
Flyer with a map of the American continent (right) and the following caption: "Reject US Imperialism! Make our Americas a Zone of Peace." Photo: Black Alliance for Peace.
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Flyer with a map of the American continent (right) and the following caption: "Reject US Imperialism! Make our Americas a Zone of Peace." Photo: Black Alliance for Peace.
By Bill Hackwell – 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
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.”
BAP Haiti/Americas Team Opposes Apparent CELAC Support for Foreign Military Intervention Into Haiti
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:
1- Dismantle SOUTHCOM. Shut down the 76 U.S. military bases in the region
2- End U.S./NATO military exercises. Close foreign military bases, installations and enclaves, as well as withdraw foreign occupation troops
3- 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
4- Oppose military intervention into Haiti. Support the people(s)-centered movement for democracy and self-determination
5- Return Guantánamo to Cuba. The United States must give back to the Cuban people and their government the territory it illegally occupies
6- Sanctions are war. End illegal sanctions and blockades of regional states, including all economic warfare and lawfare, and recognize their sovereignty
(Resumen Latinoamericano-English)