Second Latino Congreso
Progresso Weekly September 27 - October 3, 2007
For the second straight year hundreds of Latino organizations, leaders and activists from almost every state in the nation, together with leaders from Latin America, will converge in Los Angeles, California, to celebrate the Latino Congreso (www.latinocongreso.org). Starting Friday, October 5, thousands of persons will gather at the Sheraton in downtown Los Angeles and will begin five days of arduous interchange of ideas and discussion.
Workshops on everything from immigration, the war in Iraq, the Farm Bill, foreign policy, the environment and every subject that touches the Latino population in this country will be held during the days. At the end of the day, during plenary sessions, proposed resolutions will be debated and voted on, as well as last year’s approved resolutions will be revisited.
In its continued effort to reverse the cruel restrictions limiting family travel to Cuba by the Bush Administration in June 2004, a delegation of the Cuban American Commission for Family Rights will head for Los Angeles to participate in the Congreso. A workshop to deal with the family issue and other Cuba related matters will be held on Saturday morning (October 6) at the Sheraton.
Below is the proposed resolution offered by the Commission which will be lobbying for the support of more than 100 national Latino organizations, and thousands of leaders and activists from throughout the United States in assuring the elimination of the measures.
PROPOSED RESOLUTION TO OVERTURN UNCONSTITUTIONAL FAMILY TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS TO CUBA
Whereas, from October 5-9,, 2007, a second National Latino Congreso has been convened in Los Angeles, California, by the numerous Latino organizations that contribute to the efforts of improving the quality of life of members of our communities through out the United States and beyond in order to engage in an ongoing debate on what strategies and resources (e.g. Latino electoral influence, governance, and policy assets) would be more effective in bringing about social justice in our communities; and, Whereas, the U.S. promotes family values and unity and the Supreme Court as well as circuit courts throughout our nation have consistently recognized and upheld the right to privacy of individuals to make decisions regarding their families; marriage, procreation, child-rearing, sexual conduct, and family relations and associations are all protected from excessive government intrusion; and,
Whereas, the regulations implemented by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in June 2004, limiting family visits to Cuban Americans to once every three years, with no exceptions not even for humanitarian cases of emergency or even death, infringes on the constitutional right of an entire people to visit and associate with family members in their country of origin; and,
Whereas, the 2004 regulations define who constitutes family in such narrow terms that surrogate parents and others could be excluded; and, Whereas, the regulations contradict international law which also protects the right of the family through Article 23(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 10 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Article 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and Articles 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); and,
Whereas, regulating family visitations and limiting the definition of family to 5 categories (parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling) is a violation of the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; and,
Whereas, OFAC has abused its power in trying to regulate family travel under the authority granted by the Trading with the Enemy Act, which cannot possibly be interpreted to cover or apply to family relations; and, Whereas, hundreds of thousands of families, both in the U.S. and in Cuba, are affected by these unconstitutional and legally and morally unjustifiable regulations, which have devastating effects on the family unit as a whole and arbitrarily targets individuals who are not categorized as family as per the narrowly defined language of the law thereby denying all visitation rights to a significant number of Cuban Americans.
Now therefore, be it resolved, that our organizations urge the United States Congress to:
Immediately pass legislation that eliminates restrictions on family travel to Cuba.
Immediately overturn the regulations by enacting legislation that specifically holds that such infringements on family associational rights clearly violate the U.S. Constitution and contravene international law.
Revoke the power of regulating family relations from OFAC under the authority granted through the Trading with the Enemy Act.
For the second straight year hundreds of Latino organizations, leaders and activists from almost every state in the nation, together with leaders from Latin America, will converge in Los Angeles, California, to celebrate the Latino Congreso. Starting Friday, October 5, thousands of persons will gather at the Sheraton in downtown Los Angeles and will begin five days of arduous interchange of ideas and discussion.
Workshops on everything from immigration, the war in Iraq, the Farm Bill, foreign policy, the environment and every subject that touches the Latino population in this country will be held during the days. At the end of the day, during plenary sessions, proposed resolutions will be debated and voted on, as well as last year’s approved resolutions will be revisited.