IRTF News

Please call your Senators today to demand an end to U.S. military aid to Guatemala and Central America! The peoples of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are increasingly experiencing violations of their rights at the hands of the state. All three governments receive millions of dollars annually in police and military training and equipment from the United States in the name of fighting the U.S. War on Drugs and the (unofficial) U.S. War on Migrants.

As El Salvador sinks into violence and authoritarianism, another country takes a comparable, straight edge "anti-crime" approach. 

On November 24, the Honduran government announced a plan for the temporary suspension of constitutional rights and a deployment of security forces in two crime rigged cities. Besides the capital Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula will be implementing the approach. Honduras has been struggling with a rise of extortion, leading to fear among the population and a mass closure of small to medium sized businesses. 

Human rights activists who have been criticizing the rise of authoritarianism in Central America are warning to ensure the upholding of human rights. Honduras has a history of violence by security forces and a lack of accountability. Nevertheless, many civilians are welcoming the measure. Though the approach is often compared to El Salvador's extreme militarization and totalitarianism, experts doubt that the measures will have a comparable impact. They believe that widespread human rights violations could endanger the internal peace within the center-left coalition governing the country. Furthermore, the comparison lacks validity since El Salvador,  with its massive military and police force as well as its enormous prison capacity, is far more militarized than Honduras. Another impactful difference between the two countries is the takeover of the judicial branch by the Salvadoran government, enabling it to prosecute without hearings. 

Still, the fear of unhinging authoritarianism is a strong indication of danger. Many are speculating the iron fist approach could overshadow the government's plan of legal reforms like resource upgrades aiming to dismantle gang leaders and cracking down on money laundering, which is believed to have a long term impact.

As the deployment of special forces proceeds, it is likely to be implemented in more cities as well. 

A Nevada-based mining firm is suing Guatemala for more than $400 million, the first suit of its kind for the impoverished Central American country. 

The lawsuit which began on June 22 with the consultation process was filed at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a branch of the World Bank, and is based on CAFTA (Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement with the US). It allows transnational corporations to sue for alleged losses of investment. In the recent lawsuit, the Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) mining firm claims that the Guatemalan government has not done enough to protect their investment. A dubious claim seeing how the police oppresses indigenous anti-mining protests. KCA's gold mine, which has been the sight of constant protest, was only in operation for two years, until the courts suspended the project in late 2015 over failure to adequately consult with the habitants of the La Puya area. Furthermore, the mine was the cause of massive environmental damages leading to health issues within the population. Individuals with courage to speak out against the operation were met with threats, violence, persecution and police repression. 

In their defense against KCA's lawsuit, the Guatemalan government brings forward information gathered by activists located in La Puya while ignoring the the interests of the communities. The KCA case also sheds light on corruption within Guatemala's former government as Daniel Kapps was meeting with the Director General of Mining Selvyn Morales in 2011 in an effort to seek a building permit. Shortly after this meeting Morales left his position in the government to work for a mining services company, which KCA immediately hired. Guatemala's government argues that KCA violated environmental norms and failed to obtain its construction license to build its mine, thus not having a right to be reimbursed for their losses. 

Indigenous communities criticize that the Guatemalan government argues on the claims and findings of activists while disregarding the needs and interests of the habitants.  

In El Salvador 10,000 military troops have surrounded the city Soyapango, one of El Salvador's biggest cities with 290,000 inhabitants. 

The recent surrounding is part of the ongoing gang crackdown under the state of emergency, which was initiated in late March and has seen 58,000 imprisoned. A mind boggling number considering that El Salvador's total population is just 6.5 million. The government has stated that all roads to the city have been blocked and special forces are searching homes in the effort to "extract" gang members. President Bukele has claimed that ordinary people "have nothing to fear" as it is "an operation against criminals, not honest citizens." Activists fear that the operation may lead to mass imprisonment, though polls show, that 75.9% of Salvadorans support the state of emergency. So far 12 individuals have been arrested as part of the crackdown on Soyapango.  

Wednesday November 30 marked one of the most important days for journalism and freedom of press in recent years. 

After several members of the Salvadoran investigative news outlet El Faro found proof of the Israeli spyware Pegasus on their smartphones, El Faro takes on Pegasuses developers head on and goes to court. "We are filing this lawsuit to defend our right to investigate and report, and to protect journalists around the world in their pursuit of the truth," the co-founder of El Faro, Carlos Dada, stated. It is not the first Pegasus attack in El Salvador. Dozens of activists and journalists have been targeted so far. 

The spyware developing company behind Pegasus, the NSO Group which has been blacklisted by the United States, has stated that it has no ties with the Salvadoran government. They say they only sell their system to legitimate law enforcement and intelligence in foreign countries and that it does not operate the system, thus has no oversight over the users. Furthermore, NSO stated that the use against activists and journalists "is a severe misuse of any technology and goes against the desired use of such critical tools." The attack gets even more upsetting by the fact that Pegasus is marked as a military export by the Israeli state, which has to approve any sales of the spyware. Israel's government has been criticized for the sale of the system to countries violating human rights before. 

The recent lawsuit against the NSO Group in a U.S. court claims that NSO violated US law by developing and using spyware against El Faro. 

In this montly newsletter, please read about : (1) Immigration Court in Cleveland, OH: Nicaraguans rank #1 in deportation proceedings filed; (2) - Recent Border Trends: Why We See so Many Nicaraguans and Venezuelans Arriving at the U.S. Southern Border; (3) Title 42: Expelling Migrants in the Name of Health Measures: Biden Urges Mexico to Take Migrants under COVID Expulsion Order He Promised to End; (4) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): Increase in ICE’s use of Ankle Monitors and Smartphones to Monitor Immigrants and Detention Numbers; (5) At The Border: Recent Incidents at and around the US-Mexico Border. TAKE ACTION ITEMS: After reading the articles, please take a few moments to advocate for migrant justice with our TAKE ACTION items: (1) Support Ohio Immigrant and Refugee Businesses this Holiday Season; (2) ​​​​​Urge Congress to Support and Pass Permanent Pathways to Citizenship (3) Stop the illegal and immoral transportation of migrants by certain governors to other states and Washington, DC.

https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog

In 2021 the Biden administration established the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a Covid relief bill that was directed to communities to cope with financial difficulties during and after the Covid 19 pandemic. 

Cuyahoga County received close to a billion dollars including $511 million for the city of Cleveland. Following this, the city asked its residents how the funding should be spent, to which one in five Clevelanders marked "safety and policing" as the most important issue. This fear of crime legitimized the city and wider county to spend a bulk of the ARPA funding on law enforcement and public security, directing it in large parts towards salaries and bonuses for police officers and the recruitment of new personnel. Cleveland alone secured $190 million for policing, with $63 million going into salaries and bonuses, adding up to over $150 million in salaries county wide. Much of this funding comes from the state's Violent Crime Reduction Grant program, a program that before Covid had a budget of $8 million and was supposed to included financing for social crime prevention initiatives.        

The second largest investment coming from the security budget was spent on purchasing police equipment, vehicles and hundreds of cameras, adding up to around $14.6 million from Cleveland alone. 

Critics state that the narrow spending on violence reduction and crime prevention is not nearly enough to bring actual security to the city's street. Even though the ARPA guidelines include "community violence intervention," these guidelines can be interpreted loosely, leading to Cleveland categorizing police equipment as "community violence intervention.                                

Cleveland leaders acknowledged that policing alone won't solve the problem of community violence but have also affirmed that shifting money away from police is a difficult task. Cuyahoga County Council representative Richard Starr has supported the use of more ARPA funding to help at-risk kids to get mentors, education and to aquire job skills to prevent them from sliding off into crime, stating that "it starts with them lacking recourses and support." The Greater Cleveland American Rescue Plan Coalition demanded  to prioritize housing, behavioral health, broadband access and education for those most affected by the Covid pandemic. The Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance, another social organization, calls for the use of mental health experts as first response to mental health crises and not armed police officers. Cleveland lawmakers approved $5 million of the ARPA  funds for a pilot Crisis Intervention Team,  enabling them to double the size of their first response social worker force and hiring strategists to oversee the program. Lawmakers also left the door open to "explore opportunities" to a community response that isn't police. 

Furthermore, the grassroots coalition Participatory Budgeting Cleveland brought forward a proposal to set aside $30 million of the ARPA funds for the 30.8% of Clevlanders living in poverty, to have a say in the spending of the budget. Mayor Justin Bibb promoted a small amount of $5 million for a Civic Participation Fund that would involve residents' input on spending.  Cuyahoga County already set aside $5 million to create a Youth Diversion Center as an alternative, to offer mental health and substance abuse treatment instead of sending kids to juvenile detention centers. The program has yet to launch.  

2022 marked the 25th anniversary of the  Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice. Every year thousands of followers visit the Teach-In to honor the Jesuit martyrs and pledge for justice in Central and South America. 

The annual meeting first took place in 1997 as a commemoration for six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her 15-year-old daughter who were murdered by Salvadoran government forces in 1989 during the Salvadoran civil war. The victims worked at the Jesuit-run University of Central America (UCA) and were strongly outspoken about about the rights of the poor and about the military’s violence against Salvadorans. During an offensive on the nation's capital, San Salvador, a group of soldiers searched the UCA and executed the eight victims. Nineteen of the soldiers involved in the massacre were previously trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas as part of U.S. aid to the Salvadoran government and military.

Ever since the civil war started, the Jesuit community in the United States was strongly opposed to U.S. military aid. The murders were a sad proof of what was always stated, the U.S. trained war criminals. 

Every year the Jesuit community gathers to remember there martyrs and demand peace and equality.      

The FAIR TRADE CAMPAINGNS just launched their most recent newsletter. 

In it, the Fair Trade Campaign tackles topics like the Fair Trade Finals, a program that sends goodie kits with fair trade products to schools for sales, raffles or other end of semester events. 

November is not only known as the month in which the troubling holiday Thanksgiving takes place, it is also Native American Heritage month. The newsletter provides different possibilities to find information about Native American culture, land and the violent history of Thanksgiving.

Last month the annual international Fair Trade Towns Conference took place. A delegation of the Fair Trade Campaigns was invited to Ecuador, to learn about the lives of producers across the region, and ways to support them. Presenters from all over the globe attended the event to build a network for a more fair future.

Besides these events, the newsletter sheds light on the partner Florecal, a farm that sends high quality fair trade roses across the globe, all while making  the most out of their Community Development Funds and providing infrastructure.

If you are interested in the newsletter, you can subscribe at https://action.fairtradecampaigns.org/