After an incredibly powerful Peace Summit in Mexico City, where over 300 hundred activists and community leaders from Mexico, United States, Honduras and Colombia, gathered to discuss a People’s Agenda for Peace and to strategize actions to make sure that political leaders adopt our demands for peace, justice and respect for land, we are now bringing the message of change to Washington DC.

In partnership with the Center for American Progress, Forum on the Arms Trade, Latin America Working Group, Newtown Action Alliance and the Network to Prevent Gun Violence, we will be holding a special forum on April 17, 2023, where we will be meeting with Washington DC-based organizations and groups to discuss the impacts of US guns in Mexico’s deadly armed violence.

In the afternoon of April 17th and April 18th, we will be holding conversations with White House representatives and congress members to push for policies that put a stop to US gun trafficking and exports and promote violence prevention and peace building.

For this event, we have invited survivors of gun violence from the United States and Mexico, including Maria Herrera, mother of four disappeared young men in Mexico; her struggle to find them has become a model for thousands of other parents of disappeared children across Mexico and Latin America.

The Peace Summit has sparked a binational movement that demands an end to militarization and gun proliferation and calls for binational policies that ensure peace, justice and human rights for the region. This call is increasingly important as both the US and Mexico head toward presidential elections in 2024.

If you are in the DC-area, please join us. You can RSVP here.

Follow us on Twitter for updates and more ways you can get involved.

It’s not just the fire: Citizens and Organized Civil Society of the North and Central America Region Demand an End to the Current Migration Policy

Andres Manuel López Obrador President of Mexico
Joe BidenPresident of the United States
April 25, 2023

Organizations, communities, and leaders from the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, with deep pain and dismay over the death of 39 migrants, mostly Indigenous and people of color, join the collective call to  demand the closure of all migrant detention centers and equivalent facilities in Mexico. We also call for radical change from the roots in immigration policy that is grounded in the framework of human rights, not the current model focused on containment and detention of peoples in movement who are exercising their rights to human mobility.

We see with concern how the governments of Mexico and the United States rush to disclaim all responsibility and blame the migrant population for the tragedy, when it is clear that the policies of both governments are responsible for the migratory context that we are witnessing today throughout the central and northern region of the continent.

Since before the “Remain  in Mexico“ policy many civil society organizations and defenders of human rights have pointed to the dangerous conditions of these temporary shelters and migratory stations

So much so that  in the last session of the Advisory Council for Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior, carried out days before the deadly fire, representatives of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, the Citizen Council of the National Institute of Migration and the Center for Attention to the Indigenous Migrant Family, raised their voices and denounced the conditions of the detention centers. Meanwhile the National Institute of Migration presented a report highlighting progress in the process of “humanization” of these places.

Migrant rights defenders also denounce the new online asylum application system to the United States, CBP One. It is being used as another pretext to return people who already have an appointment to the Mexico-Guatemala border, perpetuating the strategy of contradiction and confusion during the regularization process that ends up violating the human rights of migrants.

What happened in the National Institute of Migration (INM) detention center in Ciudad Juárez is proof that the repeated complaints made over the years have been ignored and a consequence of the difficulties that the INM poses for the monitoring and observation of conditions and practices within these detention centers.

Days before the tragedy, organizations in Ciudad Juárez denounced that personnel from the National Migration Institute were detaining and sending migrants to immigration stations, including people with stay and transit permits.

It’s not just the fire. It is not only the Ciudad Juárez detention center.

It is the migration policy of Mexico and the United States. It is the policy of both governments towards a population that is forced to leave their homes and communities due to the adverse conditions caused by governments, environmental models and failed systems of justice.

We call on all organizations, communities and citizens, to join us on April 7th to express our rejection of the immigration policy of Mexico and the United States and to demand:

  • Respect for the rights of victims and their families, as well as access to truth and justice
  • Reparations for the victims and guarantees of non-repetition.
  • Immediate stop to the practices of detention and deportation of migrants and asylum seekers
  • Establishment of a working group with the participation of citizens, civil society, human rights defenders, academia and migrants in order to redesign regional migration policy.

The only way to honor the victims of this tragedy is with a full transformation of these deadly policies.

Jointly and Severally,

GUATEMALA
Coordinadora Institucional de Promoción por los Derechos de la Niñez CIPRODENI

HONDURAS
Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras

MEXICO
México negro AC
Casa Tochan
Cuerpo académico Procesos Transnacionales y Migración BUAP CA 230
Iniciativa Ciudadana región Puebla
Centro de estudios Afromexicanos Tembembe y Red de mujeres afrodescendientes CDMX
Hospitalidad y Solidaridad A.C.
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
Americas Program AMERICAS:ORG
UNION DE EJIDOS EN DEFENSA DEL TERRITORIO MAYA
Desaparecidos justicia a c Querétaro
LV Acompañamiento y Arte por los Derechos de las Mujeres, A.C. (Las Vanders)
Centro de Estudios Ecuménicos AC
Instituto RIA
Periodista independiente
Mano Amiga de la Costa Chica
Centro Regional de Defensa de Derechos Humanos Jose Maria Morelos y Pavón
NuestraRed.mx
LV Acompañamiento y Arte por los Derechos de las Mujeres A.C. (Las Vanders)
Centro de Atención al Migrante Exodus
Red de Juventudes Afrodescendientes de America Latina y El Caribe
Justicia Racial

COLOMBIA
Grupo de investigación y Editorial Kavilando / Red InterUniversitaria por la Paz.
Centro de Atencón al Migrante Exodus

ESTADOS UNIDOS
Global Exchange
Friends of Latin America
CODEPINK
SERAPAZ
International Tribunal of Conscience of Peoples in Movement/Tribunal Internacional de Conciencia de los Pueblos en Movimiento
National Lawyers’ Guild- SF Bay Area chapter
Witness at the Border/Testigos en la Frontera
Enlace de Pueblos y Organizaciones Costeñas Autónomas
Hacer las Paces
LV Acompañamiento y Arte por los Derechos de las Mujeres, A.C. (Las Vanders)
Red de Pueblos Trasnacionales
North American Indigenous Center of the New York
Lila LGBTQ Inc.
La Resistencia
San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
Migrant and Minorities Alliance
Aldea
Colectivo Huella Negra
Comunidad Afromexicana de Temixco, Morelos

Community leaders and representatives from more than 100 civil society organizations gathered in Mexico City for Global Exchange’s Peace Summit last week – February 23-24.

“The need for change is obvious and urgent,” said Marco Castillo, Global Exchange’s Co-Executive Director, during his opening remarks. “After 30 years of grassroots cross-border organizing we know that those who are most deeply impacted belong at the forefront of policy debates and planning.”

Over 300 community leaders and organizations from Mexico and the U.S. came together at the Peace Summit to denounce discrimination, violence, injustice, poverty and inequality and define collective solutions for the region. Participants included Afro-descendant collectives, representatives of Indigenous peoples, migrants, LGBTQIA+ community, victims of violence, collectives for the disappeared, community journalists and human rights activists.

Twelve months in the making, the Summit held more than a dozen preparatory meetings in the U.S. and Mexico to define a set of perspectives and demands. These were deepened and clarified on day one of the Summit.

And on day two, representatives of the Peace Summit had the opportunity to share their concerns and demands with Mexican government officials including Alejandro Encinas, Sub-secretary of the Interior for Human Rights and Jesus Ramírez Cuevas, Spokesman for the President.

The Mexican officials committed to participate in the binational agenda proposed by the Peace Summit for the next two years. Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez proposed the establishment of a working group to promote the Summit’s proposals.

We are proud of all that was achieved last week, and we are grateful to everyone who took part. Thank you!

We know, this is just the beginning. … A very exciting beginning, where now our communities know one another and have agreed and committed to working together to cultivate and catalyze a united cross-border movement that denounces injustice and elevates community-led solutions to the growing inequality, violence, human rights and migration crises affecting the region.

“What excites me most about these platforms is that we will all be able to speak together, regardless of borders, we will not raise our voices alone,” said Carla Garcia, of the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization, OFRANEH.

Stay tuned for ways you can get involved.

Issues like gun violence, migration, inequality, and climate chaos know no borders. 

That is why Global Exchange and Nuestra Lucha Global have brought together more than 40 organizations on both sides of the U.S-Mexico border to build a united, cross-border initiative to raise community voices and build our political power for change. 

We are coming together to make our demands for policies that put human rights, justice, democracy, and peace at the center. We will no longer be divided by arbitrary borders or false divides. We know that when we stand together, we have the power to demand change. 

We invite you to join the movement! Your experience, your ideas, your voice, and your solidarity, are key.  

Over the coming four months, we are hosting a series of Public Assemblies across the U.S and Mexico.

We recognize that to successfully address cross-border challenges – like migration, human rights, increasing inequality, and dangerous gun trafficking – the communities most impacted must lead the way.

These spaces will bring together communities and leaders at the forefront of the struggle for justice, sustainability, and human rights. 

Please RSVP to an event near you. 

Be part of this historic moment and join this binational movement. Let’s build our collective power to ensure a better future for all.  

Yesterday, we launched the Peace Summit 2023 – a coming together of social movements from both sides of the U.S. Mexico border to advance a shared agenda for policies that put peace, justice, and the well-being of our communities at the center.

WATCH: PEACE SUMMIT 2023 PRESS CONFERENCE

Over 50 partner human rights organizations, activists, and communities of color have committed to working together to build a shared vision of long-lasting peace and justice for the Mexico-U.S. region. (Find a complete list here.)

The destinies of the U.S. and Mexico, as well as our movements for social and environmental justice, are inextricably intertwined. Unfortunately, communities on both sides of the border are being impacted by mounting armed violence, environmental devastation, racial discrimination, inhumane immigration policies, and political disenfranchisement.

While our governments’ diplomatic efforts are focused on preserving economic dynamism and “security” cooperation, our communities continue to urgently need policies that protect human rights, promote equality, ensure environmental sustainability, and promote long-term peace.

We will no longer be divided or silenced.

During yesterday’s press conference, victims and leaders from across the region raised their voices to call for an end to the current profit over people agenda and build a community-centered approach that puts our health, human rights, and a peaceful and sustainable future at the center.

“Immigrants and refugees at Mexico’s southern border face prosecution and militarization just like many African American communities in South Bend, Indiana,” said Jorden Giger from Black Lives Matter South Bend, Indiana. “The guns that are killing us are the same in Mexico and in the U.S.”

“We should work together to end this tragedy,” said Bella D’Allacio, from March for Our Lives. 

“We want communities from both countries to come together to call for an end to violence,” said Cristina Bautista, a mother of a young student who disappeared with 42 other students in Ayotzinapa, Mexico, in 2014.

And as Odilia Romero, Zapotec Indigenous leader, and Melissa Oakes, Mohawk leader from the U.S.-Canada border, said, “we need to end the lie that our communities can’t work together and that we do not share a history.”

We are excited to officially kick off our work to cultivate community-based solutions and build our people-first agenda.

Over the next five months, we will host a series of online and in-person community-led forums to hear the experiences of those on the frontlines of the struggle and to hear solutions from the communities (Indigenous, migrant, women, economically disadvantaged, and youth) most impacted by regional policies at the center.

We will hold meetings in the Bronx, Los Angeles, Baja California, Mexico City, and an Indigenous community in Mexico. We will conclude with the Peace Summit 2023 on February 24 in Mexico City, where we will announce our binational agenda for peace and justice. Both Mexico and the U.S. will have critical national elections in 2024. The time to build united, inclusive political power is now.

To get involved and register to attend local forums of the Peace Summit 2023, please go to www.peacesummit2023.org

We hope you will join us!

Join us for an online press conference tomorrow, Thursday, July 28, at 8:30am Los Angeles (PST) / 10:30 Mexico City (CT) and 11:30 am New York (EST) to launch the Peace Summit 2023.

Addressing cross-border challenges – like migration, human rights, growing inequality, and dangerous gun trafficking – requires the participation and engagement of civil society movements on both sides of the U.S. Mexico border.

Global Exchange and Nuestra Lucha Global, along with more than 40 organizations – representing impacted, frontline and communities of color – are organizing a unique and collective initiative, the Peace Summit 2023. We are coming together to expand and build political power for our communities, communities that are currently being left out and left behind (migrants, Indigenous communities, youth, women, and more). We are coming together to make our demands for policies that put human rights, justice, democracy, and peace at the center.

Join us tomorrow and hear from key Peace Summit 2023 partners.

  • Marco Castillo – Global Exchange
  • Odilia Romero – CIELO
  • Melissa Iakowi:he’ne’ Oakes – American Indian Community House
  • Cristina Bautista Salvador – Mother of Benjamín Ascencio Bautista, one of the 43 Ayotzinapa students.
  • Jorden Giger – Black Lives Matter South Bend
  • Isabella D’Alacio – March for Our Lives
  • Grisel Bello Cuechacha – Culturas del Pasado, Voces del Presente
  • Miguel Álvarez – SERAPAZ

We are living in a pivotal and urgent moment. From rising gun violence, political exclusion and disenfranchisement, worsening repression of migrants, and expanding environmental and climate-driven crises, the need for action, reform, and collective activism is now. The Peace Summit 2023 initiative will build our collective power across borders for a better future for all.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

(Español abajo)
Nuestra Lucha Global: Advancing the Power and Reach of Our Global Struggle
Today, we are launching Nuestra Lucha Global: a Global Exchange, Spanish language site to promote international solidarity and justice.

We cannot achieve social, economic, or environmental justice in the Americas unless we include all people in the fight. For more than 30 years, Global Exchange has been at the frontlines of this struggle, and we have witnessed how difficult it is for Spanish-speaking communities to sit at the table with others who do not speak Spanish or our Indigenous languages. As a result, we are continually missing the opportunity to unite.

Nuestra Lucha Global will promote:

  • Regional strategic dialogues,
  • International delegations of observation and accompaniment,
  • Mobilization of resources,
  • Amplification of local and regional campaigns,
  • Campaigns that advocate for the end of violence,
  • Respect for the Human Rights of all people, and
  • A just and sustainable economy for all.

Global Exchange – a multicultural, international, human rights organization – is excited to take our vision and programming to the next level and offer all our communications and actions in both Spanish and English.

Nuestra Lucha Global will undertake  campaigns and actions dedicated to addressing the needs and priorities of Latinx communities in the U.S. and across the region.

We will continue to hold our annual “Viejos Vecinos, Nuevo Dialogo” (Old neighbors, New Dialogue) webinar series in both Spanish and English, where we will be hearing from leaders in Mexico and the U.S. about their perspectives and analysis of what is needed to put human lives and the rights of nature at the center of the binational relationship.

And as part of the launch of Nuestra Lucha Global, three new delegations have been added to our Mexico Reality Tours Program:

  1. Mexico-U.S. border annual delegation: where we will see the effects of current immigration policies and learn from the tireless work of dozens of organizations and thousands of volunteers on both sides of the border to protect the lives of immigrant families and asylum seekers.
  2. Human Rights Delegation: A visit to learn about human rights and justice for victims of armed and political violence.
  3. The Right to Stay Home: A tour to Mixteca communities, where most agricultural workers and new immigrants to the U.S. come from to escape discrimination, poverty, and violence. The delegation will look to understand how these communities are using migration to resist and establish alternatives to their future.

To further the collaboration between organizations, collectives, and struggles for social justice in Mexico and the U.S., we are organizing a Peace Conference in February 2023 with organizations and leaders from Indigenous, Native American, African American, and Latinx communities from both countries, including: Odilia Romero, from CIELO, Melissa Oakes, from the Northeast Center for Native Americans, Luis Hérnandez from Youth Over Guns, Gricelda Cuecuecha from Culturas del Pasado, and Cristina Bautista, mother of one of the students disappeared in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Mexico. In the lead-up to this historic event, we will be promoting local events and webinars to start the regional conversation to advance justice and peace and end violence against the poor and people of color.

We are living in a pivotal and urgent moment. From rising gun violence, political exclusion and disenfranchisement, worsening repression of migrants, and expanding environmental and climate driven crises, the need for action, reform and collective activism is now. Nuestra Lucha Global is dedicated to powering a cross-borders, multicultural, diverse movement for a better future for all. Join us! 

Nuestra Lucha Global: impulsando la fuerza y el alcance de nuestra lucha global

Estamos lanzando Nuestra Lucha Global, el sitio de Global Exchange en español para promover la solidaridad y la justicia internacional, así como asegurar que las comunidades latinoamericanas podamos encabezar la lucha global por el futuro que merecemos.

La justicia social, económica o ambiental en el Continente Americano sólo se puede lograr con la inclusión de todas las personas y lenguas de América Latina. Durante más de 30 años, Global Exchange ha sido una organización líder en la construcción de solidaridad global y hemos sido testigos de lo difícil que es para las comunidades latinoamericanas impulsar la lucha por la justicia junto a otras comunidades que no hablan español o nuestras lenguas indígenas. Por ello, estamos continuamente perdiendo oportunidades para unirnos.

Nuestra Lucha Global promoverá:

  • Diálogos estratégicos regionales,
  • Delegaciones internacionales de observación y acompañamiento
  • Movilización de recursos humanos
  • Divulgación y difusión de campañas locales y regionales
  • Campañas regionales que aboguen por el fin de la violencia, la economía social y sostenible y el respeto a los Derechos Humanos de todas las personas.

El camino para llegar aquí nos tomó casi dos años, donde tuve el privilegio de liderar el equipo de Global Exchange en la revisión de la programación y visión como organización internacional que impulse la multiculturalidad y la inclusión en la lucha por la justicia y  derechos humanos. Hemos formado un equipo que nos llevará a crear esta plataforma que se ajuste a la visión de América Latina.

A partir de julio, la mayoría de las comunicaciones y actividades contarán con traducción e interpretación al español. También realizaremos actividades diseñadas y producidas 100% en español para abordar las necesidades y prioridades de las comunidades latinas en los Estados Unidos, y promover la movilización en torno a ellas.

Continuaremos realizando nuestra serie de seminarios web anuales “Viejos Vecinos, Nuevo Diálogo” en español e inglés, donde escucharemos a líderes de México y EE. UU. sobre sus perspectivas y análisis de lo que se necesita. poner la vida humana y los derechos de la naturaleza en el centro de la relación binacional.

También, vamos a organizar tres nuevas delegaciones de observación a México:

  1. Delegación anual de la frontera México-Estados Unidos:  donde veremos los efectos de las políticas migratorias actuales y conoceremos el trabajo incansable de decenas de organizaciones y miles de voluntarios de ambos lados de la frontera para proteger la vida de familias migrantes y solicitantes de asilo.
  1. Delegación de Derechos Humanos: Una visita para conocer los derechos humanos y la justicia para las víctimas de la violencia armada y política.
  2. Delegación sobre el Derechos a No Migrar: Un recorrido por las comunidades expulsoras en México, de donde provienen la mayoría de las personas trabajadoras agrícolas y migrantes a los Estados Unidos. Este éxodo busca  salida de la  discriminación, la pobreza y la violencia, para comprender cómo estas comunidades están utilizando la migración para resistir y establecer alternativas para su futuro.

Para profundizar la colaboración entre organizaciones, colectivos y luchas por la justicia social en México y Estados Unidos, estamos organizando una Cumbre por la Paz en febrero de 2023. Este esfuerzo se encuentra conformado por organizaciones y líderes de comunidades indígenas, nativas americanas, afroamericanas y latinas de ambos países. Contamos con la participación de Odilia Romero de CIELO; Melissa Oakes, del Northeast Center for Native Americans; Luis Hernández de Youth Over Guns, Gricelda Cuecuecha de Culturas del Pasado y Cristina Bautista, madre de uno de los estudiantes desaparecidos en la normal Raúl Isidro Burgos en Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, México. En preparación a este evento histórico, promoveremos eventos locales y seminarios web para arrancar la conversación regional a favor de la justicia y la paz que de pasos al fin a la violencia estructural que impacta principalmente a los más pobres.

La devastación ambiental, la proliferación de armas, la crisis económica profundizada en las comunidades pobres como resultado de la pandemia de COVID-19 y las guerras en todo el mundo solo pueden detenerse y cambiarse con el poder de una ola multicultural, diversa que trabaje unida con un mismo objetivo.

On Monday, the world learned the news that a truck container with 40 dead bodies (that number has now risen to 53) and over 16 injured migrants, including children, was abandoned on a highway in San Antonio, Texas. This heartbreaking and enraging tragedy adds names to the long list of migrant deaths at the Mexico-US border.

As Global Exchange has stated in previous tragedies at the border, the failure from governments in the Americas to address the root causes of forced migration, as well as the United States’ closed border policy is to blame for the loss of these lives.

Since day one of the establishment of the Migrant Protection Protocols (or Remain in Mexico) and Title 42 (both currently being reviewed by U.S. high courts), Global Exchange, together with many ally organizations, has documented the deadly consequences of these policies. We have even brought the case to international courts.

The U.S. has effectively closed the border to asylum seekers, forcing  individuals and families fleeing violence, environmental disaster, and poverty one of two dangerous options: one, to take higher risks to reach U.S. soil, pushing them into the hands of “coyotes” and predatory human smugglers; or two, wait indefinitely in the streets of a border town in Mexico with no job, no food, no shelter, and lack of protection against violence.

The Biden-Harris administration’s message about the dangers of a deadly journey, pretending to discourage migration, and asking people to stay at home have proven to be ineffective in a region where poverty and violence is on the rise, and police and military units colluded with organized crime. People rather face the deadly risks of trying to reach a better future than accept violence or death at home.

The recent White house “Declaration of Los Angeles,” which came out from the Summit of the Americas, pledged for more collaboration between countries of origin and for receiving countries to manage migration, reduce the flow migration, and increase employment opportunities.

But later, we learned that far from expanding the institutional capacities of the U.S. asylum system, this regional collaboration will prioritize forcing countries to establish deadly Third Safe Country policies in their territories – essentially expanding the failed Remain in Mexico  program to more countries across the region. And the “Declaration’s” proposed solution to poverty is to increase the investments of U.S. corporations in countries of origin, however most of the time these ‘investments’ provide low wages and never address the social and environmental causes of poverty. And worse still, DHS Secretary Mayorkas announced that as part of this collaboration, the U.S. will launch Operation Sting to increase the presence of U.S. undercover agents to conduct intelligence activities to “dismantle caravans.” 

This proposal falls far short of truly addressing the urgent and pressing causes that force people to migrate. And with the recommendation to expand Third Safe Country programs and increase surveillance of migrants, it may, in the end, do more harm.

To honor the lives lost at the border this week and to ensure other migrants do not face this same fate, requires that we ensure access to rights and justice in communities and countries of origin and strengthen our asylum system, re-open our border, and provide shelter to those in desperate need. Tell President Biden it’s time to end Title 42.

What happened in San Antonio, Texas, is the most recent reminder that we must continue to work to demand an end to policies that criminalize immigrants and asylum seekers, and expand human-centered policies that offer equal opportunities for all.

Over the weekend (May 14-15), 13 people were killed and 35 were wounded in five mass shooting attacks across the country: a supermarket in a predominately black neighborhood in Buffalo (NY); a park in Winston-Salem (NC); a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods (CA), a flea market in Houston (TX), and in downtown Milwaukee (WI).

Meanwhile, this week Mexico reached the grim milestone of 100,000 disappeared people and May is already the most violent month of the year.

White supremacist ideology is deadly – even more so when combined with easy access to guns. Drug and human traffickers are more dangerous when they access guns.  And corrupt, violent police and military units in Mexico become powerful when they receive guns imported from the United States, despite their well known history of abuse and violence.

While families and communities mourn the pain this violence has caused, gun companies are planning to avoid, once again, all responsibility and put all blame on Congress and governments in both countries.

Since 2012, when Global Exchange organized the Caravan for Peace bringing together victims of the “Drug War” in Mexico with victims of gun violence in the U.S., we have addressed the lack of sufficient U.S. gun laws as a cause of growing violence in both countries. We even proved on video how easy it was to buy a U.S. gun at the border.

Over the last decade gun companies have done nothing to stop the flow of guns. And the United States has failed to pass stricter end user controls to U.S. gun exports – in fact under Trump it loosened them.

The consequence, thousands of human lives are lost to gun violence on both sides of the border. Firearms have now become the leading cause of death in U.S. children (1-19) over vehicle accidents and cancer.

Today (May 16th), when he spoke in Buffalo, President Biden called for an assault weapons ban. Let’s make sure this time Congress acts!

Congress could immediately save lives by passing HR 1808 to ban assault weapons and by requiring stricter end user certificates for gun exports that identify the police or military unit in Mexico that will receive these weapons.

Hatred, white supremacy, criminal violence and corrupt police with guns are the greatest threat to our communities.

Join us in saying: Enough! Stop the sale of military-style weapons to our communities on both sides of the border!

On Oct 20th, Global Exchange hosted the Caravan of Mothers of Disappeared Migrants in New York City at our newly founded immigrant media collective, Molino Informativo.

The mothers came to the U.S. in search of their loved ones who left home to flee violence and find a better future but never arrived. The mothers came to New York City to bring awareness to the human rights and violence crises that impact Central American families, forcing people to flee, and to share the painful journey that families, especially mothers, have to go through while trying to find their loved ones who have disappeared while trying to reach the U.S.

Global Exchange is committed to helping these mothers. We are honored that we could help share their stories and raise their voices — to say the names of their children, make their disappearance known, and share the heartbreak they leave behind. 

No están solas. (They are not alone!)

Gerber Eduardo Garcia Perez – Disappeared Nov. 24, 2020

Jarvin Josúe Valazquez Lacayo

Aaron Eleazar Carrasco Turclos

Edwin Alexander Coundres Rodríguez

William Ernesto Quinteros Valladares – Disappeared Dec. 26, 2008
Rafael Alberto Roun Lilaya – Disappeared May 19, 2002