Latin America 2019 - an important date for your diaries
Campaign News | Thursday, 26 September 2019
The 15th annual Adelante! Latin America Conference will take place on Saturday 23 November at Friends House, opposite Euston Station in London.
More than 50 speakers from across the globe will address around 30 seminars and plenaries, discussing the current political and social realities in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the threat many face from reactionary forces both internally and from the United States government under Donald Trump. The Latin America Conference provides a great opportunity to meet with campaigners and country experts and enjoy films, stalls, and debate.
Tickets £10 waged/ £8 unwaged. Pay online or call 020 7490 5715.
This year’s conference comes at a critical time and sees many progressive movements and governments under threat. Right-wing forces unleashed by Donald Trump’s administration are pursuing an increasingly aggressive set of policies across the hemisphere.
The United States has recently announced the most severe economic sanctions against Cuba since the illegal US blockade was first introduced in 1962. John Bolton, US National Security Adviser and “chief warmonger” [if not actually a quote perhaps just delete?] has severely curtailed family visits by Cuban-Americans and slashed the amount of money they can send home to Cuba. He has also cut back on all non-family travel to Cuba by US citizens.
Most worryingly, the US government has fully implemented Title III of the infamous Helms-Burton Act, the legislation that underpins the blockade designed to strangle the Cuban economy and starve its people.
Bolton has branded Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as a “troika of tyranny”, and is making increasingly dangerous threats of intervention, refusing to rule out military options. At the same time the US has accused Cuban doctors working in Venezuela as being soldiers who are ‘propping up’ the government in Venezuela.
Trump is of course overseeing a reactionary agenda against a host of countries in the region which includes aggressive interventions and coup threats against Venezuela, new hostilities against the Evo Morales government in Bolivia, and ongoing sanctions and threats against Nicaragua.
Simultaneously, the US government is a cheerleader for the far-right president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, as he attacks trade unionists, women, indigenous people and the LGBT community. Former president Lula was prevented from running against him and remains in prison on trumped-up charges.
The hugely unpopular Honduran government has US backing in the face of massive popular demonstrations by those opposed to its brutal policies. Despite widespread use of violence by the police and army, there has been little media coverage and no international outcry.
Contrast this to Venezuela, where the US is at the forefront of an increasingly discredited attempt at regime change: using public unrest, largely manufactured by the elites and their US backers, to justify the overthrow of the democratically elected government. They have pressured the UK and other European countries to recognise Juan Guaido as the new president, even though he has little support and is virtually unknown within the country.
In every country of the region the Trump administration is trying to reassert its hegemony. Backed by home grown neo-cons and hard right Latin American elites, many operating out of their Florida power base, once again the US government constitutes the greatest threat to peace and stability in the region.
In defiance of these attacks, Cuba is celebrating 60 years of its Revolution, and progressive forces across the continent are organised. They are defending the gains made over recent years, and fighting back against privatisation, destabilisation and the drive to steal their natural resources to bolster US multinationals in their pursuit of profit.
The Latin America Conference 2019 will explore these themes and more to ensure that solidarity activists, trade unionists, parliamentarians and academics have the understanding and arguments to strengthen our solidarity with progressive governments and movements in Latin America.
The Adelante! Conference is the biggest and best event on Latin America in Europe. It is a crucial weapon in our defence of Cuba and progressive politics in the region. Put Saturday 23 November in your diaries now to ensure you don’t miss it.
Download the conference flyer and full list of speakers here
BUY TICKETS ONLINE NOW
Advance tickets £10 waged / £8 unwaged (£12 / £10 on the door)
Time and Date: Saturday November 23, 10am (registration 9.15am)
Venue: Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, NW1 2BJ.
You can also call 020 7490 5715 and pay by credit/debit card or send a cheque payable to ‘CSC’ to CSC, c/o Unite, 33-37 Moreland Street, London EC1V 8BB.
For more information email admin@cuba-solidarity.org.uk Tel. 020 7490 5715
Get your tickets and view details as they are announced at http://www.latinamericaconference.co.uk
