ISLA
-Information Services Latin America- is a fiscally sponsored non-profit
organization established in 1970. We combine professional news monitoring
services with educational and non-profit support activities. Our monthly
publication provides a comprehensive overview of U.S. and British
media coverage on Latin America. Our web-site offers alternative Latin
American voices an opportunity to expound on their own reality. ISLA
offers a wide range of information-related services, including networking
assistance, public access to our collections, and assistance in obtaining
resources.
Mission
ISLA's mission
is to generate, participate in and facilitate dialogue for social
change via information sharing. We focus on challenging US foreign
policy and supporting pro-democracy activists in Latin America. We
go about this proactively, networking with organizations around the
world and offering something concrete -a channel for having their
voices heard, contact with like-minded organizations, and our English
language press monitoring service.
We
believe that effective social change stems from dialogue, and that
dialogue leads to greater understanding between all parties involved,
as well as more balanced, long-lived and culturally sensitive action.
We support strategies for change generated by the people whose lives
are most directly impacted.
ISLA-monthly
publication
Subscribe to ISLA's
unsurpassed press monitoring service covering every country in Latin
America and the Caribbean since 1970. Each month our full service
provides approximately 350 pages of carefully selected articles from
nine major English language news sources, organized in a convenient,
user-friendly fashion. You can order a single country, a region, or
our full service. Back issues are available through 1970. Our publication
is also available in microfilm format. For more information, or a
free sample, please contact Karen Crump at isla@lmi.net
or by telephone at (510) 869-2711.
Colombia
Information Project
Since 1992, ISLA has
been providing information free of charge to several key organizations
in Colombia and the United States. All organizations are actively
engaged in human rights work in Colombia and find ISLA keeps them
abreast of US activities in the region. ISLA provides an accurate
picture of the news shaping US public opinion, as well as information
not readily available in Colombia. Among the core groups involved
in our Colombia Information Project are the Comision Andina de Juristas,
the Instituto Latinamericano de Servicios Legales Alternativos and
the Centro de Investigacion Nacional de Educacion Popular. Understandably,
the number of organizations now involved in this project has grown
considerably as US intervention in Colombian affairs has escalated.
Additionally,
we strive to provide an outlet for Colombian scholars and activists
via our web-site, as well as provide resources when possible. ISLA
participates in a wide variety of conferences and workshops aimed
at building the movement against US intervention in Colombia.
We welcome any donations
toward supporting the Colombia Information Project. Checks should
be written to the ISLA/Agape (Agape is ISLA's fiscal sponsor) and
sent to ISLA, P.O. Box 6103, Albany CA 94706. We also
invite you to subscribe to our Colombia service. Please visit our
links section for more information on Colombia, as well as contacts
for Colombia support groups in your area.
Conexiones Project
ISLA, in conjunction
with the DataCenter, has been involved with the Conexiones project
for over ten years. The project grew out of requests by Cuban scholars
for greater access to information. Originally, ISLA provided 36 organizations
with subscriptions to our full and regional press monitoring services,
along with a made-to-order publication called the InfoMonitor. In
1998 a greater effort to encourage dialogue came to fruition with
the birth of the Conexiones portion of our web site. Our popular Conexiones
segment is unique in that the works of Cuban scholars are published
in English and accessible, free of charge, to everyone with an Internet
connection. The project currently includes ISLA subscriptions
for fourteen Cuban research centers, including the Universidad de
la Habana, Centro de Investigaciones de la Economia Internacion, Centro
de Investiagciones Psicologicas y Sociologicas and the Centro Memorial
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We continue to post the unique works of
our Cuban collaborators.
Research Services
ISLA offers
research services on a selective basis and for a fee to individuals
and institutions. We do not provide these services to lawyers doing
asylum cases, at this point. Our current rate is $40 per hour,
plus copying and postage fees when they apply. Feel free to contact
us at (510) 996-2318 or
isla@lmi.net,
if you are interested in using this service.
Pro Bono Services
Non-profit organizations,
students, activists, and free-lance journalists may contact us at
any time for assistance in finding information resources, for networking
purposes, and for other types of support. Please refer to our contact
information for staff biographies. Our staff is fully bilingual in
Spanish and English and would be happy to assist you n your language
of choice. All staff can be reached at isla@lmi.net.
