IRTF News

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/ 

Today we remember the Kristallnacht. 

On November 9 1938 the German antisemitism erupted into never before seen violence.

In the night between November 9 and 10, hundreds of members of the SA, SS and the Hitler Youth, together with antisemitic civilians attacked Jewish, stores, restaurant and synagogues, setting fires, smashing windows and hunting down Jewish people. That night the fascist killed more than  90 innocent people and leaving the existents of hundreds more in shatters. This crime was the first big pogrom towards the Jewish population and foreshadowed the following Holocaust.

The event remembers us of the importance to prevent fascism from ever re-arising! 

NEVER FORGET, NEVER FORGIVE!     

The Covid 19 pandemic caused a shift within the migration dynamics in South and Central America.

While up to 2020 more than 90% of asylum seekers reaching the U.S. border came from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the composition shifted, and by August 2022 the second most common origin of migrants was Venezuela. 

Though this exodus towards the U.S. is a more recent development, mass migration from Venezuela has been happening for years. In the last decade 7.1 million Venezuelans fled the country, 80% of whom seeking refuge in South and Central American countries as well as Caribbean nations.

In these countries many of the refugees are met with an uncertain migration status, discrimination, xenophobia, violence and an inability to meet basic needs. These circumstances drive a rising number of Venezuelans to the U.S.where they are faced with hostile anti-immigration policies. In March of 2020, the Trump Administration used the Covid 19 pandemic as a pretext for one of the sharpest laws against migration in history. The president reinstated "Title 42" ( a statute last invoked in 1929 to bar the entrance of ships during a meningitis outbreak) so that most migrants who arrive at a U.S. port of entry without documentation and that any migrants found at the U.S. border must be expelled to Mexico or the country of heritage. [Note: only a limited number of countries accept Title 42 expulsions from the US.] For many Venezuelans this means a lengthy process or no chance for entry in to the U.S. at all.

Following the U.S. policies, Mexico began to mandate a tourist visa for Venezuelans entering the country.    

Though Biden promised to make changes in the U.S. immigration policies,  Title 42 has not been annulled.  Together with Biden's financial support for the countries of origin and those who take in big numbers of refugees, Title 42 is used to keep migrants from reaching and entering the U.S. This is especially visual in the fact that the administration still has not established a reception system for migrants to apply for asylum. 

To end this humanitarian crisis, the U.S. government has to invest into reception and robust asylum systems, stop policies discouraging asylum seekers, and end Title 42. Furthermore, it has to increase opportunities for people to apply for a humanitarian visa within Venezuela. 

But it is not all on Biden. Regional challenges require regional approaches and the governments of the Americas have to build regional protection systems. 

The U.S. government has called out Guatemala for its treatment of corruption and human rights prosecutors and judges.

Numbers of high ranking prosecutors and judges are in jail for their work against corruption and many more have fled the country. 

The attorney generals office categorically rejects this criticism, calling the U.S. ill-informed and stating it "lacked knowledge of the Guatemalan justice system."

Last year the  Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras herself was included in a list of corrupt and anti-democratic actors published by the U.S. State Department, singling her out for thwarting corruption investigations.

Three people have died in the Cuyahoga County Jail since October 11. These tragedies have pushed the total deaths in the jail to at least 16 since 2018. 

But these might not be all the deaths. In a direct violation of the Death in Custody Reporting Act, deaths caused by Covid-19 were not reported by Cuyahoga County.

This development is happening nationwide, as more and more people are imprisoned. 

Imprisoned individuals are three times more likely to die of suicide than the general population. 

IRTF joins with the Cuyhaga County Jail Coalition in opposing the US Prison Industrial Complex and the ongoing criminalization of poverty. Despite calls from community residents to initiate more alternatives to incarceration, the county asserts that its only solution is to build a new jail and expand incarceration. 

We stand in solidarity with the Cuyahoga County Jail Coalition and all the inmates at the county jail!

Since its election of the new president Xiomara Castro, Honduras has a lot to do to move forward.

From October 26 to October 28, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) held a series of meetings with members of civil society, press, donors, the U.S. Embassy and President Castro.

The main talking points were the fight against corruption, migration and the human rights situation in the country. 

The state aims to dismantle the existing corruption networks in its institutions and strengthen the independence of the country's judicial system. To reach this goal, the government is cooperating with the the International Commission against Impunity (CICH).

Furthermore, Honduras plans on cutting crime rates, especially against women and other marginalized groups by reducing impunity for gender based violence. 

In the discussion about migration, the main focus was on displacement and the situation of unaccompanied minors at the U.S. border. WOLA emphasized the need for Honduras to work on the structural causes of migration and to implement immediate actions to address the humanitarian crisis contributing to migration.

WOLA will remain a partner on Honduras' rocky road towards the full implementation of human rights and to become a safe place for every citizen and migrant in the country. 

Amazon is the largest sales platform in existence. To hold this status, Amazon has few concerns about labor laws, the environment and fair competition. 

The following article gives 10 reasons not to shop at amazon. 

Amazon...

1. Exploits workers and fights unions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Amazon has a long history of opposing unionization and most recently was  accused of violating labor laws during the Bessemer, Alabama, union election.

2. Has double the injury rates of industry average.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Injury rates at Amazon facilities are reportedly double that of the industry average.

3. Creates dangerous working conditions for delivery workers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    49% of delivery workers reported pain or injuries that caused them to miss work.

You can find the full list with detailed descriptions in the article below.

The last week of October was a win for 40 farm workers who were victims of forced labor in Florida. 

The workers were lured in to gag contracts by the international labor contracting company Los Villatores Harvesting LLC (LVH) who promised the desperate Mexican workers the American Dream jobs on farms in the United States. The Mexican guest worker program is essential for U.S. farms and its economy and provides "guest worker visas" (H2 visa) to thousands of workers. This creates opportunities for exploitive labor and a position of power. LVH used this power. It provided workers the H2 visa against a fee of up to $2,000 promising a refund once their victims arrived in the U.S. The refund was never paid; instead the workers were stripped of their passports and forced to work under inhumane conditions while being threatened with arrest and deportation by their employers and held in debt by LVH. 

This horror finally ended when two workers escaped in the trunk of a car and called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a worker protection coalition, who contacted authorities and together with federal agencies and the CIW Anti-Slavery Program uncovered the criminal enterprise. 

Following this investigation, the human trafficking task force stopped this exploitation in its tracks and brought four members of LVH to court. So far the criminal trial led to three sentences.  

The bookkeeper, manager and supervisor Christina Gamez was sentenced to 37 month in prison.

The second supervisor and manager Efrain Cabrera Rodas, a Mexican citizen, was sentenced to 42 months in prison after he made false statements to federal investigators.

A third supervisor, Guadalupe Mendes Mendoza got off with 8 months in home detention.

LVH owner Bladimir Moreno's trial is still ongoing. He pled guilty and will be sentenced on December 28. 

Although this is good news. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers stated that many more foreign workers are still oppressed and exploited under the H2 program. The CIW calls for labor rights enforcement and retail and food companies to commit to human rights standards monitored by workers. Furthermore, the CIW provides the Fair Food Program, helping thousands of workers to fight for their rights.