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.
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 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?
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.
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.
The situation in Honduras has only escalated since last week. Civilians in the streets of Tegucigalpa and throughout the country side continue to face brutal repression by military officials. Civil liberties remain gravely affected, including freedom of the press. We need you to contact your elected officials, and urge them to send the right message to the coup government currently in Honduras: Coups will not be tolerated.
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!
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.
On June 5th, violence erupted near Bagua, Perú when members of the
country’s security forces confronted indigenous people who were
protesting recent governmental decrees that, if fully enacted, would
allow logging, drilling, and mining on indigenous lands without the
prior consultation of the communities. According to various sources,
the protestors had been blocking roads and waterways peacefully when
ground forces and helicopters were sent in to break up the
demonstration. Many people, both indigenous protestors and members of the security forces,
were killed and wounded in the ensuing clash.
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 the personalities who participated in creating the history. This publication follows the story of LAWG as an organization from its beginning in 1983 through 2008.
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.
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.”
As our country is reflecting upon the use of torture by U.S. interrogators since 9/11, some history and literature from Latin America’s dirty wars offers insights. A new translation of Uruguayan author Mario Benedetti’s play Pedro and the Captain, about to be released by Cadmus Editions, provides an unblinking look into the psychology behind such abuses.
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 Timeshere and in The Washington Post, “Obama Closes Summit, Vows Broader Engagement with Latin America,” April 20, 2009).
"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.
Port of Spain, Trinidad will host the Fifth Summit of the Americas from April 17-19. Started in 1994, the summit aims to foster inter-American dialogue between 34 heads of state concerning current social, economic, and political challenges facing the Western Hemisphere. The United States has used past summits narrow-mindedly to push a free-trade agenda.
But now is a new moment for U.S.-Latin American relations. LAWG has been organizing to encourage President Obama to try a new approach to Latin America and the Caribbean and to use the Summit to deliver an inspiring message that unites us with our neighbors. See a letter from faith-based and other groups.
Below is a LAWG staffer’s dream of what the President should say to the hemisphere’s assembled leaders. To see what the President actually said, check out our website after April 19th.
I’m glad to be here in the Port of Spain for the Fifth Summit of the Americas, joined by leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as leaders of civil society and business.
Let me start by making something absolutely clear: the era of Washington demanding that the region’s freely-elected governments do its bidding, and take its advice without complaint, is over. Today, the era of mutual respect and partnership begins. If this economic crisis has taught us anything, it’s that neither the United States nor Wall Street knows what makes good political or economic sense for all nations at all times. We won’t always agree, but the door to my office is open. I’m ready to listen.
To demonstrate how serious I am, and how serious the good people of my country are, about forging a new relationship, I want to announce that today I am signing an executive order restoring the rights of most Americans to travel to Cuba without asking the U.S. government for permission. And I am sending a message to the U.S. Congress signaling that I favor their action to definitively end the travel ban for all Americans. It’s clear that Americans favor “travel for all” rather than “travel for some.” Soon the United States will no longer be the only nation in the Western Hemisphere without diplomatic relations with Cuba.
The current economic crisis has helped us see anew that our bonds are stronger than we may sometimes think. We are bound not only by our common humanity, but also by shared dreams of peace and prosperity. And in trying times like these, we’re brought together by everyday experience. After traveling to hard-hit communities in my country and meeting at the White House awhile back with President da Silva, I know that the laid off auto worker in the United States and the person struggling to keep his or her job at the airliner plant in Brazil are kept awake at night by the same nagging questions: How long before the next paycheck? Will we be able to keep our home? How is this going to affect my children’s future?
Weathering this crisis is our priority, but how we respond matters. Our policies must be bold enough to meet the magnitude of the challenges before us, but they also have to be smart enough to avoid past mistakes and compassionate enough to keep vulnerable people from slipping further towards the margins of our societies. We must recognize the crushing power of persistent poverty and inequity, which I witnessed firsthand growing up in Indonesia, and pursue economic growth that creates broadly shared opportunity and dignity. And as we respond, we have to pay more attention to the plight of indigenous and Afro-descendant populations who, after centuries of discrimination and exclusion, remain living on the frontlines of poverty today.
There’s a lot of work to be done, but the United States is ready to lend a helping hand. In the coming weeks, my administration will be requesting from Congress significant increases in social, economic, and humanitarian aid for Latin America and the Caribbean and I hope that this important assistance makes its way to the people who need it most before long.
The United States seeks peace and prosperity for all who desire it. We now know that these goals cannot be accomplished through military might, but only by a strong commitment to human rights and the rule of law. That’s why we’re moving to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and, recognizing that “justice too long delayed is justice denied,” we’ll continue to send aid to strengthen judicial systems plagued by staggering rates of impunity. And the United States will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with human rights defenders wherever and whenever they face threats or attacks, or have their legitimacy called into question, because history teaches us that they are essential actors on the stage of democracy.
We’re ready to be better friends to you, our neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean. We’re ready to lead and we’re ready to listen. I hope this Summit marks the beginning of a new era of positive relations between all of our nations. I’m looking forward to listening to your ideas on how our nations can work together to achieve our common dreams and vanquish our common challenges.
Thank you.
--The “dream speech” was written by Travis Wheeler and background information was researched and compiled by Christa Schelter.
El Salvador celebrated a historical presidential election on Sunday,
March 15th. The Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN),
the former Salvadoran guerilla movement during the 12-year civil war,
won 51.3% to 48.7% for the conservative ARENA party. Mauricio Funes,
the president-elect, became the first left-leaning president in the
country’s history. His victory puts an end to the twenty years of ARENA
party rule and makes El Salvador the latest to join a growing number of
Latin American countries that have democratically chosen leftist
governments.
We're working 'round the clock to promote a more just U.S. policy in
Latin America. But to make sure our voices are heard in the new
administration and Congress, we need to build a grassroots movement
that's BIGGER, LOUDER, and MORE EFFECTIVE.
On March 11, 2009, LAWG delivered the following petition, signed by approximately 4,500 people, calling for a new U.S. approach to Latin America and the Caribbean. As you can see, President Obama was a little busy greeting passerbys and well-wishers at Union Station in Washington, DC, so we only had a few minutes to make our pitch. But not to worry, copies were faxed and mailed to the White House, too, so he'll have plenty of time to kick back and read the whole thing. Thanks to all of you who signed the petition and helped spread the word!
March 11, 2009
Dear Mr. President:
In the early days of your presidency, you've taken concrete actions to promote human rights, return America to the rule of law, and restore our image abroad. We hope this continues and we thank you for moving quickly to take the initial steps necessary to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
We write to ask you to join us in supporting a new approach to U.S. relations with Latin America, one that unites us with our neighbors and reflects our values of generosity, peace, justice, and human rights.
We call on you to:
Invest in people, not military might. For too long, we’ve let ourselves be known to our neighbors mainly by the guns we send and the soldiers we train. The United States must instead support public health, education, relief for victims of war and natural disasters, and micro-credit programs that will help lift people out of grinding poverty and reduce inequality. Our trade policies must be fair and improve the lives of poor and middle-class workers on both sides of our hemisphere.
Put human rights front and center. To restore its image and promise in the region—and to once again live up to our values—the United States must first close Guantanamo and enact safeguards to prevent torture. We must also stand by the many courageous individuals calling for change in their own societies when they face threats or attacks.
Take action to end the travel ban on Cuba that senselessly divides our families and countries. And call on Congress to finish the job—for ALL Americans. Doing so restores the fundamental right of American citizens to travel and would demonstrate to all of Latin America that a new day has dawned in our relationship with the hemisphere—and it’s the right thing to do. Open exchange with our neighbors is good diplomacy.
Actively work for peace in Colombia. In a war that threatens to go on indefinitely, the immense suffering of the civilian population demands that the United States takes risks to achieve peace. If the United States is to actively support peace, it must stop endlessly bankrolling war and help bring an end to the hemisphere’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Get serious—and smart—about drug policy. Our current drug policy isn’t only expensive and ineffective, it’s also inhumane. Instead of continuing a failed approach that brings soldiers into Latin America's streets and fields, we must invest in alternative development projects in the Andes and drug treatment and prevention here at home.
Support a sensible and humane approach to border enforcement. It’s time to move beyond the relentless focus on enforcement that’s harmed communities on both sides of the border and forced migrants into more dangerous crossing points without achieving security. Involve border communities in border solutions and achieve comprehensive immigration reform.
Keep the door to the Oval Office open. We encourage you to honor your campaign pledge to bring a new tone, in addition to new policies, to Washington by actively seeking the perspectives of our Latin American neighbors. To restore our image and integrity abroad, we must listen first.
We look forward to working with you to build a just policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean that renews our historic commitment to defending human rights and unites us with our neighbors.
Sincerely,
*This letter was signed by approximately 4,500 people.
Welcome to the Latin America Working Group’s new blog—the LAWG Blog
(sorry, we couldn’t resist the name). We’ll be bringing you updates on
U.S. policy towards Latin America, inspiring stories from Latin
American human rights activists, tips for what you can do to make
change—all in the service of building a more just U.S. policy towards
our neighbors to the south.
Yes, friends, it is a moment of hope. But change never comes easy, and change in U.S. foreign policy is especially hard to come by. If we want to see foreign policies we can believe in, we need to organize to make any part of our dreams come true.
As you take office, you know full well how much we need you to take a new approach to our nation’s economy and the war in Iraq. But we also urge you to take a new approach to U.S. relations with our neighbors to the south.
We have put up barriers rather than lent a helping hand.
Lending our neighbors a helping hand should not be defined, as it has for too long, as arming, equipping and training the region’s militaries. Today, half of U.S. aid to Latin America goes to the military and police.
Yet Latin America still faces enormous challenges of poverty and remains one of the world’s most unequal societies. The global economic crisis will likely take a heavy toll on Latin American and Caribbean nations. Most urgently, the high price of food will mean that too many face not just poverty and unemployment, but also hunger. The recent devastation of crops and food supplies by multiple hurricanes in the Caribbean will exacerbate this danger, especially for Cuba.
We urgently implore you to redirect U.S. aid towards public health, education, disaster relief, microcredit, and small-scale agriculture. And we ask you to build a fair trade policy that improves the lives of poor and middle-class workers and farmers on both sides of our hemisphere. Unfair trade agreements and abandonment of investment in small-scale agriculture drive Latin American citizens to cross our borders in search of a better life.
Vibrant social movements throughout Latin America—which in recent years have been elected to, or influenced, governments—are challenging economic policies that have failed to reduce poverty and inequality. These movements, which include indigenous and Afro-descendent populations who have suffered centuries of discrimination, should be included, not feared. We ask you to pay special attention to the indigenous and Afro-descendant populations who are organizing for their livelihoods, land rights, and civil rights.
It’s time to take a fresh look at our failed, expensive counternarcotics policy that leaves U.S. citizens without access to drug treatment programs and, in Latin America, brings the army into the streets and fields. Just since 2000, the United States has spent $6 billion in Colombia; yet the level of coca production in Colombia and the Andean region remains just as high as at the program’s start. Inhumane aerial spraying programs that destroy farmers’ food crops and forced eradication without alternatives produce neither good will nor results. We must invest in helping poor farmers switch permanently away from illicit drug crops abroad and in effective treatment and prevention at home.
We ask you to put human rights front and center in your policy towards Latin America. We need you to stand with human rights defenders wherever they face threats and attacks for calling for justice. The United States should also stand with Latin Americans who are struggling to achieve justice for past abuses—because truth and an end to past impunity pave the way to future justice.
We need the United States to focus aid and diplomacy on regional human rights problems, strengthening the rule of law and supporting independent and effective judiciaries. But this focus must be fair, impartial, and balanced. On the one hand, countries that have been considered allies have received a free pass; this must end. On the other hand, valid concern for human rights and democratic institutions should not escalate into bellicose rhetoric and policies, and democratically-elected governments should be respected.
We ask you to recognize the most severe human rights and humanitarian crisis in the hemisphere—in Colombia, where hundreds of thousands of people flee their homes from violence in a war without end. The United States must use tough diplomacy to encourage the Colombian army to end abuses and sever all links with abusive paramilitary forces. The United States must demand real progress on ending violence towards trade unionists and ensuring justice in these cases before any trade agreement goes back to the table. The United States must increase support for humanitarian aid for those displaced by war.
And if the United States wants to begin to actively support peace, it cannot continue to endlessly bankroll war.
But if we want to put human rights front and center, we must first live up to our own ideals. Abu Ghraib did tremendous damage to the United States’ image in Latin America as well as the rest of the world, and Guantanamo continues to do so. A clean break with this past by closing Guantanamo and reestablishing safeguards to prevent torture and abuses by our own forces will help to repair this damage.
The relationship between the United States and Cuba is at a potentially transformational moment. Coinciding with new visions for change in this country, change is also occurring in Cuba, with more reform-minded leadership and the desire for improved government-to-government relations with the United States. The past eight years have brought a reduction in citizen contacts, increased enforcement of cruel U.S. sanctions, and accelerated curtailment of Americans’ fundamental right to travel. Cuba is at the crossroads for any new U.S. policy toward Latin America; your administration’s approach to Cuba will be seen by our Latin American allies as a symbol of Washington’s approach to the entire region. We cannot afford to get it wrong. Therefore, we ask you to support the lifting—for ALL Americans—of the travel ban that divides the U.S. and Cuban people—as a demonstration to our Latin America neighbors that a new day has dawned in our relationship with them, and because it is the right thing to do.
A relentless focus on border enforcement has put a symbolic as well as a physical wall between the United States and Latin America. Money poured into poorly-thought-out fencing and other forms of enforcement have harmed communities on both sides of the border and have driven migrants to more dangerous cross points without guaranteeing gains in security. It is time for a more thoughtful approach that includes and involves border communities—and recognizes the need for immigration reform.
And indeed we ask you to do the hard political work to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. You must recognize the aspirations and contributions of the millions of members of our communities who have only sought to build a better life for their families. We know it is not easy, but it is necessary, sensible, and just.
We encourage you to listen to the voices of Latin Americans whose stories and unique perspectives must be heard in Washington if we are to help our neighbors lift millions out of grinding poverty and build more equal and just societies.
We look forward to working with you to build a just policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean that renews our historic commitment to defending human rights and unites us with our neighbors.
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.
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.
