Two people were killed and at least another five are missing after a paramilitary group ambushed a human rights caravan yesterday in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. The caravan was organized by Oaxacan Voices Building Autonomy and Liberty (VOCAL) and the Popular Assembly of Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).
Since 1994, campesinos in Chiapas have recuperated over 600,000 acres of land. A rust and turquoise building in the San Manuel autonomous county was just one end of the plantation owner’s jungle mansion, but is now used as a grocery warehouse by the Zapatistas. However, now this recuperated land is in dispute between the government (fronting for corporate interests) and the Zapatistas. […]
The legal battle waged by an indigenous community in northern Argentina against the government over a project that flooded half of their territory highlights the fact that legal title to their land is not enough to overcome the marginalisation they have faced for centuries.
During his visit to Bogotá last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced: “Colombia’s success against terrorists and narco-traffickers does offer a lot of opportunities for them to share their expertise. We certainly would like to see . . . other countries take advantage of Colombia’s strengths.”
The international conference has started and the peoples and social movements are launching a planet-wide mobilization to defend Mother Earth. Bolivian president Evo Morales proposed the creation of a Climate Justice Tribunal, to judge and sanction countries responsible for harm to the environment. A world-wide referendum prepared in this forum will catapult this civil action and will be presented at the next UN climate talks.
Ten years after the 2000 Cochabamba Water War, social movements took to the streets to commemorate the historic uprising that stopped the company Aguas de Tunari, subsidiary of the US corporation Bechtel, from privatizing the Cochabamba public water services. To many, the water war marked the beginning of the end of an era of neoliberal economic policy in Bolivia.
In 1981, Pablo Bac, a Mayan Qeqchi man from the community of Chichipate (municipality of El Estor, department of Izabal, Guatemala) was disappeared and killed.
Pablo was defending the rights and well-being of the Mayan Qeqchi people, helping to resist forced evictions by the EXMIBAL nickel mining company, subsidiary of the Canadian nickel mining giant INCO.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a grassroots, Florida-based farmworker group, largely comprised of Mexican, Guatemalan and Haitian immigrants. In recent years, by way of high-profile consumer campaigns, the CIW has compelled the world’s four largest fast food companies, among others, to concede to demands for better pay and unprecedented labor rights. This time, beloved Sunshine State darling Publix Supermarkets is in the tomato pickers’ sights.Why? Here are 5 secrets Publix does not want you to know.
“The poor man has to disappear. There is no more countryside. It’s all private neighborhoods. All private neighborhoods.” Sara Espinosa, age 94, lives in Punta Canal in the town of Tigre, where real estate giant EIDICO is currently constructing two gated communities on either side of her house. While most of her neighbors have sold their land and moved away, Espinosa remains.
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In 2005, during a visit to the South Bronx in New York City, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a lofty promise to help active community members cope with local issues. A half-decade and a few million dollars later, Chavez’s promise has become a reality and residents from the community are reaping the benefits.
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