Despite the 2016 peace accords in Colombia, conflict and violence continue due to the U.S.-supported neoliberal economic model. In order to imagine peace, we must imagine a new model of reparations and justice. By Chelsey Dyer Colombia today has the highest number of recorded assassinations of human rights defenders in the world. In the first 15 days of January 2019 alone, nine social leaders were murdered. These alarming statistics make it clear that peace has not come to Co

Por Celeste Larkin, Chicago Religious Leadership Network Llevo tres años viviendo en Chicago y, en este tiempo, la ciudad ha vivido muchos cambios en su economía municipal. El gobierno local, a cargo del alcalde Rahm Emanuel, ha cerrado docenas de clínicas que prestaban servicios de salud mental a personas de bajos recursos necesitados de estos servicios; ha cerrado 54 colegios públicos, en donde un 90% de los estudiantes afectados son afrodescendientes, que se encuentran en

Celeste Larkin, Chicago Religious Leadership Network I’ve lived in Chicago for the past three years and, in that time, we’ve seen many changes to our local economy. The city, led by Mayor Rahm Emanuel has closed dozens of mental health clinics that served low-income people in need of services; closed 54 public schools, where 90% of students affected were black and in neighborhoods that happen to be seeing a spike in privately managed, mostly non-union charter schools; and

By Elizabeth Perkins, WfP Honduras Team Competition. It’s an inherent concept of U.S. meritocracy, the ‘pull yourself up by the bootstraps’ mentality. (That’s assuming everyone has boots in the first place). Neoliberal economic policy promotes competition as a tool for economic growth. It is based on the assumption that competition improves quality and efficiency. For a ‘developing’ country to create desperately needed jobs, it must compete with other countries to a

Español abajo Josh Wise, Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition For nearly five years now, government bureaucrats and lobbyists on both sides of the Pacific Ocean have been negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in secret. Despite claims from the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Michael Froman, that this is going to be a “high-level” agreement that will create lots of jobs, everything we’ve learned through leaks to the public (which essentially amount to negotiato

The Witness blog series is back! This month, Witness for Peace, in close collaboration with coalition partners in the United States and partners on the ground in Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico, is hosting our second annual blog series – this one focused on the changing system of international trade and its effects on communities both small and large. When most people hear the word “trade,” their eyes already start to glaze over, visions of tariffs and collective bar

Three months before the 20th anniversary of NAFTA, I found myself in an old school bus traveling through the Sierra Juarez in Oaxaca, Mexico. The landscape was unbelievably beautiful. Riding on the curvy roads I saw dense green vegetation and endless chains of mountains. The Sierra Juarez´ flora and fauna have been preserved because they have powerful allies: indigenous people who have fought for centuries to protect their land, their culture, their way of life, and mother ea

By Jeanine Legato WfP Colombia Southeastern Massachusetts, where I am from, was deeply embroiled in a nimby (Not-In- My- Backyard) debate in 2008 about the proposed construction of Cape Wind, an offshore wind farm in Nantucket sound. The debate lasted years and only recently passed its final regulatory obstacle of approval by the Federal Aviation Association. In the meantime, it has dominated local airwaves, newspapers, and public discussion, and called the attention of ju

By Austin Robles WFP Colombia Minutes before he started to sew his mouth shut, Jorge Parra explained his rationale to me: “Essentially GM gave us a choice: to die of hunger or to die waiting for them to solve this problem.” One year ago, on August 1st, 2011, several dozen workers from General Motors Colombia (Colmotores) started a protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá. The Association of Injured Workers and Ex-Workers of Colmotores (ASOTRECOL) had two simple demands:

By WFP Colombia Team As Presidents from across the Americas were getting set to gather for the Summit of the Americas April 14-15, social movements from across the hemisphere gathered in Cartagena at the People’s Summit. In the video below, co-produced by Witness for Peace and Fellowship of Reconciliation, human rights defenders, labor leaders and indigenous people discuss their vision of U.S. policy. Check it out. #FellowshipofReconciliation #neoliberalism #ColombiaFreeTrade

Written by OFRANEH (Organizacion Fraternal Negra Hondureña) and posted on January 4, 2012. Translated into English by the Witness for Peace Nicaragua Team. For the original Spanish version please visit OFRANEH’s blog. This past December 10th, the British magazine, “The Economist” published an article that makes a reference to a memorandum of understanding between the government of Honduras and two United States firms regarding the construction of Model Cities (Charter Cities)

By Riahl O´Malley and Brooke Denmark Witness for for Peace International Team – Nicaragua Driving into Triunfo de la Cruz, a Garifuna community on Honduras´ northern coast, things seem normal. Children of all ages are dressed in uniform, making their way to school. Women sit in front of their homes chatting with their neighbors. When we arrive at Teresa Reyes´ house, the secretary of the Community Board, she and her husband, Alfredo, are fixing the roof. As we begin speaki