Fashion Faux Pas? Free Trade and Sweatshop Labor in Guatemala
Free trade agreements have not delivered promised protections to workers, as the case of Guatemalan sweatshop labor illustrates.
Articles by Upside Down World
Repsol Sells Oil Stake in ‘Isolated’ Indigenous Peoples’ Territory in Peruvian Amazon
Oil and gas company Repsol is selling its stake in controversial oil operations in a remote part of the Peruvian Amazon inhabited by indigenous people in ‘voluntary isolation’ (IPVI), just across the border from the ITT oil fields in Ecuador.
Chile’s Student Movement Leads the Way: Progressive Prospects for Michelle Bachelet’s Second Term
Michelle Bachelet’s return to the presidency, and her promise for structural changes to Chile’s educational and political system, is the result of a decades-long struggle to move out of the shadow of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, and is one of the fruits of the more recent student movement for a better society.
Guatemala: The Peaceful Anti-Mining Resistance at “La Puya” Celebrates Two Years of Struggle
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.
Violence Against Women in Mexico and Central America and the Impact of U.S. Policy
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’
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.
The Quimbo Hydroelectric Project Moves Ahead without Complying with its Environmental License
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 […]
Midwives, Givers of Life in Rural Communities, in Danger of Disappearing
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?
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. […]