November 2011: Converge on Fort Benning, Georgia
The Latin America Solidarity Coalition has endorsed the November Vigil to Close the SOA and Resist Militarization from November 18-20, 2011 at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia. We are calling on solidarity activists to converge at the gates of Fort Benning to speak out against oppressive U.S. foreign policy.
Click here for more information about the vigil, workshops, nonviolent direct action and more.
October 2011: March on the U.S. Southern Command
Join us on October 8-9, 2011 in South Florida and at the gates of the U.S. Southern Command outside of Miami, Florida.
Click here to pledge your support for the mobilization.
For over 200 years the United States, with its military, has been interfering in the internal affairs of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. We want that to end! So on Invasion Day (Columbus) Weekend we will hold a series of events and actions centering around the U.S Southern Command in Doral Florida, just to the west of Miami Florida.
We are inviting groups and organizations to co-sponsor and participate in this national event. This weekend of education, entertainment, and protest, with groups from all over the country, grew out of last April’s conference on Latin America that was held in Washington DC.
LASC Organizers’ Conference Plans Anti-US Militarism Campaign
Call for an Organizers’ Strategy Conference on U.S. Militarization – Nov. 18, 2010, Columbus, Georgia
Click here to register for the conference
We 
have seen US policy tilt more and more toward military options in its relations with Latin America and the Caribbean and the world. Support for the Honduras coup, the military response to Haiti’s earthquake, seven new bases in Colombia and four in Panama, continued restoration of the mothballed Fourth Fleet, all provide support for statements heard at the SOA Watch vigil in November 2009 that “Obama’s policies are more dangerous for Latin America than were Bush’s.” At the same time, the US government continues to prefer military solutions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and continues to escalate tensions with Iran, Venezuela and other countries which assert independence from US hegemony.
In the United States we are witnessing the militarization of our borders and law enforcement in our cities — aimed at immigrants, Muslims, and, as always, African-descended people. Desperately needed social programs such as health care and education are being short-changed while the Pentagon budget continues to grow beyond any rational need for defense. Continue Reading »
October 11th Day of Action – Organizing Packet
Growing a Movement to Combat U.S. Militarism in Latin America
National Day of Action: October 11
Objectives:
1. Cancel the threatening and unnecessary U.S. military exercises in Costa Rica.
2. Close the School of Americas (now Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.)
3. End U.S. military presence on bases in Colombia, Honduras, Guantanamo, and elsewhere in hemisphere.
4. End the Merida Initiative and the increase militarization of the U.S. border with Mexico.
5. Support Rep. Barney Frank’s proposal to reduce the social debt by cutting the U.S. military budget immediately by 25%.
Latin America solidarity organizations across the country can get in on the action! Even if your committee has not begun planning a protest, there are a variety of creative actions that you can organize to raise awareness about these militarization throughout the Americas and beyond as well as increase solidarity with those directly affected by U.S. foreign policy. Your outreach can range from the general public, local coalition partners to Congressional allies. Here are some action and pressure ideas for your committee, with accompanying materials to jumpstart your community organizing.
Talking Points Toward a New US-Latin America Foreign Policy
The Latin America Solidarity Coalition Coordinating Committee has adopted the following talking points for use by local activists to educate their communities and influence opinion makers and elected officials. With a new administration installed in Washington, DC it is time for progressive activists to demand a new foreign policy toward Latin American and the Caribbean.
The Latin America Solidarity Coalition (LASC) is an association of national and local US-based grassroots Latin America and Caribbean solidarity groups, many of which have long histories of working with grassroots organizations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. LASC’s mission is to define common goals and shared strategies for these groups. LASC’s work circles around several hemisphere-wide issues as well as country-specific topics.
We operate and structure our work from a solidarity model: we operate on the principle of self-determination; it is not up to us to determine what our partners in the Global South should or should not do. Nor is it up to us to determine the strategies and methodologies they use. We determine our strategies based on the needs of our partners in Latin America and the Caribbean.
1. Close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation also known as the School of the Americas
2. Close the International Law Enforcement Academy in San Salvador
3. Stop funding Plan Colombia and cut off all military aid to that country
4. Stop funding the Merida Initiative and the militarization of the US/Mexico border
5. Close the National Endowment for Democracy and return USAID to its original foreign aid mission
6. Return President Aristide to Haiti, advocate freedom for all political prisoners and support the end of the UN occupation
7. End belligerence toward Venezuela and other Latin American countries whose citizens have elected left leaning governments over the past decade
8. End the embargo against Cuba and normalize relations with our island neighbor
9. Stop initiating “Free Trade” agreements that benefit only corporations while destroying local agriculture and forcing Latin Americans to leave their homeland to work in the US
10. Publicly state support for the legitimate elected government of Bolivia, condemn the separatist violence and take no actions to further inflame the crisis there
11. Extradite the terrorist Luis Posada Carrilles to Venezuela, as required by extradition treaty, to stand trial for the fatal bombing of a Cubana Airlines flight that killed 73 people. Free the five Cuban anti-terrorist agents falsely convicted of espionage for infiltrating Cuban exile terrorist groups in Miami whose repeated attacks have killed over 3,000 Cubans and foreigners in Cuba.
