IRTF News

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IRTF was founded in Cleveland, OH, in 1981to call people here in the U.S. into solidarity with the people of Central America to promote peace, justice, human rights, and systemic transformation through nonviolence. Four decades later, the people of Central America face formidable challenges like the rolling back of democratic advances, forced displacement from communal and ancestral lands, and attacks on human rights defenders—harassment, threats, false criminalization, and violence (including assasssination). Our solidarity is as important now as ever.

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Nicaragua’s government has launched a fierce crackdown on the Catholic church and other religious organizations, jailing priests and bishops, closing religious schools, and stripping charities and ministries of their legal standing.

On September 5, 135 prisoners were released in a secret operation negotiated by the Biden administration, officials announced.

The prisoners, all Nicaraguan citizens, were flown to Guatemala and will be able to apply for U.S. legal status. Descending from the plane, they cried, “God Bless America” and “God Bless Guatemala,” said Eric Jacobstein, a State Department official who greeted them.

Among the 135 freed Thursday are 13 members of the Texas-based Mountain Gateway missionary organization, as well as Catholic laypeople, students, journalists and human rights defenders, U.S. officials said. The highest-profile prisoners (from Mountain Gateway, an evangelical Christian organization based in Dripping Springs, TX) included 11 pastors who were arrested in December and later found guilty of money laundering, plus two of their lawyers. The pastors had received sentences of 12 to 15 years, and were collectively fined almost $1 billion, the organization said in a statement. It said the charges were baseless.

A stunning report in Axios paints a damning picture of widespread farm labor abuse in the US agricultural industry outside the protections of the Fair Food Program (FFP). 

Yet while federal prosecutions of forced labor operations grow more common in agriculture, many massive food corporations like the grocery giant Kroger continue to turn a blind eye to the extreme abuses of some of the most vulnerable workers at the bottom of their opaque supply chains, according to a shocking report, months in the making, by Richard Collings of Axios.  Meanwhile, according to the report, the lack of adequate resources for state and federal authorities to protect farmworkers is only making matters worse, and is likely allowing even more widespread exploitation of the agricultural workers who put food on our tables to go undetected. 

Against this backdrop of pervasive abuse, Worker-driven Social Responsibility programs like the Fair Food Program and Milk with Dignity are singled out by Axios as “key to ending widespread forced labor.”

The bullet-pointed report is a must-read.   We have included it here below in full to best share its urgent message: Forced labor is an appalling reality in US agriculture today, but there is a proven solution — the unique monitoring and enforcement mechanisms of the Fair Food Program, driven by workers as the frontline monitor of their own rights and backed by the purchasing power of the program’s participating buyers.

The article by Efren Lemus in El Faro on August 19, 2024, highlights severe issues within El Salvador's Bureau of Prisons under the state of exception. It documents cases where court-ordered releases were ignored, leading to deaths and continued unjust detainment. Families like that of Luis Armando Rodríguez faced repeated bureaucratic obstacles after his release was ordered, ultimately resulting in his death in prison. The Bureau of Prisons, accused of crimes and secrecy, has failed to comply with court orders, perpetuating a pattern of human rights abuses and institutional impunity despite international scrutiny.

NISGUA’s press release on the latest updates in the historic Guatemalan case charging ex-general Manuel Benedicto Lucas Garcia with genocide against the Maya Ixil people. On August 12, the accused made a frivolous and malicious attempt to dismiss the case. Yet, the fight continues and elders from the three municipals of the Maya Ixil region who are unable to travel to the capital due to advanced age or health issues are preparing to give their testimonies in Nebaj, Guatemala next week. 

In this critical moment, a month before the expected end of the trial, we call upon international media to continue to shine a spotlight on the case and reflect upon the international community’s role in enabling the genocide. In particular, the United States provided training to the Guatemalan police and military, promoted the ‘internal enemy’ doctrine, and taught torture techniques, forced disappearance, and counterinsurgency tactics. Survivors of the genocide of the Maya Ixil people and their families and communities have been awaiting justice for over 40 years, and the fight will continue until justice prevails. 

Cañaverales, a town in Colombia’s northern province of La Guajira, has become the first beneficiary of a new government program protecting campesino communities from industrial development. On July 5, 2024, Colombia's Ministry of Agriculture declared Cañaverales a Protected Area for Food Production (APPA), safeguarding 80,000 hectares from coal mining and prioritizing agriculture. This victory follows decades of activism by Afro-Colombian, campesino, and Indigenous communities fighting against environmental degradation caused by large-scale mining.

Despite this progress, the future remains uncertain as corporate power, particularly from companies like the Turkish Best Coal Company, threatens to override these protections. The community's struggle reflects the broader challenges of balancing environmental protection with economic interests under the Petro-Márquez administration, which, despite its focus on rural development and food security, continues to face opposition from business interests and the extractive industry. The people of Cañaverales remain committed to resisting mining and protecting their land, but the threat of corporate influence and legal challenges looms large.

In this monthly newsletter, please read about : 1) ICE Air: Update on Removal Flight Trends, 2) US Government Policy: Some legislators and DHS trying to do more to offer humanitarian relief to migrants, 3) Migration Impacts on Women, 4) At the Border, 5) Beyond Borders: Health and Safety in the Age of Migration in Mexico, 6) Changing Demographics: Migrants to the US Come from Different Corners of the Globe, 7) Danger in the Darién Gap: Human rights abuses and the need for human pathways to safety, 8) Texas Gets Tough on Migrants, 9) Economic Benefits of Immigration – both documented and undocumented migrants, 10) Biden Can Claim Record Numbers of Removals.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Here is what you can do to take action this week and act in solidarity with migrants and their families. (See details at the bottom of this newsletter.)

A) Join a Solidarity Delegation to Southern Mexico:  November 11-16, 2024

B) Stop Criminalizing Migrants Traveling through the Darién Gap

C) Volunteer to Assistant Migrants and Refugees in Cleveland: Catholic Charities

D) Volunteer to Assistant Migrants and Refugees in Cleveland: NEO Friends of Immigrants

E) Get Paid to Assist Migrants and Refugees in Cleveland

F) Act Now for Welcoming, Dignified, and Just Immigration

Read the full IRTF Migrant Justice Newsletter each month at https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog  

Klas Lundström’s article in Jacobin discusses the sentencing of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking and related charges. Hernández, once a US ally, is now in prison due to a shift in political dynamics that led to his chosen successor losing the 2021 elections. Lundström argues that Hernández's involvement in drug trafficking and corruption is a direct result of US foreign policy and the US-backed coup against left-wing President Manuel Zelaya in 2009.

Hernández’s presidency, marked by widespread violence and corruption, was supported by the US, which turned a blind eye to his illegal activities while he assisted in drug interdiction and migration control. His eventual downfall was accelerated by the electoral loss of the National Party and the subsequent administration’s approval of his extradition to the US.

The article highlights that Hernández’s rise and fall are emblematic of broader US interference in Latin American politics, which has historically favored conservative and pro-US governments. The coup against Zelaya, justified by false accusations and supported by the US, led to increased instability and violence in Honduras. The consequences of this interference continue to plague Honduras, with drug trafficking and corruption deeply embedded in the state’s fabric.

Lundström emphasizes that Hernández’s story reflects the disastrous impact of US policies in Central America, where political and economic turmoil often results from interventions aimed at maintaining US influence.

In less than a decade, El Salvador has gone from the murder capital of the world to having one of the lowest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere. President Nayib Bukele has been at the helm of this radical transformation. Since taking office, he has led one of the most aggressive anti-gang crackdowns ever seen, suspended key constitutional rights, reshaped the judiciary, eroded prosecutorial independence, and consolidated unprecedented political power in the process.

Data from the Salvadoran government indeed suggests that violence has plummeted to historic lows under Bukele. A closer look at the data and methods used by his administration, however, reveals a more complicated reality of violence, state control, and repression in the country. Under Bukele’s crackdown, the government has been undercounting homicides by as much as 47 percent. In May 2021, Bukele’s government formally started changing how it counted homicides. Then, in April 2022, just days after Bukele declared the régimen de excepción, the government began excluding figures for persons killed in clashes with the police or military, which include shootings, patrols, and operations by state security forces. Where El Salvador has become a true leader—not only in the Western Hemisphere but globally—is incarceration. Under Bukele’s rule, El Salvador has become the most incarcerated country in the world.

Lastly, both Bukele’s supporters and critics have largely taken his administration at its word, failing to consider that the very data touted by the president and his administration is deeply flawed and that homicides under his rule have been deliberately and dramatically undercounted.
“Everyone is talking about Bukele’s model and that it is going to be successful there,” Salvadoran political scientist José Miguel Cruz told Foreign Policy, “and that is just a fantasy.”

The article from Mary Jo McConahay in the National Catholic Reporter on August 6, 2024, discusses the ongoing trial of General Benedicto Lucas García in Guatemala for crimes committed during the country's 36-year internal armed conflict. The trial has highlighted debates among experts over whether the atrocities committed against the Ixil Maya should be classified as genocide or war crimes. Despite differing opinions on terminology, the trial underscores the profound impact of the violence, which included mass murders, cultural destruction, and forced reorganization of communities. The case is seen as crucial for transitional justice in Guatemala, aiming to hold perpetrators accountable and facilitate healing for survivors affected by the violent campaign.