Milagros Salazar writes for IPS, via Upside Down World, Sept. 20: For the second time in Peru, a mining project was rejected by local communities in a popular referendum. More than 90 percent of those who came out to vote… Read morePeru: communities say “no” to mining
From Rights Action via Upside Down World, Sept. 20: Communities affected by Canadian-US transnational mining corporation Goldcorp’s (formerly Glamis Gold) San Martin open pit gold mine in the Siria Valley [of Honduras] are denouncing the company’s plans to release water… Read moreHonduras: Canadian mining company threatens campesino lands
From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), Sept. 20: The Iraqi minister of oil (Shehristani) has requested the Iraqi Prime Minister Almaliki to arrest the leaders of the Anti-oil Law Front (Subhi Albadri; chairperson. Hassan Juma; president of GUOE and Front… Read moreIraq: oil union leaders threatened with arrest
Blackwater security guards who protect US diplomats in Iraq have been involved in at least seven serious incidents—including some which resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians—Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sept. 19. The revelation came as al-Maliki announced… Read moreDoes Iraq have authority to expel Blackwater?
From South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, Sept. 17: Israel has enforced a news blackout on what may be its air force’s most audacious raid since its jets destroyed Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor in 1981. The Israeli government has made no… Read moreNorth Korean nuke link behind Israel’s Syria raid?
On Sept. 12, some 150 activists (according to the Chicago Tribune) marched through the House of Representatives’ Rayburn Office Building, chanting for an end to deportation raids. The protesters had arrived in buses from Chicago, New York, Rhode Island and… Read moreImmigrants protest ICE raids
The Sept. 9 election to replace Guatemalan President Oscar Berger featured more body bags than tangible ideas to improve the country. Now facing a Nov. 4 runoff election, voters are left with the tired choice between a military strongman and… Read moreGuatemalan elections: back to the future?
From the Guatemala Human Rights Commission-USA (GHRC-USA), Sept. 11: JosĂ© Emanuel “Pepe” MĂ©ndez DardĂłn, son of longtime human rights defender AmĂlcar MĂ©ndez, was shot to death in Guatemala City on the afternoon of August 17 by assailants with high caliber… Read moreGuatemala: son of human rights defender murdered
From CISPES via Upside Down World, Sept. 11: Eight members of the Salvadoran General Hospitals Union (SIGEESAL) were illegally arrested on September 4 for participating in a demonstration against the privatization of the national health system back on July 6…. Read moreEl Salvador: anti-privatization protesters jailed
On Sept. 13 Costa Rican vice president and planning minister Kevin Casas took a leave of absence pending an investigation by the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) into charges that he used public resources improperly to support a campaign in favor… Read moreCosta Rica: CAFTA scandal hits veep
From FPcN InterCultural, Sept. 6: Gloria Ushigua and Rosa Gualinga, two indigenous leaders, were attacked on Sunday August 26, after months of receiving death threats for their efforts to protect the territory of the Zapara people in the Ecuadorian Amazon…. Read moreEcuador: Amazon indigenous leaders attacked
Some 5,000 people, according to police estimates, marched in Chile on Sept. 9 to mark the anniversary of the military coup in which Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte overthrew democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende on Sept. 11, 1973. The peaceful… Read moreChile: one killed on coup anniversary
