Uncertainty prevails on the cobbled streets of Marmato – a small mining town of some 8,000 souls clinging to the side of El Burro, a site of traditional ‘subsistence’ gold mining in the Colombian Andes. Five years ago, the subsidiary of a Canadian mining company Toronto began consolidating ownership of the mountain, leading to “economic forced displacement” and the social eradication of a working community.
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(IPS) – The conflict with the rural associations has highlighted political weaknesses of the new Argentine government of President Cristina Fernández and shown that economic recovery is necessary but not sufficient to remedy latent social […]
"Slavery, plain and simple." That´s how Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Malloy described the most recent instance of forced labor uncovered in Florida agriculture. An indictment released in January, for a case still under prosecution, […]
"We have hundreds of kilometers of beaches that aren’t developed, and it’s a waste,” said Honduran Tourism Secretary, Ana Abarca. These hundreds of kilometers of "waste" are home to 76 Garifuna villages. It is the Garifuna communities’ two most salient attributes – the beauty of their territory, and their vibrant culture – that pose a threat to their existence. The former coveted by the tourist industry, the latter commodified.
Fuente: www.lasojamata.org La criminalización de los movimientos sociales en el Paraguay se agrava con la reciente orden de detención del dirigente social y político, Tomas Zayas, un concejal municipal y 3 campesinos, imputados por “intento […]
The criminalization of social movements in Paraguay has worsened with the recent order to detain political and social leader Tomás Zayas, a municipal councilor and three campesinos, charged for “Homicidal intent and criminal association.” These accusations are due to the conflict that has developed over the last three years over intense crop spraying with pesticides. […]
(IPS) – The latest clash between the Bolivian government and conservative opposition forces is over a temporary government ban on exports of cooking oil, in response to domestic price hikes. In the last few months, […]
Source: Haiti Analysis "Evidence is mounting that United Nations peacekeepers shot and killed unarmed civilians, including children, during a recent raid in Haiti…Independent witnesses say up to 23 people were killed during the raid and […]
The United Nations’ International Narcotics Control Board recently made the announcement that Peru and Bolivia should, once and for all, outlaw the chewing of coca. Those are fighting words in Bolivia, where coca leaves have been grown and used in their natural form for thousands of years.
In the immediate aftermath of the Colombian state murders in Ecuador, massive demonstrations were held across Colombia and throughout the world on behalf of Colombians killed by state or paramilitary violence. One of the immediate consequences has been renewed paramilitary terror and threats against trade unionists and human-rights activists. All of this makes the publication of The People Behind Colombian Coal timely and important.
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