Ask your Congressional representative to sign on as co-sponsor of HR943 calling for the end of the Monroe Doctrine https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
The resolution gives a telling summary in a government document of many of the interventionist actions by the US government against the native peoples in what is now the United States, and in Latin America starting with the war on Mexico in 1846. Some interventions not mentioned are the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, the invasion of Panama in 1989, assassinations of different presidents such as Ecuador’s Jaime Roldós or Panama’s Omar Torrijos (both in 1981).
The section on lifting all unilateral coercive measures is excellent, as is the call to declassify US government documents relating to coups in the region. Most of the rest of it could easily be manipulated to favor continued interference or end it, such as this clause: “(v) ensure that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and its rapporteurs are financially independent from the Secretary General’s Office.” The IACHR for years has received a majority of its funds from OUTSIDE the main OAS budget; it is primarily funded by the US government and NGOs of dubious intent. This provision is also good: “(I) supporting the creation of a Loss and Damage Trust, under the auspices of the United Nations, to support climate action in developing countries, and working with Congress to secure major, recurrent contributions to this fund”.
Sponsor: Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY); co-sponsors: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) Jesus Chuy Garcia (IL), Delia Ramirez (IL), Greg Casar (TX)
Excerpts from the Resolution:
“Monroe Doctrine”, came to be interpreted by many United States policymakers as a mandate for United States interference in the affairs of Latin American and Caribbean countries in order to protect and promote United States economic and political interests, irrespective of tangible threats posed by foreign powers;
Whereas following a period of western expansion of the United States, resulting in the massive forced displacement and genocide of Native peoples who originally inhabited much of North America, United States political and business leaders took an increasingly active interest in the acquisition of raw materials and in investment opportunities in other parts of the Western Hemisphere;
Whereas, after annexing the territory of Texas, the United States invaded Mexico militarily in 1846 and, after defeating the Mexican army and occupying Mexico City, acquired 55 percent of Mexico’s territory through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in 1848;
Whereas, from 1898 to 1934, the United States conducted military interventions in Cuba, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, known as the “Banana Wars”, in order to advance American financial interests that often came at the expense of United States support for dictatorships and flagrant human rights violations;
Whereas, in 1953, following Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz’s actions targeting United States corporation United Fruit Company, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the CIA to begin Operation PBSuccess, a multimillion-dollar project investing in “psychological warfare and political action” that led to the coup against President Arbenz in 1954;
Whereas, in 1962, the United States imposed a full embargo on Cuba, still in place today, which led to tens of billions of dollars in capital losses for the island country;
Whereas the IMF, whose largest shareholder is the United States, promoted austerity, deregulation, and other structural reforms that resulted in stagnant economic growth in much of Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s, following two decades of strong economic growth;
Whereas, in the 1980s, the Reagan administration supported security forces in Guatemala that perpetrated a genocide against Mayan indigenous peoples, according to the Commission of Historical Clarification; death squads in El Salvador; rightwing paramilitary militias (Contras) in Nicaragua; and participated in efforts to coverup egregious crimes perpetrated by Central American security forces, such as the massacre of 6 Jesuit priests and 2 other unarmed civilians by an elite United States-backed battalion in El Salvador;
Whereas the United States-backed “dirty wars” of Central America triggered a major wave of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua to the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s;
Whereas, following the 2009 coup in Honduras, the United States continued to support the country’s illegitimate government by providing, between 2009 and 2016, an estimated $200,000,000 in military and police aid to Honduran security forces engaged in violent extrajudicial killings and other human rights crimes targeting protesters, activists, land rights advocates, and other civilians opposed to the regime;
Whereas, in 2017, President Donald Trump threatened to invade Venezuela militarily and imposed broad unilateral sanctions against the country;
Whereas the migration of Cubans and Venezuelans to the United States has increased dramatically since the imposition (and reimposition) of broad economic sanctions against these countries;
Whereas, in late 2019, a military coup was staged against the elected Government of Bolivia following unfounded claims of electoral fraud made by an OAS Electoral Observation Mission, while the subsequent coup government received support from the Trump administration and OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro;
Resolved,
(B) terminating all unilateral economic sanctions imposed through Executive orders, and working with Congress to terminate all unilateral sanctions, such as the Cuba embargo, mandated by law;
(D) proceeding with the prompt declassification of all United States Government archives that relate to past coups d’état, dictatorships, and periods in the history of Latin American and Caribbean countries that are characterized by a high rate of human rights crimes perpetrated by security forces;
(E) working with Latin American and Caribbean governments on a far-reaching reform of the Organization of American States to—
(i) ensure accountability surrounding any potentially unethical or criminal activities in which the Secretary General or other senior officials have been involved;
(G) supporting democratic reforms to the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and other international financial institutions to ensure that the developing countries of the region are able to play an equitable role in shaping the lending and grantmaking policies of those institutions;
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Nicaragua welcomes South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel in the International Court of Justice Nicaragua joins with Bolivia and Venezuela in supporting South Africa’s genocide lawsuit against Israel. “Nicaragua considers that the legal action against Israel at the ICJ is a concrete step in compliance with the legal obligations that each state party to the Genocide Convention has the right and duty to take, and is also the first step towards accountability before the international community. As a State Party to the Genocide Convention, Nicaragua urges Israel to fulfill its obligations under International Law and to immediately cease its military assault against the Palestinian People. Nicaragua also calls for an end to the occupation and for the establishment of conditions for a lasting and permanent solution that respects the 1967 borders with a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.”
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Jill Clark-Gollub remarks on Role of Israel in Latin America (video) Founded in Howard County in the mid-1980s, Friends of Latin America’s name has evolved, but our mission has remained constant: defense of people-centered human rights, justice, and peace. For this reason, our membership wholeheartedly supports the struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom, human rights, and peace. We demand a CEASEFIRE NOW and an end to the appalling system of apartheid imposed by the Zionist State.
Zionism has also remained constant all these years—consistently supporting repression of people around the world. Every dark period of mass deaths in Latin America has been facilitated by Zionist weapons and training. The 45-year-long Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua allied with the Zionist guerrillas before 1948, then received weapons from Israel in the late 1970s when the Carter administration cut aid to Somoza because of human rights abuses. Israel then helped the Reagan administration arm the contras, leaving 50,000 more Nicaraguans dead in the 1980s. Similar episodes happened in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and elsewhere, bringing tactics imposed on the Palestinian people to working class neighborhoods of the Americas. Even when progressive governments are elected in the Americas, they are left with the presence of Israeli-trained militaries and Israeli tech companies used to manipulate public opinion and elections, and to target human rights defenders and social movement leaders.
Like many of you, we have been appalled to see manipulation of our defense of Palestinian liberation to imply that we are attacking people of the Jewish faith. We know that equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism is a longstanding tactic of US imperialism and politicians who are beholden to the campaign contributions of groups like AIPAC. The attack that Maryland Senators lodged on the immigrant services group—CASA—for engaging in free speech activity in defense of the Palestinian people, is an attack on us all. We will NOT stand for it. We want to tell our local and federal government: LISTEN to Marylanders and the US population—NO MORE guns or money for the oppression of the Palestinian people! END THE GENOCIDE! CEASEFIRE NOW and JUSTICE FOR PALESTINE! Thank you!
Events
January 21: 3:00pm ET: Webinar “Nicaragua: Working to Make Earth Green Again.” features Valdrack Jaentschke, leader of the Nicaragua delegation to COP 28, the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference. REGISTER: bit.ly/NicaJan21
January 27, 2024: Latin America conference in London18th annual conference in solidarity with Latin American progressive movements. Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign Action Group (NSCAG) will be holding a seminar during the Conference – ‘Nicaragua: The Threat of a Good Example’. Speakers: Roger McKenzie, International Editor, Morning Star; Julie Lamin, Chair, NSCAG Executive Committee and Luis Erick Rodriguez, Nicaraguan Ambassador to the UK. Chair: Tony Burke, Member of NSCAG Executive Committee and Member, London Print Branch UNITE
Upcoming Delegations to Nicaragua Casa Ben Linder 2024 delegations:
March 2-10: Sindicatos & Solidaridad: Labor Movements in Nicaragua (Meet with unions and labor activists in all sectors from teachers to motorcycle taxis; Tour new hospitals & maternal wait homes with health care workers unions; Visit unionized street vendors at work; a free trade zone factory & meet with unionized workers; low-income housing projects; a women’s coffee co-op; a women’s police station)
July 9-21: Solidarity in Action: Celebrating 45 Years of Revolution in Nicaragua
November 8-17: Salud & Solidaridad: Hands-On Healthcare in Nicaragua
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Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition: nicasolidarity.net
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