FRIENDS PEACE TEAMS INC

Peacebuilding in Las Americas PLA) works in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador and now Cuba. The communities where we work experience poverty, domestic violence, inequality, unemployment, exacerbated by returning deportees, police violence, oppression from government forces and entities, gang violence and destruction of ecosystems. In Guatemala we are working to transform communities by positively impacting families, adolescents and children. Our work is crucial in a country facing high rates of violence and inequality. We mini AVP workshops for low-income families. Participants learn to identify violence and improve their communication skills; many women find support for domestic violence a widespread problem in the country. We offer workshops to students ages 12-17 providing them with essential tools such as self-affirmation, respect for themselves and others, analytical thinking and nonviolent conflict resolution, instilling the concept of Transforming Power or as we say in Latin America, the Power that Transforms. Our Power of Goodness program is foundational for children. Through mini workshops children ages 4-11 discover their innate goodness and the importance of kindness. In El Salvador we base and carry out our work by serving various vulnerable groups affected by different forms of violence. Children, adolescents, youth, women, people with disabilities, older adults, survivors of the civil war, community leaders, church leaders from various faith traditions, and individuals in recovery from violence and addiction have all participated in our AVP and Power of Goodness workshops. Through these experiences, they have strengthened their lives, self-esteem, spirituality and self-awareness, while also discovering and developing their nonviolent capacities in the pursuit of peace within their communities. Honduras is a country in agony in the midst of violence. The AVP program offers people a chance to choose nonviolence. Step by step, with perseverance, AVP in Honduras is gaining recognition. Men and women who are incarcerated, teachers and students, children and adults in churches who have participated in the basic and advanced workshops, the trauma resilience workshop and the facilitator training, see AVP as a fruitful and more humane way of life. Cuba- In 2023, a collective dram began to take shape to revitalize AVP on the island. A small courageous group PAVistas (AVPers) along with the supportive solidarity of international facilitators, rekindled this flame of peace and transformation. Today, in 2025, they joyfully celebrate the fruits of so much shared effort. They have a strengthened team of around 10 new facilitators ready to sow VP in every corner of Cuba. Their energy and commitment are our greatest strength. In southwestern Colombia, there are many hotbeds of violence and more AVP facilitators are needed as we only have 3 who are currently active. For this reason, we are conducting workshops to create the process of training apprentice facilitators, who will add to our current team, allowing AVP to reach new places, hence the importance of their contributions to the mission of becoming peacemakers.