Category: Human Rights

How the OAS Revived the Cold War in the Americas

March 3, 2020

An in-depth analysis of the actions of the Organization of American States reveals a disturbing political bias, a willingness to manipulate events and data for political purposes, and a pattern of double standards under the leadership of Secretary General Luis Almagro. In favoring rightwing governments and forces, while attacking or attempting to eliminate the left in power, Almagro has marked a course that has eroded the regional organization’s legitimacy in two critical areas of OAS operations: election observation and human rights monitoring

The Power of the Mothers

January 10, 2020

In its fifteenth year, the Caravan of Central American mothers brought together six families. In total, the caravan has chalked up 315 reunions. Along the way it empowers women and challenges a system that considers their loved ones expendable.

The Dramatic Fall of Chile as Latin America’s Neoliberal Role Model

January 1, 2020

After the outbreak of the most intense and massive social protests ever recorded in the history of Chile, on November 16 the government and most political parties signed an agreement to restore peace and public order and initiate a process to draft a new constitution.

As Honduras Collapses, Its People are Forced to Flee

November 22, 2019

Honduras is collapsing. The thousands of migrants who flee every day are direct testimony to a political, economic and social crisis that the world ignores and the U. S. government seems bent on perpetuating.

Mexico’s LeBaron Massacre and the War that Will Not Cease

November 9, 2019

The execution of three women and six of their children in the state of Sonora shocked the public in Mexico and the United States, where the family held dual citizenship, and once again put President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on the defensive.

Mexico’s Refugees

October 23, 2019

For the past year, Ciudad Juarez has been a flashpoint of the migrant and refugee humanitarian crisis gripping the U.S.-Mexico border. Now hundreds of other people-mainly women and children-are camped out at the international bridge, but this latest group of refugees is Mexican.

AMLO’s State of the Union Address: Rhetoric Meets Reality

September 12, 2019

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador delivered his first state of the union address on September 1 from a position of strength, in spite of the fact that the first nine months in office have failed to produce results in several key areas.

America’s Lethal Cocktail: White Nationalism, Misogyny and Immigrant Hate Speech, Add Trump and Stir

August 15, 2019

If these hate crimes end up reducing Trump’s ability to use racism and attacks against Mexico in campaigns; if the people and congress are mobilized to demand gun control, if the deaths lead to a greater repudiation of Donald Trump, Steven Miller and his agenda, and if the López Obrador government finally becomes convinced that Mexico does not have to be a friend to a government that foments attacks on its interests and its people, the victims will not have died in vain.

What if We Stopped Fighting Drugs and Started Caring for People?

July 23, 2019

Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador recently made two announcements that could finally close the bloodiest chapter in the history of the United States’ global war on drugs. He called for ending the Merida Initiative—the 3 billion-dollar US counternarcotics aid package that has fueled Mexico’s drug war—and announced a pivot from prohibition.