The Delaware County Pledge of Resistance has a long history of working for human rights in Latin America. We were founded in October 1986 to resist the U.S. war on Nicaragua. From 1986 to 1990 we organized multiple vigils and protests against Contra aid and National Guard deployments. In Feb. 1988 on the eve of a crucial vote in Congress on aid to the Contras, four of our people were arrested for sitting in Representative Weldon's office. In Sept 1988 130 people participated in a protest of U.S. aid to El Salvador. We organized protests to break the trade embargo on Nicaragua, to protest the bombings in El Salvador of the EMASTRA office and to lament the murder of Fr. Oscar Romero. Later we organized local opposition to the U.S. invasion of Panama and publicized the genocide of the Mayan people of Guatemala by a U.S. supported regime. We supported the Sanctuary Movement. In the 1990s we opposed NAFTA and tried to come to grips with the effects of Globalization on Latin American Countries. We are still working with groups that publicize the current horrors in Colombia and the US role seemingly driven by future oil revenues in that country. Pledge worked on publicizing the appropriation of land from indigenous people in Chiapas in the name of privatization.

Globalization has added to the mix of powers that control U.S. policy toward Latin American countries. Pledge has worked to publicize and protest policies of the IMF and World Bank which is being operated for the benefit of rich countries that are in control. We believe that Globalization has distorted the allocation of resources in favor of private goods at the expense of public ones. Now CAFTA expands the ability of large corporations in our country to dominate the economies of our neighbors at the cost of cutting education and civil services in these countries. We believe that in the new world of Globalization there is an even greater need for countries to act collectively through international institutions and to have alliances with other countries to demand global justice and a better global environment. We will work against narrow corporation self-interest. In its place we must give thought to the future of humanity and the reassertion of morality.

Sadly, the record over the last hundred years indicates that the U.S. government's goal is to impose economic imperialism on Latin American countries. Somehow this seems not to be consistent with the values of our Bill of Rights and our Declaration of Independence. We pledge to resist such hypocrisy. We pledge to try and change the US government's policies and to hold our own government accountable to the values of the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. We pledge to resist un-American behavior by our own government.

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