Witness for Peace

Witness for Peace (WFP) is a politically independent, nationwide grassroots organization of people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. Witness for Peace’s mission is to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing U.S. policies and corporate practices that contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean. We stand with people seeking justice.

History
Witness for Peace was founded in 1983, as the Contra War raged in Nicaragua. We established an ongoing presence there and sent U.S. citizens to accompany the Nicaraguan people in war zones and to document the “human face” of the Reagan Administration’s military policy. Witness for Peace was at the forefront of bringing the brutal realities of those policies home to the U.S. public through grassroots education and large-scale media outreach. During this initial period, Witness for Peace established a successful model of merging the powerful forces of on-the-ground documentation, assertive media strategies, a dynamic delegations program and stateside grassroots mobilization.

Over the years, Witness for Peace has answered urgent calls to accompany the people most affected by harmful U.S. policies and corporate practices. Currently, Witness for Peace has a permanent presence in Cuba, Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua.

Witness for Peace documents the human costs of unfair trade and military policy, transforms U.S. citizens who travel with us to Latin America and mobilizes a motivated grassroots network of nonviolent activists who hold policymakers accountable and work for positive change. 

Over the past 30 years, Witness for Peace has developed and maintained an energized nationwide base of 20,000 members, sent more than 10,000 people to Latin America and the Caribbean on short-term transformative delegations and sustained a highly skilled team of international staff in our program sites abroad.