Estimado Chuck:

Una vez más le agradezco haber publicado en Libertad Latina, el material enviado a lo largo de los últimos años. Deseo profundamente que Libertad Latina continue creciendo e informando sobre temas tan duros, conocidos, pero ignorados o encubiertos.

Se necesitan verdaderos cambios, que deben y van a llegar. Libertad Latina trae algunos de esos cambios. Y "P'alante vamo".

Gracias nuevamente por su independencia y apertura.

Muchos saludos,
Carla Conde - Freudendorff

Errata

Hello Liv,

I appreciate your positive comments about the work of LibertadLatina.

You are welcome to spread the word about us on social networking sites and everywhere else.

And yes, we welcome volunteers to collaborate with us. Please forward my email: Chuck@LibertadLatina.org

See aslo this past posting and my response:

by Aniuska on June 13, 2008 - 09:10

I wondered if you had considered opening up internship or volunteer
opportunities for college students as a means to minimize and further
expand costs and activities. For instance, many college students -
particularly those with concentrations in Latin American studies - are
bilingual and perhaps they could help with tasks such as translating.
Furthermore, many are already anti-slavery activists and might also be
a resource and pool of ideas from which to draw.

To "address a broader range of analysis in regard to complex
trafficking and exploitation issues" have you perhaps considered
accepting article contributions from activists and members of
in-the-ground NGOs in the continent on various issues, including the
barriers they face in their regions. I mention this because I
recently met an activist from Argentina (RATT Network) at a conference
whose presentation resonated with the issues your organizations aims
to fight.

Best of luck and success.

Aniuska

Aniuska M. Luna
Nova Southeastern University
University Ambassador

Distributed Volunteerism
by ChuckGoolsby on June 13, 2008 - 20:33
Hello Aniuska,

Thanks for your great ideas and questions.

I agree that LibertadLatina.org would be much more effective as a broadly supported grassroots campaign. I have a great deal of admiration for the anti-trafficking group Polaris Project, for example, who have invested a lot of effort into building a successful anti-trafficking network on college campuses.

...Your idea of connecting with Latin American studies majors, and bilingual students is great. I am definately going to use that suggestion as a starting point for networking.

A couple of years ago I made a two hour presentation to the group Latinas United for Justice, at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. I discussed the work of LibertadLatina, and got a great reception from the 20 students and 5 Latina and Latino professors who attended the session.

Hello John,
Thank you for your positive comments about LibertadLatina.org.

I will be glad to have you add us to your links section.

Your project, The Emancipation Network, is also forward thinking and addresses a critical need.

Indeed, survivors risk being trafficked when their local communities cannot provide jobs for women.
One economic study of Mexico found that undereducated women had, essentially, three employment options - waitress, domestic work and prostitution. In fact, all three options involve sexual exploitation.

Effectively, no Latin American nation has a functioning social safety net. Therefore, people living in poverty who cannot work and feed themselves will literally die from hunger. There is no social security, no welfare, and no food stamps. Aside from the 'gender hostile environment' in the region, this fact is the main driver forcing women to attempt to migrate to the United States, Canada, Europe, or wherever they can survive.

For those women, girls and also some boys who do not migrate, prostitution and being trafficked become one of the few options open to them.

Providing money making activities to support survivors is thus critical.

Beyond that, providing gainful employment or micro business opportunities to all populations at risk of being trafficked will be critical to the goal of ending slavery.

Taking that into consideration is part of the 'out of the box' thinking that anti-trafficking activists should, in my opinion, embrace, to allow our humanitarian efforts to accurately target the real problems with solutions that will actually succeed.

Also, while the anti-trafficking movement addresses the crime of trafficking itself, there really is no neat and clean dividing line between trafficking and the social conditions that allow it to occur. In Latin America, that includes widespread misogynistic machismo, an acceptance of impunity and government corruption, and a tradition of accepted prostitution and trafficking that has been institutionalized for many decades.
For example, in 1918, the League of Nations (predecessor of the United Nations) issued a report identifying Latin America as the world's top center for sex trafficking (referred to then as white slavery).