On the morning of Saturday, July 18, Garífuna leader Snider Centeno and other three members of the Triunfo de la Cruz community (plus one man from Belize) were kidnapped and disappeared by a group of men wearing bullet proof vests and uniforms of the Military Police and the Police Investigations Directorate (DPI). Snider is the president of the elected community council in Triunfo de la Cruz. His community received a favorable sentence from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2015. The Honduran state, however, has still not respected the court's judgment. The kidnapping and disappearance of Snider and four others is another attack against the Garífuna community and their struggle to protect their ancestral lands and the rights of Afro-indigenous and indigenous people to live. Join us to demand a full investigation and action to save the lives these men: Milton Joel Martínez Álvarez, Suami Aparicio Mejía García, Gerardo Misael Trochez Calix, Alber Sentana Thomas, and Snider Centeno.

Mark your calendars now for the SOA Watch Convergence Nov 21-22, a weekend of workshops, a virtual vigil and more. More details soon.

On December 2, 1980, four women from the US working with the poor and displaced in El Salvador were kidnapped, raped and murdered by the US-backed military of El Salvador. Two of those women—Jean Donovan and Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel—were from Cleveland. In the end, they, along with Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, met the same fate as thousands of unnamed poor of El Salvador who were killed or disappeared. Join us on Sunday, November 15 as we commemorate their sacrifice, honor their legacy, and recommit ourselves to act in solidarity with poor and marginalized communities in Central America and Colombia.

from SOA Watch: Mark your calendars now for a virtual concert on Saturday, October 17th at 4pm Pacific / 7pm Eastern (featured artists will be announced soon) AND for a weekend of workshops, a virtual vigil and more on November 21st & 22nd. We will share details with you soon!

Join Kristina Aiad-Toss, Brenna Dilley and Adela Zayas for a discussion of how U.S. involvement in El Salvador in the 1980s planted the seeds for today’s crisis of migration from Central America. The panelists will outline how the United States assisted the Salvadoran government in committing war crimes by providing weapons and training soldiers, which ultimately led to the murders of over 70,000 innocent civilians. The Salvadoran Civil War left the country deeply divided and ridden with economic troubles. When the U.S. forced Salvadorans who had sought refuge in Los Angeles to return home, they brought back a gang system that grew in response to the harsh post-war inequalities. Today’s migrants are fleeing the continuing violence and financial devastation.

This informative webinar features four experts speaking on Honduras (Karen Spring, Honduras Solidarity Network), Nicaragua (Nan McCurdy, United Methodist missionary), Haiti (Pierre Labossiere, Haitian Action Committee), and Venezuela (Ricardo Vaz, journalist based in Venezuela)

Lately, there has been an increase in insecurity across Colombia. And to add to the wound, the already wide gap of inequality continues to widen, primarily in sectors that have historically been discriminated against through policies that promote racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, and war. As part of our new campaign, #ModusOperandi, we want to explain why violence against human rights defenders is not a coincidence. More than 100 human rights defenders have been killed this year alone. These killings cannot even be counted as State negligence since the mechanisms to protect these leaders’ lives are non-existent. Instead, it is a structural dynamic aimed at privileging the interests of the most powerful at the cost of the lives of the impoverished. Join us in a liturgy for social leaders as we pray for those who are seeds* of hope and those who continue to resist the State’s violence. (*seeds: people who have been assassinated and buried as seeds and their struggle lives on)

Join this panel discussion with four Canadian immigration and asylum attorneys who will help you identify when a client with little chance of success in the U.S. may have a better chance of gaining status in Canada. Topics covered will include: 1- Overview of possible immigration options available, an update on the US-Canada Safe Third Country Agreement, border restrictions, and changes to asylum eligibility for individuals who commenced an asylum claim in the U.S.; 2- Obstacles to Canadian immigration for clients with past criminality; 3- Discussion of grounds of asylum more readily granted in Canada compared to the U.S. (such as PSGs relating to family, gender-based harm, or forced gang recruitment).

Monday, September 28 - 10am in Colombia, 11am (ET) in Washington D.C. Conversation CONVIDA20: "Colombia cries out for Life, Peace and Justice" Panelists: Diego Pérez and Omar Fernández Testimonies of Resistance Río Naya and Afavit Registrations at: bit.ly/pazcolombia20

Celebrating our 30th year as an organization, Illinois School of the Americas Watch (ILSOAW) and the SOA Watch Staff Collective invite you to join us for a virtual gathering on Sunday, September 27th at 2pm-3:30pm Eastern / 1pm-2:30pm Central / 11am-12:30pm Pacific. The afternoon event consists of music, conversation, and members of the SOA Watch Staff Collective will share more about our work to end US-led and backed state violence; dismantle Border Imperialism; and stand with communities in Latin America organizing against the militarization of their lands and lives under a neoliberal model that values profit over people and the environment. The event is bilingual (Spanish and English), and interpretation will be provided.