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She has been named everything from the "princess of technological communication" and the "most famous living Cuban not named Castro" to simply "Cuba's dissident blogger" in an array of headlines in newspapers across the nation from the Miami Herald to the New York Times. Bluntly said, if you follow Cuba news and have not heard the name, "Yoani Sanchez," you must be living under a rock. Regardless of your opinion of Yoani Sanchez, whether you think she's the greatest thing since sliced bread and "the voice of Cubans on the island," or think she's trying to milk her fifteen minutes of fame, she has elevated the media's attention to the broken U.S. relationship with Cuba, which is a step in the right direction, period.

3.20.2013_Yoani_Sanchez_2 Marco Rubio, Yoani Sanchez and Bob Menendez in Washington, D.C. Photo: Office of Sen. Marco Rubio

:2013, Blog Posts, Cuba, End the Travel Ban on Cuba

At the Latin America Working Group, we were so saddened to hear about the untimely death of Stephen Coats, the director of the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP), a participating organization in the Latin America Working Group

:2013, Blog, Blog Posts, Colombia, Lisa Haugaard

Human Rights Challenges in Mexico, Part 1: The Use of Torture

by Emma Buckhout, LAWG Intern on March 28, 2013

Since 2006, the deterioration of Mexico’s security situation due to the Mexican government’s “war on organized crime” has made international headlines. The violence has affected tens of thousands of citizens and exacerbated long-standing issues of corruption and institutional weakness. During the administration of former President Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, CNDH) saw a five-fold increase in complaints of human rights violations by Mexican soldiers and federal police, including torture, rape, extrajudicial execution, arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearance. At the same time, human rights defenders have found it increasingly difficult to carry out their work due to threats to their safety. Recently elected president Enrique Peña Nieto has firmly expressed his commitment to making sure that “rights established on paper become reality,” but his government has yet to make concrete changes that would reflect this commitment.

During the "Human Rights Challenges in Mexico" event, co-hosted by the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, the Washington Office on Latin America, the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, and Just Associates, Stephanie Brewer (Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center) discussed the use of torture as it relates to Mexico's criminal justice system. The following is a translation...

:2013, Blog Posts, Mexico, Promote Justice for Mexico and the Borderlands

Human Rights Challenges in Mexico, Part 2: Attacks on Human Rights Defenders

by Emma Buckhout, LAWG Intern on March 28, 2013

:2013, Blog Posts, Mexico, Promote Justice for Mexico and the Borderlands, Voces

Why the U.S. Should be Paying Attention to Cuba

by Karina Marquez, LAWG Intern on March 27, 2013

One of the biggest complaints about the Cuban government from the exile community is that it “lacks transparency.” During a presentation given at American University by Dr. Jose R. Cabañas, the current Cuban Chief of the Cuban Interests Section (aka Ambassador) to the United States, it is clear that this new blueprint for economic reform in Cuba is quite the contrary, and actually very transparent. The “Proyecto de lineamientos de la política económica y social del partido y la revolución,” (Communist Party’s Policy Guidelines for Social and Economic Reform) simply referenced as the “lineamientos” (policy guidelines), is essentially a rubric of reforms that have been proposed and approved by the Cuban National Assembly. There are over 300 reforms that have been approved and are now in the implementation phases. Some of these significant changes include the expansion of the private business sector, legalizing the sale of homes and automobiles and a implementing a less bureaucratic migration policy...

cabanas Cuban Ambassador Jose R. Cabañas Photo Credit: American University