others are reporting that the violence unleashed by these alleged paramilitary threats has already left three young people and seven fishermen dead in Chocó.

New OFAC regulations on travel to Cuba

On March 11, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) posted a new regulation, plus a guidance letter outlining how the provisions in the FY 09 omnibus spending bill would be implemented, as related to Cuban-American family travel and ag sales. See the pdf containing the regulation and the guidance letter here.

This is big news for all of us that have been fighting for change in Cuba policy; we should celebrate, and our job is not completed.  

Last week the U.S.-Cuba Cultural Exchange released a letter from over 900 U.S. artists, arts presenters, arts educators and cultural scholars in support of cultural relations with Cuba and “travel for all.”

Did you know that last year almost 1,500 Colombians* were violently forced from their homes each day? It's no wonder that Colombia now has more internally displaced persons than any other country in the world, even more than Sudan.

S. 428, "Travel for All," is the Senate companion to H.R. 874 introduced two weeks ago by Representatives Delahunt (D-MA) and Flake (R-AZ). The Senate bill, introduced by Senator Dorgan (D-ND) with Senators  Enzi (R-WY), Lugar (R-IN),  and Dodd (D-CT), calls for the lifting of travel restrictions so ALL Americans can travel freely to Cuba.

Big news! We now have legislation in the House of Representatives calling for an end to the travel ban on Cuba for all Americans. "Travel for All" instead of "Travel for None" or even "Travel for Some." Take action now: ask your representative to co-sponsor H.R. 874.

Dear Border Advocates,

The Obama Administration and the 111th Congress will need our encouragement, and yes, our pressure, to take the next steps to build humane and accountable border policy, comprehensive immigration reform, and respect for human rights in Mexico.

This is an exciting time to be active in our country's decision making process. There are certainly no shortage of opportunities to get involved in responding to our new President's call to "…pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

As President Bush in the waning days of his administration bestows the Presidential Medal of Freedom upon Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, we'd like to nominate as LAWG Heroes of the Year 2008 the brave and tireless Colombian human rights activists who are taking risks to end the Colombian army's killings of civilians.

Scapegoats details the use of scapegoats and the manipulation of the judicial system in Chihuahua, Mexico to resolve the spate of 410 women's murders there since 1993.