Join survivors of genocide and mass murder to demand that the Holocaust Museum drop Elliott Abrams from its Committee on Conscience.

Alleged war criminal, Elliott Abrams — also convicted of lying to Congress — was recently appointed by President Trump as his special envoy to Venezuela.1 And just over a week ago, U.S. Representatives Adriano Espaillat, Joaquín Castro, and Ilhan Omar questioned Abrams about his role in supporting and covering up some of the most inhumane acts of US foreign policy in Latin America.2,3

This includes:

• Diminishing General Efraín Ríos Montt government’s genocidal slaughter of over 200,000 indigenous Guatemalans.4,5  
  
• Providing support to El Salvador’s death squads responsible for the El Mozote massacre of over 900 civilians.6   
  
• Supporting the Contras, brutal right-wing paramilitary groups in Nicaragua who tortured, raped, and murdered thousands of civilians. Abrams once said, “The purpose of our aid is to permit people who are fighting on our side to use more violence.”7
  
• Lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair, which involved the illegal sale of arms to Iran to secretly fund the Contras in Nicaragua.8

Take Action! How can the Committee on Conscience prevent future genocides if it has not come to terms with the involvement of one of its own members supporting such atrocities?

Now, a coalition of Central American survivors of genocide and other atrocities have joined with Holocaust survivors and their descendants to demand that Abrams’ role not be buried in the past. They were shocked to recently learn that Elliott Abrams is a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience, which seeks to “confront and work to halt acts of genocide or related crimes against humanity”.9

Why has the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum not taken Abrams’ reprehensible role in Central America into account? How can the Committee on Conscience prevent future genocides if it has not come to terms with the involvement of one of its own members in supporting such atrocities? Abrams presence on that committee and his affiliation with the Museum runs contrary to everything that its mission stands for.

Urge the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum immediately remove Elliott Abrams as a member of its Committee on Conscience.

References:
[1] "Who is Elliott Abrams, US special envoy for Venezuela? Al Jazeera. February 12, 2019.
[2] "Elliott Abrams, U.S. envoy for Venezuela, faces combative House hearing as policy stalls.” Los Angeles Times. February 13, 2019.
[3] "Why is Elliott Abrams So Controversial?” AJ+. February 18, 2019.
[4] “Elliott Abrams Is Bringing Violence of 1980s U.S. Latin America Policy to Venezuela” Democracy Now! February 14, 2019.
[5] “The Guatemalan Genocide.” USC Shoah Foundation.
[6] “ What Did Elliott Abrams Have to Do With the El Mozote Massacre?” The Atlantic. February 15, 2019.
[7] “The Tragic Life of the War Criminal Elliott Abrams.” Jacobin. February 16, 2019. 
[8] “An Actual American War Criminal May Become Our Second-Ranking Diplomat.” The Nation. February 2, 2017.
[9] Committee on Conscience. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.