"To remain neutral in a situation of injustice, is to be complicit in that injustice."
--Desmond Tutu
Dear Supporter,
We send you this email today to draw your attention to the injustices occurring both in Honduras and right by our offices in Washington, D.C. The more connections we draw between militarism and economic needs, the more we are unable to deny the factors that threaten human rights around the world. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." This is a crucial turning point - it is time to take a stand and become a true citizen of democracy.
U.S. and Colombia
Keep Colombian Ex-President Alvaro Uribe out of Georgetown and send him packing to La Picota prison in Colombia!
Take Action Here
Georgetown University has recently announced that former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe will be named a "distinguished scholar in the practice of global leadership," and will soon begin giving seminars at the university's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS). Uribe has said it is a "great honor" for him, and that his "greatest wish and happiness is to contribute in the continuous emergence of future leaders."
Uribe's 8-year tenure in Colombia was rife with corruption, human rights violations and widespread impunity. In a letter in June to the White House, Human Rights Watch expressed "serious concerns" about the Uribe administration's record on and commitment to human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.
- More than 3 million Colombians (out of a population of about 40 million) have been forced to flee their homes, giving Colombia the second-largest population of internally displaced persons in the world after Sudan.
- More than 70 members of the Colombian Congress are under criminal investigation or have been convicted for allegedly collaborating with the paramilitaries. Nearly all these congresspersons are members of President Uribe's coalition in Congress, and the Uribe administration repeatedly undermined the investigations and discredited the Supreme Court justices who started them.
- Colombia has the highest rate of killings of trade unionists in the world.
- A clandestine gravesite of 2,000 non-identified bodies was recently discovered directly beside a military base in La Macarena, in central Colombia. When the news became public, Uribe flew to the Macarena and said publicly that accusing the armed forces of human rights abuses was a tactic used by the guerrilla. These comments put the lives of those victims who spoke at the event in grave danger.
- Starting in 2008, reports came out that the Colombian military was luring poor young men from their homes with promises of employment, then killing them and presenting them as combat casualties. The practice not only served to stack battle statistics, but also financially benefited the soldiers involved, as Uribe's government had, since 2005, awarded monetary and vacation bonuses for each insurgent killed. Human rights groups cite 3,000 or more "false positives".
For more information on Uribe and human rights violations, click here.
Students, community activists and religious leaders have already spoken out against the university's decision, and will be planning actions of protest for this fall.
Take action NOW, by signing this letter to Georgetown University President, Mr. John J. DeGioia.
Honduras
The teachers resistance and collective strength was shown over the past month. Due to their grassroots organizing against the oppressive regime of Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, on August 31, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported that Honduran teachers have ended their month-long strike on the promise that the government will pay 3.6 billion lempiras, about $189 million, which is only part of what is owed to the educators' pension fund. It is still unclear though what will occur with the general strike, which is still in its preparatory stages.
Images shows repression and aggression used by police and military against peaceful teacher protests in TEGUCIGALPA, the capital of Honduras.
The illegitimate regime of has proven this August that it has little respect for human rights and democracy. The militarization of the country under this regime has a direct connection to U.S. military training. Gen. Romeo Orlando Vásquez Velásquez, who overthrew democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya in a military coup on June 28, 2009, was educated at the School of the Americas which promoted a mind set advocating for military solutions and lack of respect of democracy and civilian leadership. "We're not surprised. Vásquez is one of the key players, an SOA grad who's keeping alive the school's nickname, the School of Coup," says Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of School of Americas Watch.
The teachers of Honduras have been on strike in opposition to the Lobo military regime - a last resort to get the respect they deserve. According to human rights advocates, violence against the strikers has increased dramatically during the past couple of weeks. In protests on August 26 and 27 outside the presidential residency and the National Pedagogical University Francisco Morazan in Tegucigalpa, police countered the peaceful strikes with tear gas and rubber bullets, detaining some and denying medical access to the wounded.
The Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) has expressed that "the recent brutal attacks by government forces against non-violent protests show that there has been no reconciliation after last year's coup d'etat, and the U.S. government's policy of support for the current government must be changed." But while the relationship between the people and the government is becoming more conflicting, the masses are joining together in opposition. Members of campesino organizations, trade unions and student groups joined the teachers in solidarity. Although they have different struggles, all are joining together under the umbrella of the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) to oppose Lobo's military regime and his attempts to privatize public sectors, including education.
"Our protests are in opposition to the actions and intention of the dictator to apply laws that favor the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, that abolish social conquests and hand over public goods and natural resources to corrupt business people and transnational corporations." -FNRP Comminique No. 17
Among the protestors were women and children who were shown no mercy at the hands of the military and police brutality. Some of their demands include:
- Return of stolen money. National Institute for Teacher Welfare (Inprema) was plundered by the coup masters "of more than four million two hundred thousand lempiras (approximately US $221,965) worth of contributions and pay deductions to teacher loan repayments." The missing money is suspected to be used to fund the military regime.
- Prevent passage of General Law of Education. This law has already passed through two revisions in the National Congress and awaits final approval. It will restrict education access for children up to 15 years of age, while providing only privately run high schools. This will further increase the gap between rich and poor while the profits will go directly into the hands of the oligarchy.
- Demand increases to minimum wage. Currently minimum wage does not come close to a daily living wage.
The National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) "calls on all people to continue permanent actions of peaceful resistance in order to weaken the regime and require the convocation of a constituent assembly in accordance with the contents and structure defined by the Frente."
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Maya Community Under Attack in Guatemala
SOA Watch Council Member Palmer Legare is currently in Guatemala, where he is accompanying the Q'eqchi Maya peasant community of Saquimo Setana. The community was just attacked by armed members of the wealthy family of Maria Elena Garcia Ical. Please click here to read a letter that Palmer sent to us 30min ago.
Join us at the gates
Close the SOA/WHINSEC on November 19-21
Say no to oppression and say yes to justice by joining in the momentum to shut down the School of Assassins!
November 2010 Organizing Packet
!Paquete Organizativo 2010!
Scholarships to help young activists attend the November Vigil
click here
CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS
SOA Watch is looking for passionate individuals willing to help out at this November's vigil in a number of ways.
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