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LASC (Latin America Solidarity Conference) Groups and Progressive Organizations of Good Will Sign on to the Call to End US Military and Economic Intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean. If your group wishes to sign on to the Call below, please send your organization name as you would like it to appear to: <nicanet@afgj.org>. We also invite prominent community leaders, academics and clergy to sign on. If you have contacts with such individuals, please forward this call to them. Their sign-on should include their title (ie. State Senator, Rev., Ph.D, Sr., etc).

If you have questions, contact Cherrene at CISPES 212-229-1290 or Chuck at NicaNet 202-544-9355.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
AGAINST U.S. MILITARY AND ECONOMIC INTERVENTION IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Join tens of thousands in Washington, DC on Saturday, September 29 to say:

• NO to Plan Colombia
• NO to the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas)
• U.S. Bases out of Vieques and all of Latin America & the Caribbean
• Close the School of the Americas / WHISC
• Stop the Direct Assault Against People of Color and the Poor in the Americas through the Phony War on Drugs

The U.S. government is continuing its legacy of intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean by imposing pro-corporate, anti-people economic policies, by providing military aid and training to repressive governments, and attempting to crush any movements that support alternative models. We must stop these policies and stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers throughout the Americas. They are at the forefront of opposition to these policies, and are creating alternatives that place human need above corporate greed.

The U.S. government is using its armed forces to push through economic policies that only serve to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. This war system works hand in hand with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The U.S. government is using the production of narcotics in the southern part of the American continent as an excuse to militarize the Americas. There are currently military bases in Cuba, Ecuador, and Puerto Rico and a strong military presence in Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru.

Current U.S. policy towards Colombia is a failed policy which is inflaming a violent conflict and contributing to increased human rights abuses. We call for an end to all military aid to Colombia and for an end to U.S. funding of fumigation in Colombia and the Andean region. We recognize that U.S.-funded fumigation of coca crops is destroying critical biodiversity throughout the Amazon region and is creating health and food-security crises among the local populations. At the same time -- with the excuses of the "drug war", and "illegal" immigration -- the U.S. has militarized its border with Mexico. It is also increasingly militarizing the police forces in urban and rural areas and is brutalizing the people of color who live there. We know that all this repression has the same root and the same purpose: to maintain U.S. economic control, and to concentrate wealth in even fewer hands.

Challenges to this anti-people model -- especially those rising from democratic processes and civil society -- are a tremendous threat to US control in the region. We support the peaceful resolution of differences in our personal lives, in our communities, in our nation and in the world. We condemn the actions of the United States government that increase economic and social inequality, undermine democratic institutions, and fund police and military violence.

We uphold the right to self-determination and national sovereignty. The nations and peoples of the hemisphere have the right to pursue self-government free of external military and economic pressures.

We who live in the United States must realize the responsibility of the U.S. government in creating and maintaining inequality in the Americas. We must work to end all U.S. military aid and training to the region, to stop the blockade of Cuba, to end the continued colonial exploitation of Puerto Rico and its use as a giant military base from which invasions to other countries are rehearsed. We must say no to the U.S. viewing and using other countries as their backyard.

We propose alternatives to the pro-company, anti-people economic model -- alternatives that overcome repressive structures in our own countries, as well as the existence of the same structures elsewhere. We propose alternatives that include real community building, fair economics, and self-determination. Therefore, we oppose the so-called "war on drugs", Presidential Fast-Track authority in trade negotiations, and NAFTA-style Free Trade Agreements between the U.S. and the other countries of the Americas.

We call on people of conscience around the world to join us on September 29 in our protest against US military and economic intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean. We are organizing a massive protest in Washington DC as part of the week of action against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. We call for people to organize local demonstrations on the same day. We are also coordinating with movements throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to make this an International Day of Action Against U.S. Military and Economic Intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Signed:

Nicaragua Network
CISPES -- Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
NISGUA -- Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala
Colombia Action Network
Witness for Peace
Latinos and Latinas for Social Change
Chicago Nicaragua Solidarity Committee
Guatemala Human Rights Commission -- USA
Rights Action
(initial list in formation)