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"Winds of Change In The Americas" : Organisers pressure US to reinstate Zurita Vargas' visa

For Immediate Release: February, 24, 2006

Bush Administration Bars Bolivian Human Rights Leader and Senator From Entering the US

Leonida Zurita Vargas, a Bolivian coca farmer organizer and alternate Senator, was invited to talk at universities and communities across the US as part of a three week speaking tour. On Monday, February 20th, when she went to the airport to fly to the US, she was told her visa had been revoked. She has used this ten-year, multiple-entry visa she obtained in 1998 several times.

This tour would have taken her to Florida International University, the University of Florida, Stanford University, the University of Vermont, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, among others. She has published an op-ed in the New York Times, spoken at Harvard University and several other U.S. schools, and is one of the leading women in Bolivian politics.

On this speaking tour she was to discuss issues pertaining to the new government of Evo Morales in Bolivia, the country's social movements and the negative impact of US foreign policy in the "war on drugs".

On Thursday Zurita spoke to reporters in Bolivia: "When I deposited my tickets, my passport and the suitcase I was carrying, the secretary that worked for American Airlines told me "You cannot travel. It is an order of the ambassador (of the U.S.). What the letter that was presented to me said - I have read it - it talked about some articles - I don't know which ones - and said that I could be involved with terrorism or associated with terrorism. I said if I was a terrorist then I should be in jail."

Actions such as this are a sign of the irrational political climate of the Bush administration's "War on Terror." Zurita, as one of the leading voices for human rights and peace in her country, is anything but a terrorist. We invited her to speak at our conference to increase the dialogue between the two countries. Latin America is currently going through enormous social and political change. Exchanges with people involved in the grassroots struggles in this region of the world are key
to understanding what is going on on the ground, in spite of the US government's foreign policy.

As such, the organizers of the "Winds of Change In The Americas" conference are continuing to pressure the US Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia to reinstate Leonida Zurita's visa. We have also contacted the offices of VT Senator Patrick Leahy, Representative Bernie Sanders and Jim Jeffords to notify them of this situation and are awaiting responses from all three of them.

Our conference will take place on Sunday, March 5th from 3-9 PM at the Unitarian Church at the head of Church Street in Burlington, Vermont. We are working to make sure Leonida will be speaking at this event. In addition to her presentation, there will be discussions led by Vermonters who recently returned from Caracas, Venezuela for the World Social Forum, a gathering of social movements, NGOs and activists from around the globe. Representatives from the Vermont Worker's Center will be discussing social movements in Vermont.

For More Information Call:
Ben Dangl, 1-802-318-0466
bendangl@gmail.com
or Robin Lloyd, 1-802-862-4929
robinlloyd@greenvalleymedia.org

posted by Annamarie at 9:44 PM