Our Blog

Home Blog

26

March
“Ancestral Movements: Indigenous Territory and Migration” with Silvia Raquec Cum
March 26, 2020 Claudia Lucero

Webinar, “Ancestral Movements: Indigenous Territory and Migration”

with Maya Kaqchikel presenter Silvia Raquec Cum, Migration Program Coordinator, Association Pop No’j

April 16, 2020, 6:00pm CST 

While state forces threaten their safety and dignity, Indigenous peoples and migrants resist with courage and resilience. Join us for this webinar to learn about resource extraction, migration, and the work of Indigenous people in Guatemala to build a world beyond colonial borders. Register here for English translation webinar.  Register here for Spanish language webinar.

 

This educational session will prepare you to participate in a wide coalition campaign, of which CRLN is a part, to end the Asylum Cooperation Agreements (ACAs) between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Presidents of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The ACAs allow the U.S. to deport asylum seekers and require them to seek asylum in these three countries. None of these countries has a well-functioning process for applying for asylum nor the capacity to shelter and feed people deported while they wait. No Congress has approved these agreements.

Read More

26

March
“Ancestral Movements: Indigenous Territory and Migration,” Silvia Raqueq
March 26, 2020 Claudia Lucero

While state forces threaten their safety and dignity, Indigenous peoples and migrants resist with creativity and resilience. Join us to learn about resource extraction, migration, and the work of Indigenous peoples to build a world beyond colonial borders in this webinar with Silvia Raqueq,  Migration Program Coordinator of Association Pop No’j, Guatemala.

 

This educational session will prepare you to take action with CRLN, which is in a wide coalition campaign to end the Asylum Cooperation Agreements (ACAs) with Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The ACAs are the agreements that allow the U.S. to deport asylum seekers and require them to seek asylum in these three countries. None of these countries has a well-functioning asylum process or the capacity to give deported people shelter and food until they receive asylum. None of these agreements has been approved by any Congress, and, in Guatemala’s case, were signed by the President over the objection of its highest court.

 

Registration information for this webinar will be sent out soon.

Read More

26

March
COMUNICADO DE COFADEH: DICTADURA USA “ESTADO DE EXCEPCIÓN” PARA VIOLAR DERECHOS Y GARANTÍAS DURANTE LA PANDEMIA
March 26, 2020 Claudia Lucero Action Alerts

En Honduras, más de 500 personas han sido detenidas arbitrariamente y sometidas a torturas por las fuerzas armadas en diferentes ciudades valiéndose de un decreto ejecutivo (PCM 021-2020) emitido por el cuerpo de ministros del régimen el lunes 16 de marzo anterior. El país registra oficialmente 52 casos positivos al 25 de marzo y se desconoce el dato real de casos sospechosos entre una población víctima de una campaña oficial permanente de pánico, que está activando a su vez una conflictividad social entre los sectores más empobrecidos que carecen de reservas alimentarias y de medios suficientes para proveerse.
El Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH) advirtió el mismo lunes 16 de marzo que ese tipo de medidas extremas impuestas por el régimen violento, que enfrenta 10 años de desobediencia civil por su carácter ilegítimo, acabarían atacando a la población.
Los policías y militares, semi analfabetas, que hacen cumplir el decreto de emergencia, extendido al 29 de marzo en todo el país, no respetan protocolos internacionales sobre uso de la fuerza e impiden con brutalidad la libertad de locomoción, reunión, expresión, asociación, libertad personal y la inviolabilidad del domicilio.
En base a ese decreto central también las municipalidades han impuesto ordenanzas de toques de queda absolutos entre 48 y 72 horas en el Distrito Central, Comayagua, San Pedro Sula, Ceiba, Choluteca y El Progreso. También en Puerto Cortés y Santa Cruz de Yojoa, donde se registraron los primeros casos positivos por coronavirus.
En todas esas ciudades son las policías municipales o las fuerzas militares en general las que hacen cumplir las ordenanzas sin manuales de procedimientos en este tipo de emergencias.
En un barrio de Comayagüela, cinco hombres que el martes se acercaron a comer alrededor de una “olla común” preparada por mujeres defensoras de la Iniciativa Mesoamericana (IM) fueron detenidos y encerrados en una posta policial próxima, mientras las mujeres fueron conminadas a cancelar la actividad solidaria y encerrarse en sus casas.
Por las gestiones de IM y de este Comité, los hombres fueron liberados.
En Choluteca, Comayagua, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa, Puerto Cortés, Choloma, La Ceiba y El Progreso también hay reportes de detenciones arbitrarias seguidas de golpes, “sermones moralizantes”, insultos vulgares y torturas crueles en lugares aislados.
En el mejor de los casos, las personas privadas de libertad son liberadas fuera de los plazos que establece la Constitución, pero la decisión policial en general es mantenerlas encerradas “hasta que la emergencia finalice”.
Hay registro de detención? Hay remisión de casos a la Fiscalía? Son alimentados dignamente? Gozan de medidas de bioseguridad? Pueden comunicarse con sus familias? No hay respuestas aún a estas preguntas.
En los últimos días han sido virales las imágenes en una posta policial en la capital y una cancha deportiva en Siguatepeque donde la policía militar obliga a las personas detenidas a realizar entrenamientos militares y trabajos forzados, por “irrespetar” el toque de queda absoluto de la dictadura.
En casi la totalidad de los casos, las personas arrestadas realizaban misiones de aprovisionamiento alimentario o de medicamentos para sus familias.
En vista de los hechos hacemos un llamado a las instituciones con salvoconductos excepcionales para circular en el país, entre ellas el ministerio de Derechos Humanos y el Comisionado Nacional de Derechos Humanos, que aseguren el respeto a la integridad física y la vida de todas las personas detenidas. Asimisimo, llamamos a las Naciones Unidas a levantar un censo de detenciones arbitrarias y de tratos crueles durante esta emergencia sanitaria, porque el régimen oculta o minimiza los datos, con la misma lógica de conveniencia que maneja los contagios. El ocultamiento o manipulación de la información pública es un grave riesgo adicional para la vida y las libertades del pueblo hondureño en momentos cuando se impone la inmovilidad social por la fuerza. No debe tolerarse en ninguna circunstancia, peor en ésta. De los hechos y de los hechores, ni olvido ni perdón C O F A D E H Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 25 de marzo de 2020

Read More
image-title

26

March
Urgent call for Protection for Colombian Human Rights Defenders
March 26, 2020 Claudia Lucero Colombia, Edu. Colombia

Photo by Anton Darius on Unsplash

 

International Civil Society Organizations Call for the Colombian Government to Investigate Killing of Marco Rivadeneira and to Protect Human Rights Defenders March 25, 2020

 

We are grieved to learn of the death of Marco Rivadeneira, a community leader in Putumayo, Colombia. Rivadeneira was killed on March 19, 2020 by three armed men who entered a meeting where Rivadeneira and other community members were discussing voluntary eradication agreements between farmers and the Colombian government.

Rivadeneira was a human rights defender, a promoter of the peace accords, and a proponent of voluntary coca eradication efforts in his rural community. He was a leader of the Puerto Asis Campesino Association and a representative to the Guarantees Roundtable (a process intended to protect human rights defenders). Rivadeneira was also the representative of his region for the national network of 275 Colombian human rights groups known as the Coordinación Colombia Europa Estados Unidos. Coordinación and its members are close partners of many of our organizations.

This killing “underscores once again the lack of security guarantees for the work of human rights defenders and the lack of political will on the part of the Colombian government to dismantle the criminal structures and paramilitary organizations that continue to attack social leaders and those who defend peace in the countryside,” as Coordinación asserts. The Coordinación urges the government to act decisively to ensure that “enemies of peace” do not use the emergency situation created by the COVID-19 virus to continue to exterminate social leaders.

107 social leaders were assassinated in 2019, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights office in Colombia. One out of three human rights defenders killed in 2019 (documented by Frontline Defenders) was from Colombia. 2020 has started off with a wave of violence against them.

We urge the Colombian government to ensure this crime is effectively investigated and prosecuted and to communicate what steps are being taken to bring the perpetrators to justice. We also urge the Colombian government to provide effective guarantees for human rights defenders, social leaders, and those working to build peace in Colombia. This starts with the vigorous implementation of the 2016 peace accords in Colombia, including convoking the National Commission of Security Guarantees to create and implement a plan to protect communities and social leaders at risk.

We urge the U.S. government to vigorously support peace accord implementation in Colombia. This includes adhering to the drug policy chapter of the accord which mandates working closely with farming communities to voluntarily eradicate and replace coca with government assistance, rather than returning to ineffective and inhumane aerial spraying programs.

Colombia must not lose more leaders like Marco Rivadeneira who have worked so valiantly to bring human rights protections and peace to their communities.

Signed by:

AFL-CIO                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Amazon Watch                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Amnesty International U.S.A.
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)                                                                                                                                                                                                  Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)                                                                                                                                                                                                                Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America                                                                                                                                                                                      Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Church World Service                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Colombia Grassroots Support                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        New Jersey Colombia Human Rights Committee                                                                                                                                                                                                              Institute for Policy Studies                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Drug Policy Project International                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Latin America Working Group (LAWG)                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office                                                                                                                                                                                                Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Movement for Peace in Colombia, New York                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Oxfam                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Presbyterian Peace Fellowship                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights                                                                                                                                                                                                                              United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries                                                                                                                                                                                              Washington Office on Latin America                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective

Read More

19

March
CRLN Statement on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Crisis
March 19, 2020 Claudia Lucero General

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  Romans 8:18

 

We here at CRLN take our responsibility to the more vulnerable members of our organization, our families and the larger community very seriously.  We seek to be good global citizens during this unprecedented time of crisis for all of humanity.  We embrace the science behind disease prevention and the wisdom of public health experts as well as the admonishment of our faith traditions to place the interest of “the least of these” above all other concerns.  To that end, our staff have implemented best practices in regard to what is being popularly called “social distancing”.  For the foreseeable future staff will be working from home so that we can minimize exposure for ourselves and more importantly vulnerable loved ones and community members to the rapidly spreading contagious disease known as COVID-19.  We will postpone holding any events that involve public gatherings until further notice or come up with creative ways to make them into online events.  This includes our planned Good Friday Walk for Justice.  Although this is a difficult sacrifice for us as a people and an organization and really strikes at the core identity of who we are and how best to organize to advance our mission, the reality of the moment calls on us to take these unfortunate but necessary measures.

 

But we cannot be satisfied as an organization, as a community and as individuals with simply accepting and following these so-called best “social distancing” practices.  We must endeavor to be creative and explore what it means collectively and individually to practice social distancing + social solidarity.    A crisis like the one we are confronted with encourages all of the worst impulses and tendencies in our society and none of the “better angels of our nature” – xenophobia, fear, social isolation, atomization, selfishness, hoarding, increased state surveillance, eroding of civil liberties, etc.  The standard antidotes to such tendencies – collective mass organizing and action – are exceedingly difficult in these circumstances; but they are not impossible.  We must do all we can do to figure out the ways to make this solidarity concrete, real and safe.  The staff also recognize that we are in a position of privilege with our work.  It is rather easy for us to transfer the bulk of our work activity to our homes.  This is not true for millions of members of the working class in this country and globally.  These workers range from first responders like the nurses who are at the frontlines of the battle against the virus or custodians, food delivery workers and transit employees who remain essential to the safe functioning of our society and do not have the luxury of taking their work home.  Millions of workers in the informal economy – day laborers, domestic workers – face truly dire straits in the current crisis with almost no hope of any help from the state.  As always, these most marginalized workers are predominantly people of color and migrants, those whom our organization is meant to serve. They must be at the forefront of our thoughts at this time.

 

Looking around the globe we are amazed at the creativity and selflessness that common people and even some governments have demonstrated during this crisis to practice social solidarity.  Everything from the beauty of the Italians singing to each other across the balconies of their quarantined homes in ancient Roman and medieval cities that have witnessed many plagues of centuries past, to the Cuban government which welcomed a stranded ship of hundreds tourists in the Caribbean who were denied safe harbor by all others for fear of contagion, to right here at home in the immigrant community of Pilsen where neighbors have signed up to buy groceries for elderly neighbors forced to shelter in place.  Recently, within just days of the realization that the crisis would require new forms of organizing, online networks of labor, community and faith based social justice organizers have sprung up. One Facebook group, the “People’s Coronavirus Response”, went from two people to a network of over nearly 10,000 in a matter of a few days.  A coalition in Chicago led by Arise Chicago, The Chicago Teachers Union, United Working Families, National Nurses United and a host of other groups has rapidly formed demanding that the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois enact a host of measures to provide a safety net for workers who will be displaced in the economic chaos of this crisis. Such developments give us great hope.

 

But there is so much yet to be done.  In particular, we are very much concerned with how the crisis is likely to impact the migrant community in this country.  There are the thousands currently languishing in detention facilities, which, along with the millions in our prisons, are some of the places most vulnerable to a rapid spread of the virus, a catastrophe waiting to happen. Immigration courts have begun to close down, as advocated by both immigration attorneys and immigrant rights organizations for the safety of all involved, but this is also possibly resulting in an increase in migrants and potential asylees facing immediate deportation rather than being afforded the opportunity to have their case heard.  The Trump administration is embracing the xenophobic tendencies of the crisis, referring to the disease as a “foreign” invader and utilizing it to promote their wall building and deportation agenda.  We must not let them get away with such truly evil manipulation of this human tragedy.  Then there are those thousands of Central Americans forced to wait indefinitely in camps on the Mexican side of the border. Mercifully, the virus rates of transmission have so far remained lower in Mexico than in the U.S.; but this is unlikely to last, and these camps are likely to be hit hard when the virus spreads.  Of course, the most direct and brutal impact is the increase in xenophobic-inspired violence, so far mostly targeting Asian-Americans and Asian immigrants, that is on the rise across the country.

 

So, I call on all members of the CRLN community to both be patient with our staff as we adjust to our new working conditions, but, more importantly, to help us navigate the new terrain.  Offer us your creativity and ideas of how we can continue to advance our mission while remaining safe and protecting all. We welcome your input.

 

Sincerely,

Claudia Lucero, Executive Director

Read More
image-title

17

March
40th Anniversary Good Friday “Walk” for Justice Goes Digital!
March 17, 2020 Claudia Lucero Events

In light of the coronavirus pandemic and the CDC’s recommendation to suspend public gatherings for the next eight weeks, the April 10 Good Friday Walk for Justice, “Hope Rising in Courageous Community,” will take a different form this year.

Even though we cannot gather downtown and march together, WE CAN STILL PRAY!  We will honor this 40th Anniversary Good Friday Walk for Justice by publishing our Prayer Booklet online at walkforjusticechicago.com. We encourage you to pray this modern-day Way-of-the-Cross on Good Friday in the safety of your homes with the members of your households.

The Prayer Booklet will be posted sometime after March 25, the deadline for receiving prayers from the groups who are planning each station. CRLN will write Station 4 this year. In the meantime, you can visit the link above to read more about this year’s theme and to find a donation button if you would like to sponsor the event.

During this extended period of social distancing, the need for “Hope Rising in Courageous Community” is more important than ever.  Please share this resource widely, and take heart in the words of author and poet, Alice Walker, who reminds us that “Human sunrises are happening all over the earth,” and that the work to “bring peace, light, compassion” to this world shines on.

Read More

6

March
Reimagining Diversity and Inclusion via Epistemologies of the South
March 6, 2020 Claudia Lucero

A dynamic, arts-based workshop that will involve participants in a collective exploration of the conflicts we face surrounding epistemological diversity and inclusion in higher education. Discuss approaches to decolonizing knowledge and learn strategies to address different epistemologies. This workshop will be facilitated by Fany Aguinda, an indigenous Kichwa youth leader from Tzawata, Ecuador and Chelsea Viteri, a mestiza educator-facilitator-artist from Quito, Ecuador. Fany and Chelsea are members of the Pachaysana Institute, a collective of Ecuadorian and international educators, teaching artists, development specialists and community organizers who seek to bridge the divide between community development and international development, as well as between local and global education.

University education is shaped and guided by western epistemologies. Clearly, this eurocentric approach to knowledge has made innumerable contributions to contemporary life. Nevertheless, it goes without saying that non-western epistemologies and ontologies have been excluded — even obliterated — in its name. Bonaventura de Sousa Santos refers to these alternative ways of thinking as “Epistemologies of the South,” and the acts against their inclusion as epistemicide — an integral part of an ongoing colonial project of domination over territory, resources and human bodies. For most of us, epistemicide is a subtle but violent act and one that we never perceived during our education. However, it has resulted in collective biases related to how we define what is legitimate knowledge and who can be viewed as a legitimate knower. Our views are often limited to a western legacy, which is tied to colonial and patriarchal violence. Even in projects with the best of intentions, this limited epistemological framework often results in work that is extractive and exploitative of communities, yielding scarce benefits to those outside of the ivory tower. What then, would it look like to decolonize community-university partnerships for the common good?

 

This event is free and open to the public.

 

Co-sponsored by the Global Learning Office (GLO), Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR), Latinx Studies Program, Department of Theater, and the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching at Northwestern University. In partnership with the Center for Experiential Learning and the Latin American Studies Program at Loyola University Chicago.

 

See Eventbrite page and RSVP here.

 

***Please note that Fany and Chelsea will conduct a similar workshop at Loyola University Chicago on Friday, March 13 from 12-1:30 PM in the Mundelein Center 1410.***

Read More

6

March
Virtual “Free Them All” Forum
March 6, 2020 Claudia Lucero

CRLN and its predecessor organization, the Chicago Metropolitan Sanctuary Alliance, had its beginnings in the fight against U.S. funding for the adbuctions, disappearances and torture of non-combatant citizens in El Salvador and Guatemala. How can we remain silent when Chicago police have tortured our own citizens into confessing to crimes that they did not commit? While some have been released from prison, we must demand that all those who were tortured be released and pardoned.

We urge you to show up online and be present at this virtual educational rally and action around demanding the IMMEDIATE pardon for all survivors of police torture, organized by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and co-sponsored by CRLN.

 

The event will livestream HERE on the event page on Facebook Live.

Learn more about the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture at: cfist.org

Be sure to sign the online petition for CFIST at: https://www.caarpr.org/cfistpetitiontogov

#FreeThemAll #FreeThemAllForum

Read More

5

March
12th Annual El Pueblo Canta
March 5, 2020 Claudia Lucero

Advance tickets and sponsorship at waucc.org/2020ElPuebloCanta

 

FEATURING: El Wadi Ensemble

 

PLUS: special performances by VOICES, the Wellington Choir, and the “Dare to Dream” Centro Romero Youth Choir.

 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2020

 

TIME: Doors open at 5:30pm–Traditional Latino and Middle Eastern food for purchase

           Concert: 7:00 – 8:30pm

 

LOCATION: Wellington Ave. UCC, 615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago, IL. Located on the corner of Broadway and Wellington, a few blocks south of Belmont Ave. Close                         to the Halsted, Broadway and Clark St. buses, as well as the Red or Brown Line CTA trains 

 

TICKETS: $25 general admission, $15 students/limited income, children under 12 free (childcare available, RSVP at 773-935-0642) 

 

Advance tickets and sponsorship at waucc.org/2020ElPuebloCanta

 

Call 773-935-0642 for more details

 

PARKING: Complimentary parking passes generously provided by Advocate IL Masonic Hospital at garage at Halsted and Wellington.

 

All proceeds will go to support the immigrant justice work of Centro Romero, CRLN, and Wellington Ave. UCC

 

BUILDING COMMUNITY WHERE ALL ARE WELCOME!

Read More
image-title

5

March
Good Friday Walk for Justice
March 5, 2020 Claudia Lucero

 40th ANNIVERSARY GOOD FRIDAY WALK FOR JUSTICE

 April 10, 2020, 12:00 NOON

HOPE RISES IN COURAGEOUS COMMUNITY

 

“When it is all too much, when the news is so bad that meditation itself feels useless, and a single life feels like too small a stone to offer on the altar of peace, find a human sunrise. Find those people who are committed to changing our scary reality. Human sunrises are happening all over the earth, at every moment. People gathering, people working to change the intolerable, people coming in their robes and sandals or in their rags and bare feet, and they are singing, or not, and they are chanting, or not. But they are working to bring peace, light, compassion to the infinitely frightening downhill slide of human life.”  (Alice Walker, Naropa University, 2007)

 

In these challenging times, when all around us we see injustice, violence, lies, and despair, it is important to remember and claim that “another world is possible!” And not only is it possible, but it is being created and nurtured by all of those working together to build a world of justice, compassion, truth, and hope!

 

CRLN has created the responsive reading for the 4th station, “Helped in the Struggle.” 

 

In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the “walk” part of Good Friday Walk for Justice is cancelled.

 

HOWEVER, even though we cannot gather right now, WE CAN STILL PRAY and take courageous action for justice in our communities!  We will honor this 40th Anniversary Good Friday Walk for Justice by publishing our Prayer Booklet online.  We encourage you to pray this modern-day Way-of-the-Cross on Good Friday in the safety of your homes with members of your households.  The booklet will be available at walkforjusticechicago.com by Monday, April 6. The Planning Committee and Station Coordinators will record an audio/visual performance of the responsive readings and have it available for download at the website or link to it from the website as well. In that way, you can feel more connected to those leading the prayers and others participating in the event.

 

During this extended period of social distancing, the need for “Hope Rising in Courageous Community” is more important than ever.  Please share this resource widely, and take heart in the words of author and poet, Alice Walker, who reminds us that “Human sunrises are happening all over the earth,” and that the work to “bring peace, light, compassion” to this world shines on.

 

And PLEASE send your email address to planning committee convener Nancy Jones at nancyjones193@gmail.com so we can keep you in the loop about next year’s Good Friday Walk for Justice.

 

 

To support this year’s Walk, make checks payable to CRLN (memo: GFWalk) and mail to CRLN, 5655 S. University Ave., #23, Chicago, IL 60637, or pay online at bit.ly/wfj20.

 

Read More

The Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN).

  • Tel: +773-293-2964
  • Fax: +773-293-3677
  • Email: crln@crln.org