PLACA Presents Speaker: Uriel Antonio Carazo Garcia

PLACA Presents Speaker: Uriel Antonio Carazo Garcia Uriel Antonio Carazo García U.S. Military and Economic Violence in Nicaragua and Links to Migration Few people can speak to the impacts of U.S. military and economic policy like Uriel Carazo, a coordinator and founding member of The Promoters of Peace and of Development (Red de Promotores de Paz y de Desarrollo) in Nicaragua. As a result of the U.S. backed Contra war in Nicaragua in the 1980s, Uriel was forced to migrate to Honduras. Later he was deeply involved in a broad movement in his country against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and facilitated community-level dialogue on its potential impacts. Needless to say he is well acquainted with the ties between U.S. foreign policy and how it pushes and pulls people to migrate. Uriel will offer a unique perspective into this from his personal history as a soldier in the Contra War. When he was 12 years old, he enrolled in the Popular Sandinista army. Fighting throughout the 80s, Uriel suffered a traumatic injury from a landmine that resulted in the amputation of his foot. Migration and its root causes have been an integral part of the post-war reconciliation process. The Peace Promoters have found that most Nicaraguans, no matter their political leaning or past military involvement - Contra or Sandinista - they are facing many of the same issues. Working closely with families as a conflict mediator, a lawyer, and a disability rights activist, Uriel has come more and more across a single issue: migration. He will talk about this migration, and the large systematic dynamics behind it, especially in terms of Nicaragua’s often contentious relationship with the United States.