Campaign Name: U.S. Hands Off Latin America and Caribbean: Build Solidarity with the People. Prevent any expansion of NATO into Latin America and the Caribbean.
Working Group Name: Latin America/Caribbean (LA/CWG)
Executive Summary:
To educate, to organize, to collaborate with other U.S. and international organizations in promoting policies and securing legislation that will prevent the United States from interference in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Latin America/Caribbean Working Group (LA/CWG) of MAPA
Our Mission: To educate, to organize, to collaborate with other U.S. and international organizations in promoting policies and securing legislation that will prevent the United States from interference in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The focus of the LA/CWG is to oppose U.S. political and military interference; brutal economic policies, including sanctions; and cruel immigration practices. Group members are committed to working in solidarity to transform U.S. policies to reflect economic and social justice, anti-racism, and self-determination. Because of the long, tragic history of U.S. interference in Latin American and Caribbean nations, the injustices of U.S. immigration policies and practices are linked to the foreign policy of the United States and must be reformed.
History
MAPA members formed this group in 2019. Our concerns, which originally focused on preventing U.S.-engineered regime change in Venezuela and on improving U.S. immigration policy, have broadened. We seek to act in solidarity with the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean in their struggles for self-determination, human rights, and justice for all sectors of their societies.
Thus, for example, we oppose U.S. attempts at regime change in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and we condemn U.S. support for overturning popular gains that had been made in Bolivia, Haiti, and Honduras. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with other groups to advance human rights in Latin American and Caribbean countries by, for example, supporting the passage of the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, supporting the rights of indigenous peoples, and working with “Stop Arms to Mexico” to end arms sales to Mexico and Central American countries.
Getting Involved
The Latin America/Caribbean Working Group (LA/CWG) meets on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 5 p.m. If you would like to get involved, please email Yoav Elinevsky at yoav@masspeaceaction.org or Derek Sexton at derekleesexton@gmail.com
Examples of LA/CWG Projects
Honduras–Jilamito Land/Water Defense
In coalition with Honduran popular organizations, the School of the Americas Watch, and the Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective, MAPA has been working to oppose the construction of the Jilamito Hydroelectric Project in Honduras and to expose its Massachusetts connections. This project is an excellent example of what cross-border solidarity can accomplish to foster human rights, reduce environmental destruction, and contain neoliberalist “development” projects rejected by the local community. It also has the potential to encourage MAPA’s Climate Change working group and our LA/CWG to work together on common, cross-border goals.
Cuba Subgroup
Collaborating with the July 26th Coalition in outreach and fundraising in March, MAPA helped send young activists from New England to join the annual May Day Brigade in Cuba. These activists are now there, joining others from across the globe for a program of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution and to march in the May Day parade together with the Cuban people. We look forward to their report when they return, tentatively scheduled for May 24. MAPA also sent ten MAPA activists to Cuba in April; this group will report on their experiences on May 16. The Cuba subgroup will continue to work to expand the understanding of the common issues of peace we face in our two countries and to advocate for lifting the U.S. sanctions on Cuba, ending the U.S. embargo, and ending all U.S. intervention.
Haiti Solidarity Subgroup
In collaboration with the Haiti Action Committee and the US/UN Out of Haiti coalition, we are organizing a webinar for April 27 with Dr. Jemima Pierre to discuss events in Haiti since the assassination of the puppet president-turned-dictator Jovenel Moise last July. The webinar is part of an ongoing educational campaign about Haiti.
Nicaragua Solidarity Subgroup
In collaboration with the Hartford-Ocotal and Cambridge/Newton-San Juan del Sur Sister City projects, the Christine King Cooperative in Esteli, and the Friends of the ATC (Nicaraguan Association of Rural Workers), we presented a webinar to raise funds for scholarships for young activists from New England to join a food sovereignty and agroecology delegation to Nicaragua organized by the Friends of the ATC. This will be an ongoing campaign with events planned that include presentations by the recipients of the scholarships.
Future Activities
Other activities planned in 2022 to further program goals: Continue with educational events on areas of major challenge, for example, Bolivia, Central America, Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela. We are searching for common themes that various subgroups and other MAPA groups can work on together.
Organization
Conveners: Yoav Elinevsky and Derek Sexton