Month: November 2012
Mexican Senate Passes Labor Reform Bill, Weakening Worker Rights
Source: The Americas Blog The Mexican senate approved controversial new labor reforms yesterday, the AP reports. The bill, which has faced mounting public protests, would allow greater flexibility on the part of owners to hire […]
Colombia: Diary of a Displacement
Source: Colombia Land Rights Monitor Argemiro Hernández was one of 30,000 victims that saw President Santos parade the Victims and Land Restitution Law in Necoclí on February 11, 2012. President Santos told the crowd that […]
Action Alert: Leader of Sogamoso River Defense in Colombia Disappeared
Source: Climate Connections Note: From our colleague Diego at Censat (Friends of the Earth Colombia): We write to request your support in a painful situation in Colombia, the disappearance of a leader of the communities affected […]
Trouble at Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam Stops Construction for Now
Source: Bangkok Post Work on Brazil’s controversial $13 billion Belo Monte mega-dam ground to a halt Monday after protesters torched buildings at three dam construction sites over the weekend, the developer said. Saturday, “a group […]
Argentine Judge Freezes Chevron Assets To Pay $19 Billion Ecuador Fine
Adrian Elcuj Miranda, a judge in Buenos Aires, has ordered the seizure of Chevron’s assets in Argentina, to force the company to pay a $19 billion penalty for polluting the Amazon in Ecuador. The plaintiffs are seeking similar legal action in Brazil, Canada, Colombia and other countries.
Mexico: People’s Tribunal Defends Native Villages from Dams
Temacapulín, a town of 1,500 people in a kind of bowl surrounded by four hills, hosted a pre-hearing this week about dams by the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT), which has held sessions in this country since October 2011.
“We will lose the right to life, our culture, traditions, peace, happiness and freedom, our burial sites and our dead, the square, the Christ of Temaca that we love so much, the Agave temacapulinensis plant, the Verde river and 14 centuries of our people’s history,” said Maria Abigail Agredani.
Campaign to Legalize Abortion in Venezuela Gains Publicity
In Venezuela the law currently states that voluntary abortion of pregnancy is punishable for up to two years in prison. The Venezuelan coalition of left-wing feminist groups, the Feminist Spider, has submitted a reform for discussion in the Venezuelan National Assembly which would modify the country’s penal law to legalise abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy. In an interview yesterday on the program “Up Front” on Venezuelan state channel VTV, campaigner Tatiana Rojas argued that Venezuela was ready to have a public discussion about the legal right to abortion.
God, Oil, and the Theft of Waorani DNA: A Tale of Biopiracy in Ecuador
The Ecuadorian government is accusing Harvard Medical School, the Corriell Institute for Medical Research, and oil company Maxus Energy Corporation of stealing DNA from an indigenous people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Researchers on the lookout for specimens indigenous to an area call this activity bioprospecting, The terms that activists for indigenous rights have created to describe the result of these activities are bio-colonialism and biopiracy: the theft of life from indigenous communities without prior information and consent.