On the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the U.S-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists. Indeed, two years after President Obama and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed the Labor Action Plan with the stated purpose of addressing U.S. concerns about labor and human rights violations in Colombia, the basic conditions have still not been met.
Tell the Department of State and the Department of Labor that a U.S. trade agreement with a country that has such a terrible labor rights record is unacceptable. Demand transparency in the TPP negotiations, telling Congress to oppose an agreement that is bad for workers and consumers at home and abroad. Scroll down past the Spanish to enter your information, and be sure to click "Use Selected Recipients," after entering your initial information.
----
En el aniversario del primer año de la implementación del Tratado de Libre Comercio entre los EE.UU y Colombia, Colombia sigue siendo el país más peligroso para sindicalistas. Dos años después de que el presidente Obama y el presidente colombiano Juan Manuel Santos firmaron el Plan de Acción Laboral con el propósito de abordar las preocupaciones estadounidenses sobre los abusos de los derechos humanos y laborales en Colombia, todavía no se han cumplido las condiciones básicas.
Dígale al Departamento del Estado y al Departamento de Trabajo que un tratado de comercio estadounidense con un país con antecedentes laborales tan terribles no es aceptable. Exija transparencia en las negociaciones del TPP, diciendo al Congreso que se oponga a un tratado que es dañino para l@s trabajadores y l@s consumidores, tanto en los EE.UU como en el extranjero. Llene su información abajo, y por favor haga clic en "Use Selected Recipients" después de llenar su información inicial.
For over a month, the Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) has been engaged in peaceful civil disobedience. The Blanco River, an important source of water for the communities that live along its edge, is threatened with privatization, reports COPINH. Gathered in protest, they are demanding their right to prior, informed consultation in projects and policies that impact their communities.
COPINH and international observers have reported violent actions and intimidation against peaceful protesters on behalf of Honduran police and security forces. The night of May 6, police were transported to the roadblock in vehicles of the private company that owns the project, according to COPINH's recent press release. The protesters expect them to return.
Tell the U.S. embassy in Honduras that indigenous rights are human rights. The U.S. cannot be complacent! Scroll past the Spanish below to edit and send your letter.
--
Por más de un mes el Consejo de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH) se ha dedicado a manifestarse pacíficamente con la desobediencia civil. El Río Blanco, una fuente importante de agua para las comunidades que viven a lo largo del río, está amenazado con la privatización, reporta COPINH. Manifestando junt@s, exigen su derecho a la consulta informada y previa en proyectos y políticas que impacten sus comunidades.
COPINH y l@s observadores internacionales han reportado acciones violentas e intimidación contra l@s manifestantes pacífic@s por parte de la policía hondureña y las fuerzas de seguridad. La noche del 6 de mayo la policía llegó a la toma de la carretera en los vehículos de la compañía privada que es dueño del proyecto, según un comunicado recién del COPINH. L@s manifestantes anticipan su regreso.
Dígales a l@s funcionari@s en la embajada de los EEUU en Honduras que los derechos indígenas son derechos humanos (carta en inglés). ¡Los EEUU no pueden ser complacientes! Edite y envíe su carta abajo.
Of 7,441 human rights complaints filed against the Mexican military from 2006-2012, not one has resulted in a conviction in Mexico's civilian court system. Mexico's own National Human Rights Commission has identified over 2,000 cases of forced dissapearances with clear involvement of the federal security forces. These figures cannot begin to convey the devastating impacts this crisis has had on the daily lives of thousands of Mexican citizens. In light of the human rights crisis Mexico is experiencing, Representatives Jim Moran (D-VA) and Ted Poe (R-TX) are circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter to members of the House of Representatives, asking their colleagues to join them in signing a letter to Secretary of State Kerry, urging him to make human rights central to the bilateral agenda between Mexico and the U.S.
Contact your Representative TODAY to encourage her/him to sign Reps. Moran and Poe's letter. The deadline is Friday, April 19th. Scroll past the Spanish below to fill in your information and send your message.
--
De las 7.441 denuncias en contra de las fuerzas militares mexicanas entre el 2006 y el 2012, ni siquiera una ha resultado en una condena dictada por el sistema judicial civil de México. La Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos de México ha identificado más de 2.000 casos de desapariciones forzadas en las que que han participado miembr@s de las fuerzas de seguridad federales. Estas cifras no pueden comunicar los impactos tan devastadores en las vidas diarias de miles de ciudadan@s mexican@s. A la luz de esta crisis, los Representantes Jim Moran (D-VA) y Ted Poe (R-TX) están encabezando la circulación de una carta estilo "Estimad@ Colega" a l@s miembr@s de la Cámara de Representantes, solicitando firmas de otr@s congresistas, exigiendo al Secretario del Estado Kerry que haga los derechos humanos un tema central en la agenda bilateral de México y los EEUU.
Póngase en contacto con su Representante HOY y dígale a ella/él que firme la carta "Estimad@ Colega" de los Representantes Moran y Poe. La fecha límite es el viernes, 19 de abril. Llene su información abajo y envíe su mensaje.
In 2011 we convinced President Obama to issue an executive order that liberalized the United States’ Cuba travel regulations. This expanded general licenses for academic and religious travel and re-instated specific licenses for people-to-people travel. Now we want to push the envelope even further, asking President Obama to grant general licenses for ALL purposeful categories of travel. This would eliminate the laborious license application process, as well as the majority of the red tape that prevents licensable travel to Cuba. Representative Sam Farr (D-CA 20th) is leading this initiative by circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter to members of the House of Representatives, asking them to join him in signing a letter to the President asking him do just that.
Contact your Representative TODAY to encourage her/him to sign Rep. Farr's letter that supports granting general licenses for all the current categories of travel to Cuba. The deadline is Monday, April 22nd. Scroll past the Spanish below to fill in your information and send your message.
--
En 2011 le convencimos al presidente Obama que emitiera una orden ejecutiva que liberalizara las regulaciones que rigen viajar de los Estados Unidos a Cuba. Esta orden ejecutiva expandió las licencias generales para los viajes académicos y religiosos, y reinstaló las licencias específicas para los viajes persona-a-persona. Ahora queremos presionar aún más, pidéndole al Presidente Obama que conceda las licencias generales para TODAS las categorías identificadas en las regulaciones. Esto eliminaría el laborioso proceso de solicitud de licencia, así como la mayoría de los trámites burocráticos que impiden los viajes licenciables a Cuba. El Representante Sam Farr (D-CA 20) está encabezando esta iniciativa mediante la circulación de una carta "Estimad@ Colega" a l@s miembr@s de la Cámara de Representantes, solicitando firmas de otr@s congresistas para presionar al Presidente para hacer eso.
Póngase en contacto con su Representante HOY y dígale a ella/él que firme la carta "Estimad@ Colega" de Representante Farr, que apoya la concesión de licencias generales para todas las categorías actuales de viaje a Cuba. La fecha límite es el lunes, 22 de abril. Llene su información abajo y envíe su mensaje.
This month Colombian government and FARC negotiators are in Havana engaging in their eighth round of peace talks.Land development is the number one item on the peace talks agenda, as land issues are central to Colombia’s decades-long conflict, and land restitution is essential to a lasting peace. Between 1980 and 2010, 6.8 million hectares of land in Colombia changed hands, a principal factor in what is now the largest internal displacement crisis in the world. Among the displaced are the residents of Pitalito, a small settlement of about 20 families in northern Colombia. The community has been displaced twice by armed groups, including on January 16, 2010, when a retired army official named Juan Manuel Fernández showed up in Pitalito with ten heavily armed men. Fernández returned two weeks later with men dressed in army uniforms to raze the families’ houses and menace the community's residents.
Pitalito is one community, of many, which illustrates the need for a negotiated peace that includes land restitution and guarantees that victims returning to their land will be safe from future violence and intimidation. The U.S. government can play an important role during and after the peace process, from supporting programs for internally displaced populations and returning communities, to demanding justice for extrajudicial killings and the dismantling of paramilitary successor groups. A lasting peace will require aid for peace, not aid for war, to help create the conditions to reach an agreement at the table and to implement that agreement on the ground.
Tell your Representative to sign the Dear Colleague letter to advocate for the U.S. to support peace with justice in Colombia! Scroll down past the Spanish below to enter your information.
--
Este mes, l@s negociador@s del gobierno colombiano de las FARC se encuentran en La Habana, participando en su octava ronda de las negociaciones de paz. El asunto de la tierra es el principal punto de la agenda en la agenda. La tenencia de la tierra es fundamental en las largas décadas de conflicto en Colombia, y la restitución de tierras es esencial para una paz duradera. Entre 1980 y 2010, 6,8 millones de hectáreas de tierra en Colombia cambiaron de manos, mayormente a través de los grupos armados ilegales, un factor principal en lo que es actualmente la mayor crisis del desplazamiento en el mundo. Entre l@s desplazad@s se encuentran l@s habitantes de Pitalito, un pequeño asentamiento de unas 20 familias en el norte de Colombia. La comunidad ha fue desplazada dos veces por grupos armados, incluyendo el 16 de enero del 2010, cuando un oficial jubilado del ejército llamado Juan Manuel Fernández se presentó en Pitalito, con diez hombres fuertemente armados, vestidos con uniformes del ejército. Dos semanas después, Fernández volvió con hombres vestidos con uniformes del ejército para arrasar las casas de las familias y amenazar a l@s residentes de la comunidad.
Pitalito es una comunidad de much@s que demuestra la necesidad de una paz negociada que incluya la restitución de tierras, y la garantía de que las víctimas que regresen a su tierra sean protegidas de futura violencia e intimidación. El gobierno de los EEUU puede desempeñar un papel importante durante y después del proceso de paz, apoyando a programas para las poblaciones desplazadas y las comunidades que regresen; y exigiendo justicia por los asesinatos extrajudiciales y presionando por el desmantelamiento de los grupos paramilitares sucesores. Una paz duradera requerirá una ayuda para la paz, no para la guerra, para ayudar en crear las condiciones necesarias para alcanzar un acuerdo en la mesa negociadoara, y para implementar el acuerdo.
¡Díle a su Representante que firme la carta "Estimad@ Colega," instando que los EEUU respalde una paz con justicia en Colombia! Llene su información abajo.
On March 23, 2013, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. continues to fund Honduran police units under the command of the Honduran National Police Chief, Col. Juan Carlos "The Tiger" ("El Tigre") Bonilla, who has been credibly accused of three extrajudicial killings that occurred in 2002, and links to 11 more deaths and disappearances. According to the AP, Honduran prosecutors have documented some 200 death squad-style attacks in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in the last three years, showing that this is a systemic phenomenon. All of this information underscores that the continued funding for the Honduran police contradicts what the State Department has told Congress and the American public, and is in violation of the Leahy Law and international law.
Tell your Representative to eliminate funding for Honduran security forces, and to instead support reforms that de-militarize the Honduran National Police and restore the separation of military and police forces. Scroll down past the Spanish below to enter your information, personalize your letter, and send it to your Representative.
--
El 23 de marzo de 2013, la Prensa Asociada (o "AP") informó que los EEUU sigue financiando unidades policiales hondureñas bajo el mando del Jefe de la Policía Nacional de Honduras, el Coronel Juan Carlos "El Tigre" Bonilla, quién ha sido creíblemente acusado de tres asesinatos extrajudiciales que ocurrieron en el 2002, y enlaces con 11 muertes y desapariciones. Según la AP, fiscales hondureñ@s han documentado unos 200 ataques estilo escuadrón de la muerte en Tegucigalpa y San Pedro Sula en los últimos tres años, demostrando que este es un problema sistémico. Toda esta información subraya que la continuación del financiamiento para la policía hondureña contradice lo que el Departamento de Estado les dijo al Congreso y al público estadounidense, y además, es una violación de la Ley Leahy y una violación de la ley internacional.
Dígale a su Representante que elimine la financiamiento para las fuerzas de seguridad de Honduras, y que, en cambio, respalde reformas que desmilitaricen la Policía Nacional de Honduras y restauren la separación de las fuerzas militares y policiales. Llene su información, personalice su carta, y envíela a su representante.
Through Plan Colombia and successor programs, billions of dollars of U.S. military aid have entered Colombia, aimed at stemming drug production by destroying coca crops (used to process into cocaine) with chemical defoliant sprayed from planes. In southern Colombia, six women who form the Association of Women Pineapple Growers are currently engaged in a long battle to seek justice after finding, on January 25, 2013, that all fifteen hectares of their pineapple crop in Villagarzón, Putumayo had been fumigated.
As these women struggle for justice, the House Appropriations Committee is meeting to decide how to allocate our tax dollars for another year in Colombia. Tell your Congressional Representatives that it is time to redirect aid for Colombia from a futile War on Drugs to peace and sustainable economies. We demand not only that these women be compensated for their lost crop, but that the policies responsible for such devastation end. Click below to personalize and send a letter to your Representative.
Scroll down past the Spanish below to enter your information.
----
A través del Plan Colombia y sus programas sucesores, miles de milliones de dólares de ayuda militar de los EEUU han entrado a Colombia, con el fin de frenar la producción de las drogas por medio de destruir los cultivos de coca (usados para procesar la cocaína) con química defoliante rociada por aviones. En el sur de Colombia, seis mujeres que conforman la Asociación de Mujeres Piñeras están involucradas actualmente en una larga lucha en busca de la justicia después de encontrar, en el 25 de enero, 2013, que fueron fumigadas sus quince hectáreas de cultivo de piña en Villagarzón, Putumayo.
Mientras estas mujeres luchan por la justicia, el Comité de las Asignaciones de la Cámara de Representantes se reune para decidir cómo asignar nuestros impuestos en Colombia por otro año más. Dígale a su representante en el Congreso que este es el momento para reorientar la ayuda para Colombia: no a la Guerra Contra el Narcotráfico, y hacia la paz y las economías sostenibles. Demandamos no solamente que sean compensadas estas mujeres por su cultivo perdido, pero además, que paren las políticas responsables por esa devastación. Haga clic abajo para personalizar y enviar una carta a su representante.
Father Alberto Franco is a Colombian priest and a leading human rights defender in a country at war. His work supporting peace communities under threat, human rights victims and peacemakers has been internationally recognized.
Today Fr. Alberto, his colleagues from the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission, and the communities they support are under attack and need you.
Due to the death threats against Fr. Alberto, he has a bodyguard and an armored car. On February 13, Fr. Alberto's bodyguard pulled up to his house to pick him up for work. Before going to the door to get Fr. Alberto, the bodyguard scouted out the surroundings to ensure the coast was clear. As he was doing this, someone fired a weapon with a silencer, hitting the passenger side of the windshield three times. That is the spot where Fr. Alberto would have been sitting just minutes later.
This is not the first indication that Fr. Alberto and his colleagues at the Inter-Church Commission are under threat. Just in the past year, 13 surveillance plots against them have been uncovered. They have received numerous death threats. They face a defamation campaign. It appears Fr. Alberto and the Inter-Church Commission are at greater risk than ever.
Why? Because they have stood up for peace, justice and human rights in a country where speaking truth has dangerous consequences. The Inter-Church Commission has helped create peace communities in war zones. They fight for land restitution for farmers driven off of their land by paramilitary gunmen. And perhaps it is no coincidence that this latest attack comes as the Inter-Church Commission helps represent war victims at the Inter-American Human Rights Court in a case against the Colombian military for the atrocities committed during the scorched-earth campaign in 1997 dubbed Operation Genesis.
Please take action now to stand up for Fr. Alberto, the Inter-Church Commission and the communities under threat that they support! Demand the U.S. Embassy stand up for these human rights defenders!
Hold Drummond Coal (CEO Garry Drummond pictured above) and Goldman Sachs accountable for corporate abuses in Colombia!
In January 2013, U.S. corporations wreaked havoc in Colombia:
Two years after the Colombian Ministry of Environment ruled Colombia Natural Resources (CNR) and Alabama's Drummond Company must relocate communities in the shadow of their coal mines, the companies still have not carried out the relocations. And today, one of these communities, El Hatillo, is experiencing a humanitarian and food security crisis, according to the community and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Tell Drummond, CNR, and the U.S Embassy that 129 families, including 350 children, 264 women, and 57 elderly residents, are facing a food shortage that has reached a crisis level and that this is an unacceptable and avoidable consequence of U.S. coal extraction in Colombia.
On January 13th, Drummond Coal dumped 2,000 tons of coal into the Caribbean as if it were business as usual. After perpetrating this environmental disaster, high level Drummond officials were withholding information about the event, and still have not made a statement about rectifying this environmental tragedy. Send Drummond a letter demanding they take responsibility for this crime!
The mine owned in part by Goldman Sachs subsidiary CNR, La Francia, forced an illegal work stoppage on workers to frustrate an approaching union-led collective bargaining negotiation. Call on the U.S. Embassy to hold this U.S. company accountable for its flagrant violation of the provisions in the Colombia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, and of Colombian law.
Finally, workers just declared a strike at Colombia's largest coal mine, Cerrejon. Stand with workers seeking improved working conditions.
On January 28th (2013), a group of Senators agreed to a framework for changes to the United States' current immigration system. They have touted it as the "only chance" for comprehensive and meaningful immigration reform that the U.S. will have for many years. The next day (January 29th), President Obama announced his own immigration plan, saying "this is not just a debate about policy. It's about people." Immigration reform is overdue, but it has to respect immigrant rights and address the root causes of migration. Take action below to tell President Obama and your legislators that immigration reform must be JUST!
Afro-Hondurans are among those most affected by the human rights crisis in Honduras, a situation fueled by U.S. military and police aid. Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA), along with 3 other members of the Black Congressional Caucus, has authored a Dear Colleague Letter addressed to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder. The letter requests a thorough investigation into the abuses of the Honduran police and military and the role of U.S. agents, such as those involved in the May 11th killings in Ahuas.
Ask your Representative to join Congressman Johnson in demanding justice for Afro-Honduran peoples!
Cuba was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. Department of State in 1982. Countries such as Libya, Iraq, North Korea, and South Yemen have all been taken off the list. Yet domestic politics keeps Cuba on the list despite the fact that the State Department itself admitted that that there is “no evidence of direct financial or ongoing material support” to terrorist groups. Cuba is one of only four countries on the list, with Iran, Sudan, and Syria. As a result of this designation, the Cuban people face strict sanctions, such as prohibition of economic assistance. This is in addition to the United States’ draconian embargo on Cuba. It’s time to get rid of this Cold War-era foreign policy that harms both Cuba and the United States and makes it more difficult for Congress or the President to lift the economic embargo or travel ban.
Sign the petition below to call on Secretary of State Clinton to remove Cuba from the list of state-sponsors of terrorism.
In a letter to Secretary Clinton this month, Representative Howard Berman, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, stated, “U.S. policy in Honduras needs a re-set.” Recently Senator Patrick Leahy’s office has held up millions in security assistance to Honduras because of allegations of human rights abuses and violations of international law.
Because of pressure from activists like you, in the past year almost 100 members of Congress have called for suspension of military and police aid. The State Department is starting to pay attention. After DEA-led missions in recent months left four civilians dead and, in violation of international law, shot down planes, the U.S. has been forced to re-evaluate its current strategies to wage the “drug war” in Honduras. At this moment we may be reaching the tipping point in U.S. policy in Honduras.
Key members of Congress have recognized that U.S. military and police aid have worsened the situation of violence and human rights abuses in Honduras.
Send a message to your Senator and Representative today asking that they support a push for alternatives to the current failed policies!
The association of injured workers, who were fired by General Motors when their bodies were disabled and could no longer perform manual labor, went on strike in 2011, setting up a make-shift camp outside of the U.S. Embassy in Colombia. After almost 500 days without justice, despite mediation attempts, some workers began a hunger strike by sewing their mouths shut on Nov. 20. They need justice now and you can help!
The fired workers, unable to find work elsewhere, call on GM to meet their simple demands: reintegration into the workforce and medical care or a just financial settlement.
They earn no income and have no means of supporting their families.
In August, actions by the workers and solidarity actions in the U.S. coordinated by Witness for Peace and others brought GM to the negotiating table. While that attempt at mediation failed on August 31, it proved that we have the power to help these workers and bring GM back to the table.
We've forced GM back to the negotiating table before. And with your help we can do it again. Thank you for joining them in their fight for justice.
Feel free to edit the content of the letters to Congress, the Secretary of Labor, the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia and GM's President for South America. Scroll all the way to the bottom to send them.
Join Jani in taking action to protect human rights in Colombia!
In recent weeks we have received numerous calls from Jani Silva, a Colombian community organizer. You may remember Jani. She went to the U.S. and was at the gates of Ft. Benning last year on a Witness for Peace Southwest tour. She invites you to join her in taking action because of the dire situation in Putumayo, her home.
Many of you answered Jani's call and took action last month, telling Congress and the U.S. Embassy that the continued the U.S.-backed Colombian military continues to carry out human rights abuses and put civilian lives at risk. Unfortunately, the situation has deteriorated in Putumayo. And we want to ask you to reiterate your concern by sending another message to policymakers today.
The military is intensifying its offensive in the Family Farming Reserve Zone where Jani Silva lives. The military has been firing on civilian houses and a school. And Jani's house was raided.
Thank you for supporting Jani and her community by taking action now!
After the June 28, 2009 military coup in Honduras that overthrew democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya, a citizens’ movement united to struggle for democracy and justice in Honduras. This movement continued after the illegitimate 2010 election of President Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo and has carried on to this day. We in the United States bear a special responsibility to take action, given our government's shameful economic, diplomatic and political support for the violent coup regime in Honduras, as well as increased U.S. militarization of the region. While trade unions, students, campesinos, and teachers continue to struggle for economic and social justice, human rights violations and violence against the Honduran people are increasing.
We must keep the pressure on! Send a message to your members of Congress! Ask them to contact Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and call for:
AN END TO U.S. MILITARY AND POLICE FUNDING FOR HONDURAS! RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY!
The U.S. has steadily increased its focus on Honduras in the “war against drugs.” As we have seen in Mexico and Colombia, civilians too often get caught in the crossfire. Leading Honduran human rights organization COFADEH states: “From the perspective of human rights organizations, this reality is unacceptable and reprehensible.”
The U.S. DEA regularly sends special units abroad in the “war against drugs.” According to reports, on May 11th U.S. DEA agents were accompanying Honduran police in an attempt to capture drug traffickers along the Patuca River in La Moskitia.
During the raid, a helicopter carrying U.S. and Honduran agents opened fire on a boat of civilians, killing Emerson Martínez, Chalo Brock Wood, Candelaria Tratt Nelson, Juana Banegas and the women’s unborn children.
Thank you for taking your time to raise attention to this important issue.
In recent weeks, a notice was hung at a town hall advising the Afro-Colombian community of Roche that their land would be expropriated so that Cerrejón —one of the world´s largest open-pit coal mines —could expand its operations.
Cerrejón exports millions of tons of coal to the United States every year.
Cerrejón relocated the majority of Roche’s community members, but seven families asking for a return to the negotiating table remain in their homes. Cerrejón, whose slogan is “Responsible Mining,” promised not to leave the negotiating table, but broke this promise by asking the Colombian government to expropriate the families’ land.
On Tuesday, May 15th, José Enrique Morales Montaño, member of the Center of Support for Workers (el Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador-CAT) was kidnapped, beaten, and tortured for 17 hours. The following day, Blanca Velazquez, director of the CAT, received death threats. Blanca Velazquez is a close partner of Witness for Peace and has traveled with us on speakers tours in the fall of 2002 to California and Arizona and in the spring of 2004 to Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The attacks and threats against Mr. Morales Montaño and Ms. Velazquez illustrate the risks that all human and labor rights defenders face in Mexico in the current context of the U.S.-backed drug war.
Members of the CAT have been the targets of a systematic pattern of death threats and harassment for their work promoting labor rights and organizing independent labor unions in the state of Puebla since 2008. Their efforts have raised awareness of the precarious working conditions in the state’s manufacturing sector. In particular, the CAT has focused on improving conditions and organizing workers at various U.S.-owned plants, including those owned and operated by the Wisconsin-based company Johnson Controls.
In 1994, the U.S. passed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to eliminate barriers for American companies wishing to establish manufacturing plants in Mexico. Although it enthusiastically protects corporate rights, NAFTA does little to ensure labor rights in Mexico. In fact, working conditions in these plants are notoriously dismal and labor rights continue to be incredibly limited. NAFTA’s inability to protect labor rights and hold employers accountable for abuses leaves many workers unprotected. Given this reality, the work of the CAT is crucial in defending the human and labor rights of workers in Puebla.
Unfortunately, attacks like those against the CAT have become commonplace in Mexico, where the human rights crisis brought on by the U.S.-backed military strategy to counter drug trafficking has made defenders particularly vulnerable. The assault on organized crime was launched at the start of Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s term in late 2006. In 2007, the U.S government agreed to help equip and train Mexican armed forces through the Merida Initiative. Billions of dollars later, over 60,000 people have been killed and thousands more disappeared. In addition, the increased insecurity and presence of armed forces in the streets have created a hostile environment and resulted in a dramatic increase in harassment, threats, disappearances, and deaths of human rights defenders. Committed people whose lives are dedicated to protecting human rights and bringing justice against abuses, including those against laborers, activists, and people defending their land, find themselves under threat more and more each day. Since 2006, over 60 human rights defenders have been killed and countless others have been the targets of threats and intimidation. The vast majority of these cases have not been investigated. Impunity remains the norm in Mexico, where only 2% of all crimes are successfully prosecuted.
Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to provide training and funding through the Merida Initiative to Mexican authorities. These same authorities are sometimes directly responsible for the aggressions against human and labor rights defenders and are often unwilling to protect them. U.S. support is also being provided to the Mexican judicial system, which many believe is corrupt and ineffective in procuring justice. Just yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee approved $248.5 million for Mexico to continue its assault against organized criminal groups. Far from ensuring safety and security in Mexico, this strategy has created an extremely dangerous situation for those that work to defend human rights in the country.
Please join us in demanding urgent action in regards to this matter.
The U.S. has steadily increased its focus on Honduras in the “war against drugs.” As we have already seen in Mexico and Colombia, civilians too often get caught in the crossfire. Leading Honduran human rights organization COFADEH states: “From the perspective of human rights organizations, this reality is unacceptable and reprehensible.”
The U.S. DEA regularly sends special units abroad in the “war against drugs.” According to reports, on May 11th U.S. DEA agents were accompanying Honduran police in an attempt to capture drug traffickers along the Patuca River in La Moskitia.
During the raid, a helicopter carrying U.S. and Honduran agents opened fire on a boat of civilians, killing Emerson Martínez, Chalo Brock Wood, Candelaria Tratt Nelson, Juana Banegas and the women’s unborn children.
Thank you for taking your time to raise attention to this important issue.
The U.S. has steadily increased its focus on Honduras in the “war against drugs.” As we have already seen in Mexico and Colombia, civilians too often get caught in the crossfire. Leading Honduran human rights organization COFADEH states: “From the perspective of human rights organizations, this reality is unacceptable and reprehensible.”
The U.S. DEA regularly sends special units abroad in the “war against drugs.” According to reports, on May 11th U.S. DEA agents were accompanying Honduran police in an attempt to capture drug traffickers along the Patuca River in La Moskitia.
During the raid, a helicopter carrying U.S. and Honduran agents opened fire on a boat of civilians, killing Emerson Martínez, Chalo Brock Wood, Candelaria Tratt Nelson, Juana Banegas and the women’s unborn children.
Thank you for taking your time to raise attention to this important issue.
Multiple death threats to labor union leaders and their families mark the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Colombia today. John Jairo Castro of the Port Workers’ Union; Wilson Ferrer, President of the CUT labor federation in Santander; Johnnson Torres Ortis of the sugar cane cutters’ union SINALCORTEROS; and Rene Morales Silva of the African palm oil workers’ union SINTRAINAGRO all received death threats this week.
These threats come in an upsurge of anti-union violence which is marked by the April 27 assassination of Daniel Aguirre, the Secretary General of SINALCORTEROS. Mr. Aguirre was the first union leader killed since Obama announced the implementation of the free trade agreement (FTA) at the Summit of the Americas. The FTA is being implemented without having meaningfully complied with the Labor Action Plan, an agreement signed by Presidents Obama and Santos in 2011 that was intended to make the FTA’s passage contingent on improving the grave state of labor and human rights in Colombia. The U.S. Department of Labor has provided $2 million to the Labor Action Plan but labor conditions for Colombian workers remain dire. The unionists that were threatened over the weekend all worked in sectors prioritized by the Labor Action Plan. In fact, trade unionists have received over 500 death threats resulting in 29 assassinations (seven in this year alone) since the Labor Action Plan went into effect. This is a tragic reminder that exercising labor rights, including the right to be directly contracted, can mean risking your life in Colombia.
Currently only 4 million of Colombia’s 18 million workers are estimated to have formal labor contracts, and more than half of those are temporary. Only 3.5% of the labor force is able to unionize due to violence and third party contracting which denies workers their basic rights. Colombian workers are demanding that these conditions change, and death threats and assassinations are the response that they have received for their fight to preserve their lives and their rights. The freedom to organize without fear of reprisal is fundamental to the creation of a fair working environment, and a fair and humane trade agreement cannot exist in a climate where union leaders are under threat and extrajudicial killings are conducted with widespread impunity.
Members of a prominent Honduran human rights organization, The Committee of Family-Members of The Detained and Disappeared (COFADEH), have been targeted with death threats, intimidation and physical aggression. And the perpetrators didn’t stop there. International human rights observers of the U.S.-based Honduras Accompaniment Project (PROAH) who have provided protective accompaniment to members of COFADEH have also received death threats.
Berta Oliva, general coordinator of COFADEH, says that these acts should be seen within the greater context of human rights violations in Honduras. Since the U.S.-backed coup in 2009, Honduras has been in a human rights crisis. Rural farmers, afro-descendents, LGBTI and indigenous people are constantly the targets of intimidation, kidnappings, torture, illegal detention and assassinations. Journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders risk their lives to expose these injustices. And in the majority of cases, Berta Oliva explains, the targets of these attacks are those who in one way or another have opposed the coup d’état.
While the human rights crisis swells in impunity, the United States supplies arms and training to the Honduran military and police. The United States gave $9.8 million to Honduran police and military in 2011 and has $8 million budgeted for 2012. In addition, $50 million has been allotted to Soto Cano Air Base (Palmerola). Far from quelling these abuses, the aid has only made them worse.
Tell congress, ‘NO' to U.S.-lead militarization and ‘YES’ to the work of human rights defenders in Honduras.
On the afternoon of March 23, 2012 Manuel Ruiz and his fifteen-year-old son Samir de Jesús de Ruiz were illegally detained by police in the small city of Mutatá in Urabá, Colombia. Minutes later, traveling for home on public transit, a passenger identifying himself as a paramilitary forced Manuel and his son to get out of the vehicle, where two other paramilitaries were waiting for them.
At this time, Manuel’s body has been recovered and it appears as though Samir’s body has been located.
Please click below to contact the U.S. Embassy in Colombia to demand a transparent police investigation, call for protective measures for the other 37 leaders under threat, and take action against paramilitary influence on the Land Restitution process in Colombia.
Then please make a quick call to the U.S. State Department to express your concern. You can call the Senior Desk Officer for Colombia, Mary Brett Rogers-Springs at 202-647-4173. Here's what you can say to Ms. Rogers-Springs:
I am writing to express my distress over the recent killing of Manuel Ruiz, a leader in the land restitution process in Chocó, Colombia, and his fifteen-year-old son, Samir de Jesús de Ruiz.
Mr. Ruiz was scheduled to lead a government visit of illegally occupied lands within his community's territory just hours before his disappearance. The local police affirmed that the timing of his disappearance was strange, yet abstained from conducting formal investigations, forcing the community to search unaided and unprotected for the bodies of Ruiz and Jesús de Ruiz.
I respectfully ask the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá to: 1. Demand the transparency of the Mutatá police in this investigation, including explanations for the original detention of Ruiz and his son by police shortly before they were abducted by paramilitaries, and the reasons for their inattention to a report on March 24, 2012 as to the whereabouts of a body fitting Ruiz's description. The two bodies located by community members in the absence of formal investigations should be turned over to the Investigative Technical Body and transported to Chigorodó for Christian burial, as requested by the family of the victims.
2. Advocate for better protection measures for the 37 leaders in Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó who like Ruiz, are under threat as the restitution process advances, and who despite having demanded protective guarantees of the government, have only received cell phones in certain circumstances.
3. Request immediate action to provide all protection necessary for the family members of Manuel Ruiz and Samir Jesús de Ruiz, who have been displaced twice since the disappearances, and currently find themselves in Mutatá without protective measures.
4. Request an urgent, exhaustive and impartial investigation into the believed links of paramilitary operators to the Mutatá police and the 17th Brigade.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter,
Thank you for taking action today to demand respect for human rights in Colombia.
URGENT ACTION: Honduran Journalist in Danger – Contact the U.S. embassy in Honduras NOW to demand immediate protection and to condemn the repression against journalists in Honduras.
Since the coup d’état in 2009 human rights violations have been rampant. Journalists are among those groups who have suffered severe repression. According to the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH) since 2009, 18 journalists have been murdered, 25 have received death threats, 14 have suffered illegal detentions, 4 have been kidnapped and tortured and 37 other attacks and aggressions on journalists have been recorded.
Gilda Carolina Silvestrucchi is an independent journalist and Director of the radio program “In the Plaza.” She and her children have been the victims of numerous acts of intimidation and death threats throughout January, the most recent of which happened on January 23rd after holding an interview on her radio program on issues relating to the pending Honduran Mining law.
COFADEH has called for immediate action in this case. Please stand in solidarity with those struggling for their rights in Honduras. Contact the U.S. Honduran Embassy and the U.S. State Department and demand an end to impunity and an end to the repression of journalists. Demand protection for Gilda and her children.
Click below to send a letter to the human rights official in the U.S. Embassy in Honduras, Nathan Anderson.
This could be a petition to gather names for people who would like to stop herbicide spraying in Colombia.
It should be followed up with a thank you page, then a Tell A Friend Page (or the email postcard); then a donation page.
The second phase will begin after signatures are collected. We will then do a targeted action that goes to congress on the issue. We will specifically reach out to the signers of this petition.
On the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the U.S-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists. Indeed, two years after President Obama and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed the Labor Action Plan with the stated purpose of addressing U.S. concerns about labor and human rights violations in Colombia, the basic conditions have still not been met.
(Español abajo.)
In 2011 we convinced President Obama to issue an executive order that liberalized the United States’ Cuba travel regulations. This expanded general licenses for academic and religious travel and re-instated specific licenses for people-to-people travel. 
Father Alberto Franco is a Colombian priest and a leading human rights defender in a country at war. His work supporting peace communities under threat, human rights victims and peacemakers has been internationally recognized. 
The association of injured workers, who were fired by General Motors when 
After the June 28, 2009 military coup in Honduras that overthrew democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya, a citizens’ movement united to struggle for democracy and justice in Honduras. This movement continued after the illegitimate 2010 election of President Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo and has carried on to this day. We in the United States bear a special responsibility to take action, given our government's shameful economic, diplomatic and political support for the violent coup regime in Honduras, as well as increased U.S. militarization of the region. While trade unions, students, campesinos, and teachers continue to struggle for economic and social justice, human rights violations and violence against the Honduran people are increasing.
On Tuesday, May 15th, José Enrique Morales Montaño, member of the Center of Support for Workers (el Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador-CAT) was kidnapped, beaten, and tortured for 17 hours. The following day, Blanca Velazquez, director of the CAT, received death threats. Blanca Velazquez is a close partner of Witness for Peace and has traveled with us on speakers tours in the fall of 2002 to California and Arizona and in the spring of 2004 to Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The attacks and threats against Mr. Morales Montaño and Ms. Velazquez illustrate the risks that all human and labor rights defenders face in Mexico in the current context of the U.S.-backed drug war.