Human Rights Heroes at Home 2009 - Peace

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Submitted by: Camilla Schneider

Andres Thomas Conteris, an Uruguyan/American, has long been in the forefront of the struggle against United States domination of and interference in Latin America. He started young; while in high school he fought to get his uncle Hiber released from prison in Uruguay where he had been a political prisoner for eight years. Committed to the anti-militarization struggle in Latin America, Andres has lived in Uruguay and Honduras as well as the U.S. He is founder of Democracy Now! En Espanol, and he co-directed the video “Hidden In Plain Sight” about the training of Latin American military personnel at the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Andres also participated in a long fast to call attention to the struggle of the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico in an attempt to close the U. S military base which was contaminating their island.

Currently he is Director of the Program on Americas for Non-Violence International. He spends much time in Latin America where he continues to lead educational delegations in support of human rights struggles there. He is in Honduras now where he went immediately after the military coup there in June of this year, and he is presently inside the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa with President Zelaya where the coup government is bombarding the Embassy with chemical gas and LRADs, acoustic sound beams that damage hearing.

Andres does all this dedicated work on behalf of social justice in Latin America on extremely limited resources. Despite the hardships, he never stops working to bring peace and justice to the Americas.