Skip to main content

Solidaridad collection

 Collection
Identifier: IWA1192
No requestable containers

Scope and Contents

The Solidaridad collection dates from 1961 to 2007 and measures 7.5 linear feet in 20 boxes. The materials were compiled by Central America Solidarity Committee (CASC) members including Mike Henry, Mike Hutchinson, and Father Mike Colonnese. The collection includes Fr. Mike Colonnese's correspondence and papers relating to his personal and professional work. The bulk of the collection is comprised of bulletins, newsletters, periodicals, newspaper clippings, news alerts, posters, photographs, and ephemera gathered by the “three Mikes” during their work in Central America in the 1970s and 1980s.

The collection is arranged into the following series: Central America Solidarity Committee (CASC); Father Louis Michael Colonnese; Chile; El Salvador; Guatemala; Nicaragua; Latin America; Posters; and Audiovisual.

The Central America Solidarity Committee series (1981-2005) contains documents such as petitions, and ephemera of events organized at the University of Iowa and in the state of Iowa in support of Latin American countries.

Fr. Louis Michael Colonnese's series (1961-1992) includes personal and professional correspondence relating to the organizations he belonged to, his leadership position within the Catholic Church, and his advocacy work (particularly in Brazil, El Salvador, and Mexico).

The rest of the series are comprised of papers collected by the “three Mikes” and other Central America Solidarity Committee (CASC) members and are organized by country of origin and/or interest. The folders within each series are organized alphabetically and by date.

The Chile series (1962-1988) is primarily comprised of the “Solidaridad: compromiso con la verdad” periodical (in Spanish) from Santiago, Chile from the mid-1980s. Additional papers pertain to human rights activism and protest the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

El Salvador series (1978-1995) consists of resource files regarding the Salvadoran Civil War, political conflicts, U.S. government interventions, human rights violations, and labor union advocacy. Several files are especially abundant in women’s activism and women-led organizations including the Committee of Mothers and Relatives of Prisoners, the Disappeared and the Politically Assassinated of El Salvador (COMADRES), Federación de Comites de Madres y Familiares de Presos - Desaparicidos y Asesinados Politicos de El Salvador (FECMAFAM), and Las Dignas: Mujeres por la Dignidad y la Vida.

The Guatemala series (1981-1990) is comprised of correspondence, bulletins, newsletters, pamphlets, periodicals and other publications, and testimonials. The series is completed by Guatemala’s Constitution and Labor Code, in Spanish, published in 1990.

The Nicaragua series (1981-1986) relates to the conflict between the Sandinistas and the Contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s. This series contains monthly reports from the Permanent Commission for Human Rights of Nicaragua, “Barricada International,” a weekly periodical by the Sandinista National Liberation Front, other publications, papers of religious organizations, and documents regarding the U.S. funding and military aid to the Contras in Nicaragua.

The Latin America series (1967-1999) consists of publications and various organization’s documents that focus on Latin America and/or Central America's social, economic, and political issues. It includes newsletters from the Washington Office on Latin America, critic publications on U.S. foreign policies and interventions in Latin America, as well as testimonies and creative writing works.

The Solidaridad collection is completed by photographs and slides of Mike Hutchison’s visits to El Salvador, posters, and audiovisual materials.

Dates

  • Creation: 1961 - 2007

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to the University of Iowa.

Copyright status for collection materials may be unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner.  Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility and potential liability based on copyright infringement for any use rests exclusively and solely with the user. Users must properly acknowledge the Iowa Women's Archives, University of Iowa Libraries, as the source of the material. For further information, visit the Special Collections and Archives website.

Biographical / Historical

From the 1970s to the 1990s, the solidarity movement with Latin America opposed U.S. government intervention in Latin American countries. All around the United States, local and national organizations worked directly with people, activists, non-governmental organizations, religious institutions, revolutionary movements, and governments throughout Latin America to challenge damaging U.S. foreign policies and interventions in the region. The nationwide solidarity movement aimed to raise awareness about the crisis in Latin America, support international collaborations, and raise funds for humanitarian aid and projects advocating social and political change.

The Central America Solidarity Committee (CASC) at the University of Iowa was established in the mid-1980s. CASC's purpose was to educate members of the University of Iowa and Iowa City communities about conditions in Central America and to raise awareness about the impact of U.S. intervention in the region. CASC worked with local and international organizations such as the Latin America Human Rights Advocacy Center (LAHRAC), Iowa City Friends Meeting, Iowa Center for Justice and Peace, Archdiocese of Dubuque, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CIPES), and Committee of Mothers and Relatives of Prisoners, the Disappeared and the Politically Assassinated of El Salvador (COMADRES). The members of CASC organized and hosted rallies, demonstrations, presentations, educational programs, guest speaker visits, public discussions, film screenings, and fundraising and cultural events; circulated petitions; participated in conferences; and developed collaborations and partnerships with other local, national, and international organizations.

Biographical / Historical

Louis Michael (Mike) Colonnese was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1930. In 1957, he was ordained as a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa. He lived in Brazil, Mexico, and El Salvador where he worked with progressive labor and grassroots social justice groups. Father Mike, as he was known, was the first director of the U.S. Bishop’s Latin American Office in Washington, D.C., a position he was fired from in 1971 because of his support for liberation theology. In the late 1960s, he served as director of the Catholic Inter-American Cooperation Program (CICOP). He was also the director of the Latin American Bureau of the U.S. Catholic Conference from 1968 to 1971, where he led the Papal Volunteers for Latin America (PAVLA) program, a Catholic missionary for volunteers committed to pastoral and social work in Latin America. Fr. Mike later returned to Iowa and served as pastor at St. Joseph parish in West Liberty from 1987 to 1992, where he worked closely with the Spanish-speaking community and surrounding organizations in support of Latin America. Fr. Louis Michael Colonnese died in Florida in 2003.

Biographical / Historical

Michael (Mike) Hutchison was a member of the Central America Solidarity Committee (CASC) at the University of Iowa. During the 1970s, he spent nine summers in El Salvador advocating for human rights. In 1979, he started teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in Muscatine, Iowa, and completed an MA in History at the University of Iowa in 1988. After retiring, he founded and operated a parrot sanctuary called Iowa Parrot Rescue.

Biographical / Historical

Mike Henry was a member of the Central America Solidarity Committee and the Latin American Advocacy Center at the University of Iowa in the 1980s.

Full Extent

7.5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The members of the Central America Solidarity Committee (CASC) at the University of Iowa compiled various materials on local and international organizations that worked to raise awareness about the conflicts in Latin American countries and opposed United States intervention in the region from the 1980s to the 1990s.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The papers (donor no. 1227) were donated by Michael Hutchison in 2010.

Related Materials

New Wave Party Records (RG02.0006.003): The records include a series on organizations, which contains a sub-series on the Central America Solidarity Committee (CASC).

Author
María G. Marroquín Pérez, 2023; Meredith Kite, 2025
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Iowa Women's Archives Repository

Contact:
100 Main Library
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5068
319-335-5900 (Fax)