May 2014 – Page 2 – Upside Down World

“Here the People Govern’: Autonomy and Resistance in San Francisco Opalaca, Honduras

May 25, 2014 Brigitte Gynther 0

Every day and night for four consecutive months, the Lenca people of San Francisco Opalaca have been maintaining a 24-hour blockade and vigil at the entrance to their Mayor’s office, thus preventing the ruling party-imposed candidate from taking office. The Honduran government claims National Party candidate Socorro Sanchez won the Mayoral race in Opalaca during last November’s elections. However, the people of Opalaca know otherwise.

[…]

Guatemala: Violent Eviction of the La Puya Peaceful Mining Resistance

May 24, 2014 James Rodríguez, MiMundo.org 0

After two years and two months of peacefully blocking the entrance to U.S.-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) El Tambor gold mine, local residents of San Jose del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc were violently evicted by Guatemalan Police forces in order to introduce heavy machinery inside the industrial site. Led by the local women, members of the La Puya resistance prayed and sang until they were faced with tear gas. Numerous locals were injured and detained.

[…]

Biío Hioxo Wind Energy Project Hurting Indigenous Peoples and their Territories

May 23, 2014 Renata Bessi and Santiago Navarro F. 0

Source: Americas Program The chickens run between the rows of crops at Don Celestino Bartolo’s ranch, a farmer who wipes the sweat from his brow after sowing what may be his last harvest of corn. […]

Ante obscura obsesión por oro, moratoria minera es necesaria

May 23, 2014 Eduardo Gudynas 0

[…]

Ley boliviana de la Madre Tierra dura de implementar

May 23, 2014 Franz Chávez 0

[…]

El Mundial de Fútbol y el patrón de violencia estatal en Brasil

May 23, 2014 Júlio Moreira 0

[…]

Bolivia’s Mother Earth Law Hard to Implement

May 23, 2014 Franz Chávez 0

(IPS) – The law for the defence of Mother Earth passed by Bolivia a year and a half ago has not yet moved from good intentions to concrete action. The Framework Law on Mother Earth […]

Social Conflicts Escalate around Hydroelectric Projects in Guatemala

May 23, 2014 Christin Sandberg 0

The CPO’s Lolita Chávez pointed out during the press conference that the indigenous communities have acted peacefully and democratically through collective participation in order to build up and strengthen the community organization and resistance in defending their ancestral territories and way of living. “We ask the international community to support the Mayan people of Guatemala in our fight for dignity and our lives,” said Chávez.

[…]

Canadian Mining in Latin America Doing Serious Environmental Harm

May 21, 2014 David Hill 0

Operations in nine Latin American countries continue with explicit Canadian state support, says report Source: The Guardian The growing role of Canadian mining companies across Latin America has been put under the spotlight at the […]

Phosphates Mining Rocks the Boats in Northern Peru

May 21, 2014 Luis Manuel Claps 0

The Bayóvar mining complex exported 3.7 million tons of phosphate concentrates in 2013, but its environmental impacts may jeopardize the local fishing industry. As mining expands, a vital estuary is left unprotected, while the local Defense Front says the Bayóvar contract needs to be reviewed.

[…]