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The conference was held from Monday November 30th to Wednesday December 2nd in the Centro Cultural de la Cooperación (Cultural Center of Cooperation) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The speakers, hailing from the spheres of academia, politics, and culture, gave talks on various aspects of the issue of foreign military bases in Latin America.

In a tribute to Martin Luther King from the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, Tomas Hirsch honors Dr. King’s dream. Mr. Hirsch spoke at the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, and referred to present dreams for a world without nuclear weapons and without wars. He declares his disappointment for President Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Members of the international team of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence met with US Congressman Dennis Kucinich on Capitol Hill as well as staff members of Congressman John Lewis, Congressman Keith Ellison and Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Congressman Lewis was to introduce a resolution in support of the World March to Congress that afternoon.

Ban Ki-Moon, U.N. secretary-general, designated American singer, Stevie Wonder, a U.N. Messenger of Peace. At a press conference also attended by the artist, Ban praised Wonder saying he was a “musical genius” and a “man dedicated to humanitarian causes who has campaigned against Apartheid (in South Africa), for children in need, and for people with disabilities”.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon received a delegation of the World March in New York and gave his enthusiastic support to this “noble” effort. Both parties offered to find ways to work together in the task of abolishing nuclear weapons. The March organizers agreed to adopt the Secretary General’s 5-Point Plan as one of its official documents.

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence arrived on the US west coast today, with events in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Red Bluff and San Francisco. In LA a March of over 500 people took to the streets in support of the global initiative passing through 100 countries to send a strong message to President Obama condemning his decision to increase US troop presence in Afghanistan.

The US is waiting for the new Russian-American Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) draft to be ready by the end of this December, declared State Depart Spokesman, Ian Kelly in a November 24 press conference in Washington, DC. The current START-1 treaty that requires both powers to reduce their nuclear warheads, expired December 5th.

During November 156 new members joined the movement of local authorities
demanding the elimination of all nuclear weapons by 2020. As of December
1st Mayors for Peace counts 3,396 member cities and municipalities in
134 countries and regions. This latest sharp increase of members is an
encouragement for Mayors for Peace.

The Obama administration is moving further away from its stated support for the reinstatement of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Porfirio Lobo, a wealthy landowner, emerged victorious with 55 percent of the vote. Zelaya’s supporters boycotted the election, and many Latin American countries have refused to recognize its outcome.

A Western Saharan human rights activist is in the third week of a hunger strike after being deported against her will by Moroccan authorities occupying her homeland. Aminatou Haidar, known as the “Sahrawi Gandhi,” is at the airport on the Canary Islands and is demanding that she be allowed to return to home. Morocco has occupied most of Western Sahara since 1975.