Trips

IFCO / Pastors for Peace
Cuba Caravan July-August 2010

There's still time to join the IFCO/Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba this July!

Join us on a Cuban voyage of discovery! Spend 9 full days in Havana and a neighboring province, and learn how a relatively poor country

• provides free healthcare for all its citizens

• has become a pioneer in organic agriculture and sustainable development

• is training thousands of young people from poor communities around the world (including 122 from the US!) to be doctors, completely free of charge, at the internationally acclaimed Latin American School of Medicine

• offers protection to all its people when natural or man-made disasters (hurricanes or international economic crises) hit the island

• has sent hundreds of doctors to save lives in Haiti -- not just since the earthquake, but for 10 years prior

• has one of the most artistically talented societies in the world

Caravan participants with skills in construction, organic gardening or mural painting will be able to work alongside Cuban counterparts for a couple of days, interchanging knowledge, skills and perspectives

Join the caravan in your city during July as we travel in school buses, trucks and cars along 13 different routes, visiting 130 US and Canadian cities. At every stop we educate people about the US government’s economic blockade of Cuba, while collecting construction supplies and tools, medical supplies and equipment, educational and cultural supplies, to be donated to our sisters and brothers in Cuba.

Or join us in Texas on July 18th as we prepare to travel to Cuba via Mexico, without asking for or accepting a US government license, as a disciplined collective challenge to the blockade and travel ban on US citizens visiting Cuba, and as ambassadors for a ‘people-to-people’ foreign policy based in mutual respect.

For an application form and more details

Email cucaravan@igc.org or call 212-926-5757

Our website is www.ifconews.org

Full Caravan Schedule:

July 3-17 Caravan routes through US and Canadian cities

July 18-20 Orientation period – McAllen, TX

July 21-22 Border Crossing into Mexico and travel to Tampico

July 23 Travel to Cuba

July 24-Aug 1 Cuba program

Aug 2 Fly to Tampico and travel back to border

Aug 3 Reverse challenge crossing into Texas

Click here for delegation flyer (PDF document)

Colombia: Military Bases, Human Rights, and Free Trade
JULY 24 - AUGUST 2, 2010

Last fall, the governments of Colombia and the United States signed an agreement to grant the Pentagon use of seven military bases on Colombian soil. The agreement bolstered the United States’ military presence in the Andean region at a time when progressive movements in Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia struggle to reorganize their societies more equally, and victims of Colombia’s dirty war demand accountability. It also intensified the contentious mix of militarism and free trade that has characterized U.S. Latin American policy.

What role do the bases play in upholding free trade orthodoxy and advancing the counterinsurgency/anti-narcotics program known as Plan Colombia? How does the increasing militarization of Colombia affect grassroots politics in the Andean region, the Caribbean, and Central America? What is the impact of the bases on the lives and livelihoods of the people living near them?

JOIN US AS WE EXPLORE THESE ISSUES IN COLOMBIA. ON THIS DELEGATION WE WILL:

Visit several U.S. military bases

Talk with Colombians who live and work near the bases

Meet with human rights, labor, small farmers, and community groups

Meet with U.S. and Colombian government and military personnel

Click here for delegation flyer (PDF document)

¡Otra America es posible!

SOA Watch and Task Force on the Americas Delegation
Fourth Americas Social Forum

Asunción, Paraguay
August 9-15, 2010

Join 15,000 people representing 150 organizations.

The Americas Social Forum is part of the process of the World Social Forum started in 2001, which has become a bright opportunity to articulate social initiatives, develop critical thinking and construct alternatives to the neoliberal order on the common belief that “another world is possible.”

This year’s topics include militarization and imperial domination strategies, alternatives of resistance of the people and defense and transformation of conditions and ways of life against predatory capitalism.

A workshop on the legacy of the SOA will be presented by Pablo Ruiz of SOA Watch.

Leader: SOA Watch Council member Theresa Cameranesi.

Cost: $600 covers hotel, transportation, and two meals a day (breakfast and dinner). International airfare is not included.

Information: We expect that most workshops will be translated. We will be accepting applications until late July. For more information and an application, contact Dale Sorensen, 415/924-3227 or geodale1@earthlink.net.

Click here for delegation flyer (PDF document)

Join the Central American Independence Day Delegation to
HONDURAS • September 14-22

Be part of the ongoing accompaniment and solidarity presence in Honduras. September 15 (Central American Independence Day) is the day that the Honduran Resistance will present the results of the Consulta calling for a Constitutional Assembly. Delegates will meet with members of the Platform for Human Rights and learn about the “Commission of Truth” or “True Commission” launched as a counterbalance to the government-sponsored Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is supported by the U.S. We will also be there for the anniversary of the day that President Zelaya returned to Honduras and took up residence in the Brazilian Embassy.

Leaders: Chati Cajas and Andrés Thomas Conteris. Chati is a bilingual practicing attorney, has lived and worked in Honduras for 17 years, and is an experienced delegation leader. Andrés works with Democracy Now! en Español and reported from the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa from September 2009 to January 2010 for numerous media outlets, including KPFA’s Flashpoints. He has been an activist for justice in Honduras for many years.

Cost: $750 covers hotel, transportation, and three meals a day. International airfare is not included.

Information: For more information and an application, contact Dale Sorensen, 415/924-3227 or geodale1@earthlink.net.

Sponsors: Alliance for Global Justice, Nonviolence International, SOA Watch, Task Force on the Americas.

Click here for delegation flyer (PDF document)

Click here for delegation application (Word document)

Updated July 24, 2010