Year: 2012
Geopolitical Tsunami in the Southern Cone
Source: Americas Program When the Paraguayan Senate approved the “political judgment” against Fernando Lugo on June 22, it unleashed the biggest political crisis in the Mercosur in the last 20 years. The dust still hasn’t […]
Honduran President Puts “Tigers” Police Force on the Streets
TEGUCIGALPA, Aug 7 2012 (IPS) – The Honduran government’s plan to create a new rapid response police force, as part of a strategy to militarise the fight against crime, is dangerously vague, experts say. The […]
In the Shadow of the Coup: Social Movements for Democracy Mobilize in Paraguay
Paraguay’s June 22nd parliamentary coup against President Fernando Lugo gave birth to new corporate agreements, repression of citizens’ rights and crackdowns on press freedoms. It also unwittingly created a new panorama of leftist social struggles and movements.
Mexican Communities Fight Mini-Dams
(IPS) – Small-scale hydroelectric dams with a capacity of under 30 MW are seen by the authorities in Mexico as an important alternative for generating energy. But local communities reject them on the argument that […]
Bolivia: TIPNIS Communities Divided As Road Consultation Begins
Source: NACLA Last week, the Bolivian government launched a highly contested community consultation process on its plan to build a highway through the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS). Affected communities responded with a […]
Photo Essay: The “Caravan for Land and Territory” in Mexico
This past week a caravan of more than 200 Ch’ol Mayan indigenous from the Mexican State of Chiapas arrived in Mexico City to demand that the nation’s Supreme Court recognize their right to their communal lands (ejido), which are being denied by Chiapan state authorities. The “Caravan for Land and Territory” arrived to the nations capital on August 1 with a dignified, combative yet peaceful march from the city’s Monument of the Revolution to the main plaza where the Supreme Court is located.
Colombia: Minga of Resistance Launched against Quimbo Dam and Other Resource Extraction Projects
In the weeks following the Festival of the Sun that culminated June 26th in the park of the town of Gigante, the Movement for the Defense and the Liberation of Mother Earth has been preparing for the next Minga. A traditional Andean practice of collective and communal work, in recent years the Minga has gathered strength in indigenous communities as a collective and communal mobilization in defense of territories that have been assaulted by state policies of militarization and resource extraction.