to ask the IGU to change the venue of the next Regional Meeting

The website shows an organizing committee dominated by military officers and a "scientific sub-committee". How are we to believe that this structure in no way influences the character of the program? Even if there were no direct influence, the fact that the conference is organized by the military in a military institution already alienates a great number of Latin American geographers (as this petition effort demonstrates). It seems to me that the IGU should actively be pursuing new relationships in Latin America -- a slow process no doubt -- rather than opportunistically seizing upon offers that stem from a dubious institutional legacy. The IGU should be lending its institutional influence to change the position of geography in Latin American academe rather than to reinforce inherited repressive structures.