Help Put Cuba, Colombia, and Immigration Reform in the National Spotlight! Join LAWG's Election Campaign...

The presidential primaries gave citizens of New Hampshire, Iowa, and other states a chance to bring national attention to important Latin America issues.  As Congress passes yet another massive military aid package for Colombia-- bringing the total to over $3 billion since 2000-- and Republican leaders undermine the will of Congress in an undemocratic move to keep the Cuba travel embargo in place, and immigration reform becomes a front-burner issue, the upcoming elections offer a great opportunity to send the message that we want our next president to forge a more just and humane relationship with Latin America. 

This is a moment when all eyes will be candidates' positions; click here for immigration positions and click here for positions on the Cuba embargo. We need to ask the presidential candidates why we're spending so much money on a failed drug policy in Colombia, why, after forty years, the United States still maintains an inhumane and ineffective embargo on Cuba, and why hundreds of people die each year crossing our border in search a better life -- and we need to tell them to make a change. 

Here’s how you can get involved in the campaigns:

1. Sign the national petition to the candidates and Congress on Colombia policy. Join the call for a more just and humane policy toward Colombia! Click here to sign the petition, which will be delivered to the candidates and Congress just before the debate over Colombia aid this year.

2. Ask a question at election events in your area.  Election events offer voters a chance to hear the candidates speak ask questions, and, sometimes, meet them face-to-face. If activists around the state and the country ask the same question of Senator Kerry and President Bush, they will see that these issues are of concern to many voters-- and that we're organizing to call for a change.  See LAWG's suggested question on Colombia for voters in Iowa and New Hampshire and create a similar one that applies to your state.  

3. Participate in other actions, including:

• holding media-friendly events, such as vigils, at places where candidates are speaking
• placing letters or paid advertisements in local papers pushing the candidates to take positions in favor of changing US policy toward Colombia or Cuba by communicating with them and their staff.  Click here to see a letter sent by New Hampshire activists to the Democratic presidential candidates last December.   

4. See the draft resolution on Cuba that activists in Iowa introduced at the caucuses on January 19th.

5. Read a memo from the Washington Office on Latin America on why Iowans support an end to the Cuba embargo. 

If you are interested in getting involved on any level with the primaries campaign on Colombia, please contact Elanor Starmer at 202-546-7010 or via

To find out more about how to raise Cuba issues in the primaries, please contact Philip Schmidt via email

or at 202-546-7010.

For more information on Immigration and current policy, and how to influence candidates, call Sean Garcia at 202-546-7010 or contact him via