Archives – Page 74 – Upside Down World

Is the World Bank Funding Death Squads in Honduras?

November 8, 2012 Annie Bird, Rights Action 0

The Dinant Corporation and subsidiaries of the Jaremar Corporation, both Honduran African palm oil corporations blamed by campesino movements for the murder of approximately 80 campesinos in the Aguan river valley region since the June 2009 military coup, have received millions of dollars from the World Bank since the coup. Since January 2010, Dinant security forces have been accused of participation in death squad activities and are likely responsible for the murder of approximately 80 campesino land rights activists and bystanders.

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Central American Mothers Organize to Find Their Missing Migrant Children

November 8, 2012 Marta Molina 0

Called “Freeing Hope,” this caravan of 38 mothers — which began on October 15 and ended on November 3 — traveled through El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and across what is known as the “Migrant’s Route” in Mexico. Although many of them have not been able to find their children, they drew attention from the media and authorities, spread awareness of migrants’ issues and put a face to the human rights’ violations that migrants are exposed to on their journeys.

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New Media Law, New Voices in Argentina

November 6, 2012 Marcela Valente 0

“We don’t need other people to speak for us any more. We have our own voice now,” Armando Kispe of Queta, a Kolla indigenous community, said enthusiastically at the Pachakuti radio station. Radio Pachakuti is the first indigenous station to be licensed under the media law that was passed by the Argentine Congress three years ago and which is designed to guarantee access to the media by all segments of society and fight the growing concentration of media ownership by limiting the number of broadcasting licenses in the hands of media giants.

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Indigenous Communities in Mexico Fight Corporate Wind Farms

November 1, 2012 Jennifer M. Smith 0

Indigenous communities across the globe are plagued by corporate encroachment on their communal lands. In Mexico, the corporate takeover of communal territory and subsequent exploitation of natural resources has led to strong resistance movements. In Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Ikoots people of Oaxaca are fighting the installations of vast corporate wind farms on their communally owned land.

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Agribusiness as Usual: The Death of Peasant Farming in Argentina

November 1, 2012 Hugh Davies 0

On October 10, Miguel Galván was murdered, stabbed to death in the doorway of his own home. Almost one year earlier, Cristian Ferreyra had been shot and killed in his house. Both men were peasant farmers from the northern province of Santiago del Estero and members of the National Peasant Movement of Santiago del Estero – Farmers’ Way (Mocase-VC) an organisation which fights for the land rights of peasants and indigenous people.

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Chile: Violence and Repression against the Mapuche Population

October 31, 2012 Rocío Alorda 0

“We are not only facing a political battle, but also an ancestral one, because the Mapuche community is fundamentally anti-capitalist,” said Millaray Huichalaf, a young machi of the Roble Carimallin sector. “That’s why any manner of organization is dangerous to this system. Today, we are rising up with clear conviction, with a political, social, and spiritual foundation, as an entire community.”

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Peru and Ecuador Set to Auction Off More of Amazon for Oil

October 31, 2012 Darrin Mortenson 0

Even as indigenous people struggle to cope with current levels of contamination and illness caused by years of oil production in the Amazon, the governments of Peru and Ecuador are preparing to sell off even more Amazonian territory to the oil industry in coming months.

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Honduras Truth Commission Releases Report about Coup-Related Violence and Repression

October 30, 2012 The Honduras Accompaniment Project 0

The Commission of Truth’s report identifies three patterns of human rights violations in the framework of the coup d’état: “1) repression of public protests, excessive use of force during repression by state security agents, and criminalization of public protest; 2) selective or directed repression to the detriment of persons considered by the de facto government to be destabilizing to the regime; and 3) institutional dysfunction according to the needs of the regime imposed by the coup d’état and to the detriment of the population.”

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“Walking the True Word Around the World”: State Violence, Global Solidarity, and a New Campaign to Support the Zapatistas

October 25, 2012 Jessica Davies 0

In early September a large number of political party members in paramilitary-style groups carrying high-calibre firearms invaded the Zapatista communities of Comandante Abel and Unión Hidalgo, firing shots. Their goal was to displace the Zapatista support base members (BAZ) from the community and seize their land. This was not the first assault.

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Guatemala: Peaceful Resistance in the Face of Violence

October 24, 2012 Dawn Paley 0

Telma Yolanda Oquelí Veliz, who was nearly killed for her activism against mining in San José del Golfo, Guatemala, spoke out publicly Monday morning for the first time since the attack against her in June. “I want to tell the world that here in Guatemala there is a peaceful resistance that exists, and we are prepared to stay here as long as possible,” she said, sitting upright on a plastic chair inside a permanent camp blocking the entrance to a proposed gold mine about 30km from Guatemala City.

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