French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a $12 billion strategic partnership agreement in Rio de Janeiro on Dec. 23, the second day of Sarkozy’s official visit to Brazil. The two presidents also finalized… Read moreBrazil: arms deal signed with France
A Brazilian rancher suspected of orchestrating the 2005 murder of Sister Dorothy Stang, a US-born nun who spoke out against logging in the Amazon rainforest, is to be charged in the killing and brought to trial following his arrest for… Read moreRancher to face charges in 2005 slaying of activist nun in Amazon
In a joint anti-drug operation code-named Armagedon, Peruvian military and National Police troops carried out a series of raids in the remote Putumayo river valley along the Colombian border this week, arresting some 40, destroying four cocaine laboratories, and seizing large quantities of cocaine sulfate and harvested cannabis. The majority of those detained were Colombian nationals, and authorities said they suspect the presence of "dissident" FARC units, who are trying to establish the zone as a staging ground to keep alive their insurgency. More than 350 troops have been deployed in the operation, with five helicopters and three planes as well as boats. The operation is being coordinated with Colombian security forces, who are carrying out similar missions on their side of the Río Putumayo. (Photo via El Comercio)
Indians from the Enawene Nawe tribe in the Brazilian Amazon occupied and shut down the site of a huge hydroelectric dam Oct. 11, destroying equipment, in an attempt to save the river that runs through their land. The Enawene Nawe… Read moreBrazil: Amazon tribe occupies dam site
The Amazon is being destroyed more than three times as fast as last year, Brazilian officials said Sept. 29, acknowledging a sharp reversal after three years of decline in the rate of deforestation. Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc said upcoming… Read moreBrazil: rate of Amazon destruction increases
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) postponed a ruling Sept. 24 in a landmark case to decide if the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe indigenous people have legal rights to lands opened to farmers and ranchers 26 years ago by state authorities in Bahía…. Read moreBrazil: high court puts off key ruling on indigenous land rights
In a critical decision on Aug. 27, one of Brazil’s supreme court judges voted in favor of maintaining Raposa Serra do Sol (RSS) as a continuous indigenous land. Although the other judges on the court still need to vote on… Read moreBrazil: judge upholds demarcation of Raposa Serra do Sol
Indigenous groups in Peru ended more than a week of militant protests Aug. 20 at key energy sites after lawmakers agreed to overturn a new land law issued by President Alan García, which sought to ease corporate access to communal… Read morePeru: indigenous uprising claims victory —for now
Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon are demanding the presence of Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo in peace talks the government has brokered following days of angry protests. Marcial Mudarra, subdirector of the Regional Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples (CORPI), is… Read morePeru: indigenous protesters occupy gas fields
Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva arrived in Bogotá on July 18 for a three-day visit to Colombia that included joining Colombian president Alvaro Uribe in the inauguration of a meeting of business leaders from the two countries. On… Read moreColombia hosts meetings on Amazon security
