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Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Open Letter To The Biden/Harris Administration
Reset the US’s Latin American/Caribbean Policy Now!
The Vice President And President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
February 23, 2021
Dear Mr. President Biden and Madam Vice President,
As a group concerned about preserving sovereignty and ensuring that Latin America and the Caribbean remain a Zone of Peace, we write calling on you to revoke all of your predecessor’s damaging policies toward the region.
We commend you and your Administration on the first slew of executive orders such as the partial moratorium on deportations, rescinding the racist 1776 Project to rewrite and whitewash American history, and a commitment to environmental justice diversity, equity, and inclusion in government. We felt it logical that these intended policy shifts would suggest movement to ethical governing and a foreign policy consistent with the principles enshrined in various world bodies advocating non-interference in nations’ internal affairs.
We are aware of your role in the Obama/Biden Administration in beginning the normalization of relations with Cuba. Unfortunately, however, the Administration’s support of the 2009 coup in Honduras negatively impacted the Honduran people. As such, we call on you to refrain from interfering in countries’ internal affairs and rekindle the humanitarian thrust in Cuba, which would mean far more to the Cuban people than to the US or Cuban governments.
We intended to write you encouraging a reset of US policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, once we realized that your Administration committed to continue the last Administration’s cruel policy toward Venezuelans, we decided to write an open letter.
Understandingly, based on the January 6 storming of the US Capitol, many civilians may now more fully appreciate the turmoil and debilitating impact an attempt to subvert the electoral process has on a people. By continuing to recognize Juan Guaido as the “president”–someone who lacks legitimacy and never ran for president in Venezuela–your Administration will be reinforcing the last Administration’s saber-rattling towards Venezuela and beyond.
The United Nations Charter has long enshrined a country’s right to self-determination. Yet, too many US presidents have violated that foundational principle with impunity, especially the previous one.
Against this backdrop of ongoing hostility towards progressive leaders in the region, we call for a realignment of the US’s foreign policy in the hemisphere. This new strategy must flow from decency and respect for international law and norms decimated under the previous Administration.
While your idea of a Global Summit for Democracy, “to renew the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the free world,” is a start, the shock of January 6 provides a new lens through which to interrogate the USA’s unjust policies in Latin America and the Caribbean. This recognition must be the first step if “democracy” is the goal.
Today, even while battling COVID-19, your Administration has a historic opportunity to exorcise the ghosts that haunt America’s presence. This can be a win-win proposition: relations based on trust and mutual respect can strengthen the hemispheric cooperation necessary to fight this unprecedented pandemic. Indeed, these desperate times require radical changes in North-South relations.
As such, within the remaining days of your first 100 days, we encourage you to commit to, and issue, the following:
I. An executive order recognizing the Maduro government in Venezuela and removing all US-imposed sanctions on the government.
II. A commitment to regularize US-Cuba relations beginning with the immediate repudiation of the previous Administration’s last-minute decision to declare Cuba a terrorist state.
III. A formal apology to all the countries invaded by previous administrations or in which they engineered coups. Countries like Guatemala, Chile, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama, Grenada, Cuba, Honduras, and Guyana. Besides, your Administration must also apologize to the leaders’ families (such as Salvador Allende, etc.) whose assassinations were due to US-engineered coups and interventionist policies.
IV. An order setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Committee to uncover and recover truths about gross human rights violations arising from the US’s anachronistic policies in the region. We call further for setting up an International Tribunal, with adequate regional representation, to determine the amount of reparations to be paid to the countries and families that suffered as a direct result of the havoc wreaked by previous US administrations.
Indeed, your Administration’s early days provide an opportunity to redefine and reset the US’s foreign policy towards the region. This new orientation must be based on equity, grounded in ethics, yet mindful that these countries are Not For Sale, and definitely In Nobody’s Backyard!
Respectfully,
Lester Adams, Educator, NYC
Dennis Allen, Teacher, San Jose, CA
Donovan Augustine, Consultant & Management Coach
Lenore Boney, Concerned World Citizen
Nick Cox, Advocate for Regionalism
Daunt Curwen, Brooklyn Resident
Martin P. Felix, Co-Editor BigDrumNation, Artist & Educator
Malika Green, Artist
Lennel A. George, Retired Principal, NYC
Khalick J. Hewitt, Esq. and Panologist
Winthrop R. Holder, Co-Editor BDN
Martin Houston, Music Collector
Kim Johnson, PhD., Writer & Filmmaker
Dr. Rita Keresztesi, Literary Black Power in the Caribbean Fiction, Music and Film
Carlyle G. Leach, Man. Dir, Haxy Ventures
Raymond Luke, IT Consultant & Chairman Sesame Flyers Int’l.
Duff Mitchell, Chm. T&T Folk Arts Inst, NY
George Morris, Eco Prof, Contra Costa College, San Pablo, CA
Ken Bari Murray, Songwriter/Performing Artist
Kamau Odinga, Community Organizer, Luling, LA
Dawad Philip, Poet/Artist & FMR Ed., NY. DLY Challenge
Dr. Shirley Steinberg, Author, Executive Acquisitions & Development Editor, Dio Press
Mervyn Taylor, Poet/Educator
Vulindlela Wobogo, Author, “Cold Wind From The North: The Pre-historic European Origin of Racism…”
Ken Murray, “America: Adjusting A Faulty Foreign Policy?”
Gerard Thomas, “The Reset is a Lie!”