 |
Global Exchange Programs in the Americas
Take Action: Donate to Hurricane Relief for Haiti & Cuba
 |
Argentina
 |
|
|
Bolivia
|
|
|
Brazil
|
| Focusing on human rights work in Brazil, our goal is to build stronger connections between social movements in Brazil and the US. Check out our speaking tours, human rights delegations, and educational materials about Brazil. |
|
|
Colombia
|
| Since 2000 the United States government has given over $2 billion of mostly military aid to Colombia. This "aid" has inflamed Colombia's 50-year-old civil conflict, contributing to more deaths, more kidnappings, and an increase in human suffering. The Bush Administration and hawks in Congress have repealed Clinton-era rules that prohibit US arms from being used to battle guerrilla groups and now US military aid to Colombia can be used in Colombia’s counterinsurgency war. These deadly policies must be reversed. US involvement in Colombia is expensive, ineffective, inhumane, and will not lead to peace in the troubled nation. |
|
|
Costa Rica
|
| Costa Rica is a study in contrasts. Stunning scenery, abundant natural resources and diverse wildlife has made Costa Rica a wildly popular tourism destination in the past decade. Unfortunately, the US corporate backed cattle and banana industries are responsible for a deforestation rate in Costa Rica second to none. Ironically, Costa Rica also has the highest percentage of protected land. With its extensive network of national parks, Costa Rica has spearheaded the "ecotourism" movement, socially responsible travel that theoretically conserves the environment while improving the welfare of the local people. |
|
|
Cuba
|
| In our Cuba Campaign section, you can access the latest information on the U.S. embargo against Cuba, particularly its restrictions on sales of food and medicine and on travel there by U.S. citizens; find out how to get involved in efforts to normalize relations between the two countries; and read about the Cubans' dramatic advances in sustainable development as they survive, and even thrive, despite the odds. |
|
|
Ecuador
|
| Ecuador, a bastion of cultural and biological diversity, is home to one of the most successful and peaceful indigenous movements in the Americas. More than bananas, oil, exported roses, and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador bears a unique blend of social movements and natural beauty. Explore Ecuador's rich cultural, sociopolitical, ecological, and healing diversity. Experience the truths and consequences of corporate globalization. Join in solidarity with indigenous, environmental, and human rights organizations in and around Quito and then visit local communities to see the power of grassroots organizing first hand and learn about alternatives to current paradigms of development. |
|
|
Guatemala
|
| It is increasingly important for those of us in the Global North to understand how we, as consumers, can support development efforts abroad. The ability to advance some of Guatemala’s most impoverished communities by Fair Trade and women's Cooperatives is most easily understood when one is actually able to see it in motion. See how "Free Trade" negatively impacts the country, both socially and environmentally, while Fair Trade clearly empowers it. |
|
|
Haiti
|
| Although the people of Haiti twice elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by an overwhelming majority, the United States, with the complicity of France and Canada, forcibly removed him from office on February 29th, 2004, bringing Haiti’s 10 year experience with democracy to a brutal end.
The coup overthrew a progressive agenda supported by the vast majority of Haiti's population: literacy programs, health care, children's rights, a raise in the minimum wage, resistance to privatization, and the struggle to bring human rights violators to justice. |
|
|
Honduras
|
| As Honduras struggles with neoliberal economic policies and the ramifications of corporate-led globalization: social, indigenous, and environmental groups are intensifying their campaigns against repression, inequality, and environmental pollution. Examine the struggles and hardships of the Honduran people and the efforts of grassroots movements to create social and economic change. Visit maquiladoras, meet human rights activists, government officials, leaders of unions and indigenous groups, along with women’s rights activists and campesino farmers, and the Afro-Honduran Garifuna people of the Caribbean North Coast.
|
|
|
Jamaica
|
|
|
Mexico
|
| Our Mexico Program seeks to support Mexico's democratic movement through public education in the U.S. about the realities of Mexico and the need for changes in U.S. trade and military policy toward Mexico. In Mexico, the program supports local efforts for justice, peace and human rights. |
|
|
Peru
|
| Peru is a rich and diverse nation, whose development has been impeded by political and economic difficulties. This is an important time in both the political climate and for social movements. As Peru signs a free trade agreement with the US, past and current leaders face allegations of corruption and human rights abuses. |
|
|
Nicaragua
|
| Now more than ever it is important that the international community understands the failure of the neoliberal economic policies in Nicaragua, its negative effects on ordinary people, and how developed nations like the U.S. are complicit. Despite the hardships they face, ordinary Nicaraguans have not given up hope. Through this delegation, you will have a unique opportunity to experience the other side of the struggle for social and economic justice by living, working and meeting with those intricately involved. |
|
|
United States
|
| When most Americans hear of human rights abuses, they likely think of atrocities in some far off country in a forgotten corner of the globe. And when Americans consider the idea of democracy, it's probably accurate to say that they think of our government as a model to be emulated. The reality, of course, is more complicated. Abuses against individuals' basic rights also occur regularly here in the United States, and our money-saturated political system hardly deserves the title 'democracy.' |
|
|
Venezuela
|
| Venezuela is at the center of a new, progressive model of socioeconomic development that is shaping Latin America’s future. There are few countries where everyday people actually receive the benefits of cooperation with multinationals: a redistribution of oil profit, a guarantee for healthcare written into the constitution, and record-breaking achievements in education. What's more, having been internationally ratified as a democracy during the August 2004 recall referendum, Venezuela has embarked upon some of the most innovative regional programs that Latin America has ever seen. Learn about dynamic social programs and policies that will rewrite Latin America’s regional role in the global economy. |
|
Visit Reality Tours to see educational tours to these and other countries in the Americas!
Shop for Fair Trade crafts made in Latin America by visiting our Online Fair Trade Store.
|
|
|
|
