March 2014 – Page 4 – Upside Down World

Guatemala: The Peaceful Anti-Mining Resistance at “La Puya” Celebrates Two Years of Struggle

March 11, 2014 Rob Mercatante, Guatemala Human Rights Commission 0

La Puya started, as many great movements do, with a single act of civil disobedience. A woman, concerned by the sudden arrival of a gold mining operation in her community, decided to park her car sidewise across a dusty, rural road in order to stop a convoy of massive mining machinery in its tracks. Others quickly joined her, taking a stand in defense of their water supply, farmland, health, and environment.

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Violence Against Women in Mexico and Central America and the Impact of U.S. Policy

March 11, 2014 Just Associates (JASS) 0

Source: Americas Program “The war on drugs in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala has become a war on women. Efforts to improve ‘security’ have only led to greater militarization, rampant corruption and abuse within police forces […]

In the Face of an Expected Election Defeat, El Salvador’s Right-wing ARENA Party ‘Prepared for War’

March 11, 2014 Alexis Stoumbelis 0

Norman Quijano, the mayor of San Salvador and candidate for the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party incited a crowd on Sunday night to not “allow this victory to be stolen from us like it was in Venezuela.” He declared that ARENA was “prepared for war” and called on the international community and the Salvadoran armed forced to “defend the country’s democracy” in the face of the supposed fraud carried out against them.

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The Quimbo Hydroelectric Project Moves Ahead without Complying with its Environmental License

March 10, 2014 Polinizaciones 0

Months after displacements, the Association of People Affected by the El Quimbo Hydroelectric Project (Asoquimbo) still demands that the El Quimbo hydroelectric project comply with its environmental license. Following the evictions that began on September […]

Parteras, sembradoras de vida en las comunidades, en peligro de desaparecer

March 8, 2014 Narce Santibañez, Olivia Vázquez, y Adazahira Chávez 0

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Midwives, Givers of Life in Rural Communities, in Danger of Disappearing

March 8, 2014 Adazahira Chavez, Narce Santibañez and Olivia Vázquez 0

Source: Americas Program Their work is not just to receive the new-born baby or give herbal baths to the new mothers. Nahua community midwives in the Huasteca region of the state of Hidalgo play a […]

Does the OAS Support Democracy in Venezuela?

March 8, 2014 Dan Beeton, CEPR 0

Source: The Americas Blog Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro made news this week by breaking off relations with Panama following Panama’s proposal for the Organization of American States (OAS) to take up the situation in Venezuela. […]

Honduras: Indigenous Tolupanes Return to Their Territory with IACHR Orders of Protection

March 6, 2014 Greg McCain 0

San Francisco de Locomapa is the site of a massacre that occurred on August 25, 2013. Armando Fúnez Medina (46), Ricardo Soto Fúnez (40), and Maria Enriqueta Matute (71) were murdered by Selvin Matute and Carlos Matute (no relation to Enriqueta). The latter two are hired guns for the Bella Vista Mining Company, which has been extracting antimony from the surrounding mountains without the consent of the community and with a mining concession that is in dispute.

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Chevron gana otro round para no pagar por lo que hizo en Ecuador

March 6, 2014 Jim Lobe 0

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US Oil and Gas Firm Hunt Urged to Suspend Amazon Exploration

March 6, 2014 David Hill 0

Concerns over indigenous reserve and archaeological remains prompts call from local federation Source: The Guardian An indigenous federation from south-east Peru wants exploration operations by US company Hunt Oil in a supposedly protected reserve in […]