By Bill Hackwell on April 4, 2023
Today in a press conference in Washington DC the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) along with key allies launched a popular collective campaign to promote the urgent need to establish a Zone of Peace in Our Americas. The press conference coincided with similar events that took place in Havana, Cuba; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
The “Zone of Peace” concept emerged from the January 29, 2014, meeting of the heads of state and governments of the Community of
Washington DC
Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), all of which declared Latin America and the Caribbean should be seen and respected as a “Zone of Peace.” The BAP effort is geared towards activating the popular movement element to bolster the support to those states for its implementation across the region.
Ajamu Baraka, chairperson of the coordinating committee of BAP explained that the deliberate decision to launch the campaign on April 4 was to coincide with the founding of Black Alliance for Peace on April 4, 2018 and to connect it to the lifelong dedication to peace of Martin Luther King who was assassinated on this day in 1968. “Today we make this declaration to the world to counter the US’s commitment to militarism. We have the majority of people on our side, but we need a vision that we are more than what we are today, we need to build capacity.”
Havana Cuba
Jemima Pierre, from the BAP co ordinating committee explained how the US wants to continue their Monroe Doctrine mandate by invading Haiti and through the US military’s Southern Command they want to extend militarism throughout Latin American.
Also speaking was the editor of Black Agenda Report Margaret Kimberly and Nina Macapiniac from Bayan – USA who warned of the US military expansion in the Pacific with the announcement by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration in February his approval of an expansion of the U.S. military presence in the country to four additional Philippine military bases from the five existing sites.
Initial Core Demands of the Zone of Peace in the Americas are:
Dismantle SOUTHCOM. Shut down the 76 U.S. military bases in the region
End U.S./NATO military exercises. Close foreign military bases, installations and enclaves, as well as withdraw foreign occupation troops
Disband U.S.-sponsored state terrorist training facilities. Shutter the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation” (WHINSEC)—formerly the School of the Americas—in Fort Benning, Georgia, United States, and terminate U.S.—as well as foreign—training of police forces
Oppose military intervention into Haiti. Support the people(s)-centered movement for democracy and self-determination
Return Guantánamo to Cuba. The United States must give back to the Cuban people and their government the territory it illegally occupies
Sanctions are war. End illegal sanctions and blockades of regional states, including all economic warfare and lawfare, and recognize their sovereignty
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – US
For more information on the campaign go to:
communications@blackallianceforpeace.com
(202) 643-1136
Banner photo: Screenshot zoom video of panelist at the launch press conference in Washington DC at the Institute for Policy Studies.