Witness for Peace

Witness for Peace (WFP) is aUnited States-based activist organization founded in 1983 that opposed the Reagan administration's support of the Nicaraguan Contras, denouncing widespread atrocities by these counterrevolutionary groups. Witness for Peace brought U.S. citizens to Nicaragua to see the effects of their government's military policy firsthand. Since the end of the Contra war, they have broadened their focus to other Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Colombia and Mexico. Within Latin America, the organization is known by the Spanish name Accion Permanente por la Paz.

WFP was founded in 1983, as the Contra War raged in Nicaragua. The organization established an ongoing presence in this Central American country 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. It is widely credited with pioneering this tactic of international protective accompaniment. WFP was a leading organization working to bring human rights impact of those policies home to the U.S. public through grassroots education and media outreach. During this initial period, WFP established its organizational model of merging the powerful forces of on-the-ground documentation, assertive media strategies, a dynamic delegations program, and stateside grassroots mobilization.

WFP has expanded its work beyond Nicaragua to other Latin American and Caribbean countries, answering calls from local partners to accompany people affected by U.S. policies and corporate practices. WFP currently has international offices in Nicaragua, Mexico, Colombia and also operates in Venezuela and Bolivia.

WFP maintains a nationwide base of over 20,000 members, and has sent more than 13,000 people to Latin American and the Caribbean on short-term transformative delegations.

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