Delegation to Nicaragua 2008

The Return of the Sandinistas

May 24-June 3, 2008

Many of us found inspiration with the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua, and we traveled there during the 80s giving our financial support and solidarity to Daniel Ortega and the new government. We were saddened and outraged to see most of the gains destroyed by the US- sponsored Contra War and the disappointing vote in 1990 that would begin the reversal of many of the Sandinista's social programs due to the destructive structural adjustment demands of the IMF and World Bank.  During the intervening years the Sandinista party has had mixed reviews.

Now Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas are back in power. Does this mean the second coming of the Revolution or more disappointments?

This delegation will find out what has happened since January 2007 (also taking a look at the intervening years). We will visit different sectors of society and grassroots organizations to learn about the current state of the women’s movement, education, healthcare, judicial and human rights, and agriculture.

We will be based in Managua at the  Kairos Center but will travel to Matagalpa to meet with the Union of Ranchers and Farmers (UNAG) and learn how they are confronting issues of sustainability in agriculture and programs to eradicate rural poverty. There we’ll look at that current state of coffee production and the effects of CAFTA.

The delegation’s focus will be on how the Sandinistas are doing after a year and a half, what’s working, and what isn’t.

«  «  «

Cost: $850 includes accommodations, food, program, translation and all transportation within Nicaragua. International flight is not included.

For more information and an application please contact: Dale Sorensen (Task Force on the Americas), geodale1@earthlink.net or Diana Bohn (NICCA,) nicca@igc.org

Click here for delegation flyer (Word document)

Click here for delegation application form (Word document)

---

BRAZIL 2008
Social justice - environment - culture

August 3 - 17, 2008

This summer we will build solidarity ties with Brazilian social movements while experiencing the uplifting Brazilian environment and learning about grassroots projects.

Click here for event flyer (PDF document)

Click here for delegation website

Click here for delegation application form (Word document)

---

The Venezuela Solidarity Network presents:

 WHAT'S UP WITH VENEZUELA? 

Participatory Democracy
or Democracy as Usual?

A National Symposium

April 18-20, 2008
Howard University, Washington, DC

Explore the current changes and progress of the Bolivarian revolution in many key  sectors of the country’s political economy with panelists from Venezuela’s peasant, indigenous, women’s, African-Venezuelan and labor communities and academic and government sectors, as well as scholars, journalists and US organizers and activists. 

Click here for event flyer (.JPG document)

Venezuela
August 9-19, 2008
Delegation

Experience the energy, hope, and creativity
of the Bolivarian Revolution!

The 10-day delegation will be led by Lisa Sullivan, who has lived in Venezuela for 20 years and is the Latin America Coordinator for School of the Americas Watch.

Cost: The cost for the ten-day trip is $1350, which includes hotels, all meals, in-country transportation, translation, reading materials, and honoraria for host communities, speakers and organizations. It does not include airfare to and from Venezuela.

For more information, please contact:

Dale Sorensen, 415/924-3227 or geodale1@earthlink.net
Co-sponsors: Task Force on the Americas, SOA Watch, Venezuela Solidarity Network

Click here for trip flyer (PDF document)

Click here for trip application (Word document)

BOLIVIA
SOCIAL MOVEMENT
DEMOCRACY

SEPTEMBER 12-22, 2008

As Evo Morales begins his third year as president of Bolivia and his MAS (Movement Towards Socialism) political party and followers clamor for change from the neo-liberal, Western economic model to a pluri-cultural, indigenous focused regime. The social movements which brought Morales to power are also taking on renewed significance themselves.

     Beginning in the state of Santa Cruz, we will meet with the main opposition to Morales and hear about land use and ownership issues and the autonomy movement. In the western highlands and Cochabamba we’ll recall the Water War of 2000 and meet with coca growers in the nearby Chapare region. In La Paz we’ll meet with government and MAS party leaders, experts and activists.

Some highlights:

·  Meet internationally acclaimed author, Domitila Chungra, who wrote, “Let Me Speak” a testimony of a woman of the Bolivian mines.

·  Visit to the Chapare with Leonida Zurita, Senator and MAS official and tour a coca farm.

·  Meet with Ministers and other members of the government.

·  Learn about the role of USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives and NED funded projects.

Meet local leaders with the committee to extradite Goni (President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada)

·  Visit a monkey preserve in the Charpare

·  Travel to the incredibly beautiful Yungas, the other coca-growing region

Trip Leader:

     The Task Force is honored to have as our guide Georg Ann Potter, author and researcher on the “War on Drugs”, economic globalization and the poor, and peasant women’s movements in Bolivia. She is currently an advisor to the Six Coca Federations in Bolivia and lives in Cochabamba.

·  Cost:

     $1400 includes hotels, most meals and all in-country travel (at least one flight), honorariums to social movement speakers and groups. It does not include: international airfare, Bolivian visa or the required Yellow Fever vaccination. Partial scholarships considered.

For more information call:  Dale Sorensen, 415/924-3227 or email geodale1@earthlink.net.

Click here for delegation flyer (Word document)

Click here for trip application form (Word document)