LAWG Blog - Latin America Working Group

Cuban Americans Denounce Florida Legislators’ Position of Cuba on the Terrorist List

by Emily Chow on June 12, 2013

Today sixty Cuban Americans from across the United States released an open letter to the Obama Administration strongly disagreeing with the position of Cuban-American legislators from Florida on retaining Cuba on the State Department’s list of “state sponsors of terrorism.” The signers state that the Cuban-American legislators from south Florida do not represent them or their views on Cuba, or the views of the majority of Cuban Americans. “The removal of Cuba from this serious tool of U.S. foreign policy is long overdue,” maintain the signers. Their full statement follows.

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

Secretary Kerry: What is Going on in Honduras?

by Omar Martinez on June 04, 2013

It has been four years since the coup in Honduras, and human rights activists are STILL facing threats and assassinations. The eruption of violence since then has reached new levels as the Honduran police have been accused of participating in extrajudicial killings, the same police agents that receive aid and training from the U.S. government.

Take action today to end U.S. support of violence and push for justice in Honduras!

:Action Alerts, Being Better Neighbors towards Latin America, Honduras, Omar Martinez

Vice President Biden’s Visit to Colombia: There Should Be Frankness Between Friends

by Lisa Haugaard on May 31, 2013

This post first appeared as an op-ed in Colombian newspaper El Espectador on May 26, 2013, as Vice President Biden met with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

Topics that the Vice President of the United States and the President of Colombia should discuss: Washington’s role in the peace process, justice for military abuses, and the Labor Action Plan...

:2013, Blog, Blog Posts, Colombia, Stand by Colombia's Victims of Violence

Justice Prevails in Guatemala: Ríos Montt Found Guilty

by Kelsey Alford-Jones, Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA and Lisa Haugaard, Latin America Working Group on May 14, 2013

Kelsey Alford-Jones is the Director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA

“Justice is a right for victims and contributes to rule of law in our country. We believe that for a true peace to exist in Guatemala there must first be justice,” said Guatemalan Judge Yassmin Barrios. She declared General Efraín Ríos Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity on Friday May 10, a day that will be etched forever in Guatemala’s collective memory.

Ríos Montt was convicted of masterminding and overseeing the massacre of 1,771 Ixil Mayans in the department of El Quiché, as well as the forced displacement of 29,000 people, and 1,485 acts of sexual violence and acts of torture during the early 1980s. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison and was ordered into police custody. His director of military intelligence, José Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, was absolved of both crimes...

:2013, Being Better Neighbors towards Latin America, Blog Posts, Guatemala, Latin America, Lisa Haugaard

LAWGEF Calls for Justice and Protection of Migrant Rights Defenders in Mexico

by Jennifer Johnson on May 09, 2013

Migrants in transit through Mexico suffer from pervasive violence – threats, physical abuse, kidnapping, murder, extortion – at the hands of criminal groups or complicit and corrupt public officials. In suit, the brave defenders who provide humanitarian assistance and denounce abuses against migrants find themselves under attack, enduring harassment, death threats, violence, and smear campaigns.

In 2012, LAWGEF’s Executive Director Lisa Haugaard and I, Senior Associate for Mexico Policy Jenny Johnson, travelled to Saltillo, Coahuila in northern Mexico and Tenosique, Tabasco in southern Mexico as part of an international observation mission sponsored by Project Counselling Service to meet with migrant defenders from those regions. During a week of intense discussions, we heard testimony after testimony describing threats and extraordinarily difficult security conditions that jeopardized these defenders’ ability to carry out the important work necessary to protect this vulnerable population.