Chicago’s elections are next Tuesday,
February 26
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) https://bit.ly/2SLijxg
and
The Trump administration’s recent announcement that it would recognize National Assembly President Juan Guaidó as the “interim president” of Venezuela raises the stakes in already out of control crisis and increases fears of potential U.S. military intervention to back what can only be seen as an attempted coup against Venezuela’s elected president. It is clear to all serious observers of the situation in Venezuela that the Trump Administration is working closely with the right-wing opposition to find extralegal, non-electoral means to forcibly remove President Maduro from office.
The Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN) as always stands in solidarity with the oppressed masses, the poor, the working class, the marginalized communities in all of Latin America. And as always, we oppose efforts to impose a future on the people of Latin America by their economically, politically and militarily powerful neighbor to the North. It is a bedrock principle of our organization, as it has been for over 30 years, to oppose U.S. imperialism in all its forms. We do so again at this moment calling on the U.S. government to do the following:
US efforts to undermine the Venezuelan regime over the last 20 years have brought needless hardship and deprivation to the Venezuelan people. It is time to stop.
That said, as people of faith we cannot turn a blind eye to the immense suffering of the Venezuelan people under the current administration of Nicolás Maduro. We cannot ignore the violations of human rights (both political and economic) and the Venezuelan nation’s slide into authoritarianism. In all our shared faith traditions, whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim, we are called to recognize the inherent dignity and worth of every human being, to see the image of God in every man and woman. In this spirit we cannot ignore the brutal reality of extreme, deepening poverty, desperation and state violence that has become the norm for the vast majority of Venezuelans in the last several years. The current government’s inability to address the economic and political crisis that has led to mass starvation and mass migration has created a situation that is unsustainable. The Maduro government has met these challenges with violence and repression rather than solutions. As a result, the gains made by the Bolivarian Revolution nearly two decades ago are rapidly eroding. Conditions for the most vulnerable in Venezuela are now as bad if not worse than they were before the Revolution.
We are all too familiar with how migration is the most glaring symptom of a broken system. We see it today in Central America. We are also seeing it in Venezuela. 1.5 to 3 million Venezuelans have fled their country and are living in desperate, appalling conditions in neighboring nations. It must be noted that the vast majority of these recent Venezuelan refugees are the poor and malnourished, not the elite of Venezuelan society, not the self-imposed “exiles” of the early days of the Bolivarian Revolution. It is these masses who suffer most as the old elites attempt to reassert their power through an attempted coup, and the new elites who amassed power and wealth through manipulation of the bureaucracies born of the revolution use state violence to maintain their control. It is these same masses who are already victims of U.S. interference in the politics of Venezuela and will die by the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands if the U.S. resorts to military force to restore its hegemony.
Solutions to the current crisis can only come from the Venezuelan working class and poor whose creativity and resilience launched a revolution that gave hope to millions, not only in Venezuela but across Latin America. Only from these marginalized sectors can a path to a future beyond the poverty and violence that now engulfs their nation be defined. We here at CRLN we will continue to listen to the voices of these people. We will continue to look for genuine representatives of the Venezuelan masses with whom we can ally ourselves and make common cause. In the meantime, we must call out both the Trump Administration and the government of Nicolás Maduro for denying the dignity and worth of every Venezuelan.
CRLN Executive Director, Claudia Lucero, was invited to attend the United Nations Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration conferences as a representative of NGOs present for consultation about immigration matters. She was present at the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Conference on December 10-11 in Marrakech, Morocco.
On December 19,2018, the U.N. General Assembly endorsed the Compact through a vote. 152 nations voted in favor of the resolution to endorse it, while the United States, Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland voted against it. 12 countries abstained from the vote.
Although not legally binding, the Compact is the outcome of a long negotiation process. The U.N. hopes it will provide a strong platform for international cooperation on migration, drawing on best practices and international law. In order to be effective, countries will need to implement this historic agreement and, hopefully, codify its provisions into their own national laws.
Once again, the U.S. has refused to cooperate with a groundbreaking international agreement that could improve the lives of migrants at its borders.
You can read the whole document by clicking on the link below:
For statements made by representatives of the various countries in attendance, click on the link below:
The US has a long record of intervening in El Salvador’s affairs, from taking the side of dictators in civil conflicts to attempting to influence elections after the Peace Accords were signed and democracy was restored in the 1990’s, US government representatives have frequently threatened to cut off US aid or remittances sent home by Salvadorans living in the US unless they voted for the right-wing ARENA party. Currently, President Trump’s frequent threats to cut aid to El Salvador are being used by the right-wing media in El Salvador as part of a smear campaign against the current administration in El Salvador (FMLN party) and as a way to intimidate voters in the February 3 Presidential elections.
Representatives Grijalva (D-AZ), Beyer (D-VA) and Serrano (D-NY) are circulating a Congressional sign-on letter, calling on the Trump Administration to refrain from positioning themselves in any sort of partisan manner or making any statements to influence the decision of Salvadoran voters ahead of the elections. Please call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, ask to be connected to your U.S. Representative’s office, ask to speak to the Foreign Policy staff member, and tell them why your Representative should sign onto this letter. If the Foreign Policy Staff member is not available, ask to be connected to their voice mail and leave a message or ask for their email and send your message to them in writing.
If you do not know the name of your representative, click here to find out.
Here is a sample script:
“Hi, my name is ________ and I am a constituent of Rep. _______. Representatives Grijalva, Beyer, and Serrano are circulating a Congressional sign-on letter calling on the Trump Administration to respect the democratic process in El Salvador in their upcoming February 3rd elections. Unfortunately, there has been a history in past elections of Republican Administrations making threats to cut off aid, deport Salvadorans from the U.S., or not allow Salvadorans living here to send money to family members in El Salvador if Salvadorans support candidates who are left of center and don’t vote for right-wing candidates. Because many Salvadorans depend on money they receive from relatives in the U.S. for basic necessities, these public statements are frightening and can sway people’s votes. The U.S. should not interfere in another sovereign nation’s elections in this way.
We need Rep. ______ to sign onto this letter to let the Salvadoran people know that the U.S. will respect their democratic process. The deadline for signing on is this Friday, January 25. You can call Marilyn.Zepeda@mail.house.gov to sign on.”
To be most effective, follow up your phone call with an email and ask the Foreign Policy staff to let you know when your Representative makes a decision about signing on. Please copy shunter-smith@crln.org so CRLN can track the effectiveness of our network.
Alison Janus, a member of University Church in the Hyde Park nieghborhood of Chicago, spent 5 months teaching English in El Salvador at the Center for Exchange and Solidarity using a popular education methodology. She brings back to her community the perspectives of her Salvadoran students and their alternate views of migrant caravans, violence and the dialogue surrounding US immigration policy. Join us for a dialogue centering the Salvadoran perspective, working toward global solidarity.
RSVP on EventBrite–eventbrite.com/…/reflection-from-el-salvador-by-alison-janus-tickets-54737046981 Food will be available. Event is free and open to the public.
This event is co-sponsored by Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America, Stories Connect, and the Universtiy Chuch Social Justice Committee.
Please join this Honduras Solidarity Network webinar to understand the origins of the Refugee Caravan, which finds its roots in US interventionist policies in the region. Hear about the current situation of the more than 7,000 people that are part of the caravan, and learn about ways to join in solidarity. President Trump’s announcement to send more armed forces to the already militarized US/Mexico border as a response to the caravan of Central American refugees must be confronted with active and informed solidarity for the hundreds of thousands of Central Americans that were forced to leave their homelands because of US intervention.
Facebook live available at: @Alliance4GlobalJustice. Register below to participate or watch live.
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Thousands of Hondurans, refugees from the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Juan Orlando Hernandez and its effects, have set out on foot to reach the U.S. U.S. foreign policy is directly responsible for their plight, with its long history of interference and its support for the 2009 coup and subsequent repressive governments, disastrous economic policy, and, most recently, the 2017 fraudulent elections and ensuing bloody repression. Now President Trump threatens to send the U.S. army to the border against the thousands of families on the caravan, while he also continues the policy of family separation, criminalization and mass deportations.
As immigrant communities, teachers, faith leaders and people of conscience, we will not be silent.
We demand :
*End U.S. support for the Honduran Dictatorship;
*Stop Criminalization, Deportation and Family Separation;
*Respect the Human Rights of Refugees;
*Asylum for Refugees
*No Border Wall!
Conveners: La Voz de los de Abajo, Organized Communities Against Deportation; Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America; Gay Liberation Network; Chicago Teachers Union Latinx Caucus; Chicago Comite Justicia Ayotzinapa, Black Lives Matter Chicago, Arab American Action Network, US Palestinian Community Network, Campaign to Take On Hate- Chicago, ANSWER Chicago.
Late yesterday afternoon, we received notice from Witness for Peace that Sen. Ed Markey (MA) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL) began circulating a sign-on “Dear Colleague” letter in the U.S. Congress to President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo, urging them to investigate and condemn recent threats against human rights defenders, journalists and international human rights observers in Honduras. So far, Representatives Johnson (GA), Kaptur (OH), Holmes Norton (DC), Ellison (MN), Espaillat (NY), McGovern (MA), Jayapal (WA), Khanna (CA), Lee (CA), Gutiérrez (IL-4), and Pocan (WI-2) have joined Sen. Markey and Rep. Schakowsky on this letter.
Call the Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) today and ask to be connected to the office of your member of Congress. Demand safety for people who are doing important human rights work or reporting on matters of public interest.
The danger is serious. Journalists, as well as the director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA, have received threats and been attacked in Honduras. Foreigners documenting human rights abuses have been deported, and smear campaigns have targeted people critical of the Honduran government, even extending to Witness for Peace delegations. Some of these threats and attacks have come from members of Honduran state security forces, which the U.S. funds.
Rep. Schakowsky and Sen. Markey’s letter calls on the Trump administration to:
-communicate concern to the Government of Honduras and request that it investigate these attacks, determine if state security forces were involved, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
-direct the State Department to 1) provide Congress with a detailed assessment of the efficacy of current Honduran government efforts to protect freedom of expression, and 2) reassess its certification of human rights conditions in Honduras.
-immediately investigate threats against U.S. citizens, report the findings of the investigation to Congress, and include in the report what actions the administration has taken in response.
Call your members of Congress (both Senators and your House Representative) NOW to ask them to take action to help protect journalists, human rights defenders and international observers.
Sample call script:
Around 100 people gathered in the courtyard of the 4th Presbyterian Church on Tuesday night to sing, pray, and get equipped for action to keep families together by defunding ICE, restoring Temporary Protected Status, and supporting individual detention and deportation cases. As the sky grew darker, ArtWorks projected images on the side of the church building of an immigrant family that was separated in Detroit. We lifted up the more local case of a young woman, whose mother and brothers are seeking asylum and are sponsored by Lake Street Church in Evanston, while she remains detained in Texas and threatened with deportation.
Chris Inserra and singers she gathered led us in energetic group singing, Rev. Vicky Curtiss (4th Presbyterian Church) led us in prayer, Rev. Marilyn Pagan-Banks read inspirational poetry that reminded us of our power. Many leaders of faith communities and organizations –Rabbi Brant Rosen (Congregation Tzedek), Rev. Sara Wohlleb (Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants), Amy Shannon (Alianza Americas), Claudia Lucero (CRLN), Julian Lazalde (National Immigrant Justice Center) spoke eloquently about the cruelties of our immigration enforcement system and the way we mistreat asylum seekers, the need to cut ICE’s budget and to stop the expansion of private for-profit prisons, the need to prevent another round of family separations by finding a way for people whose Temporary Protected Status was revoked to stay in the U.S.
Here are some photos from the event:
45 bikers rode the Lakefront Bike Path on Sunday, September 30, and collectively raised over $20,000 in pledges! The proceeds will be divided among a number of projects: scholarships for students in Guatemala and El Salvador, trainings for health promoters in Colombia, legal aid and training for campesinos in Honduras fighting for land rights, and community organizing funds for tenants rights in Chicago. Co-sponsors Autonomous Tenants Union, Chicago-Cinquera Sister Cities, Chicago-Guatemala Partnership, Concern America, and La Voz de los de Abajo organized teams of bike riders, along with CRLN, to seek funding for these projects.
Thanks to all who biked, pledged to bikers, designed the t-shirts, volunteered at the event, or brought food for the fiesta!
Here are some photos of from the event:
